Stock investing for dummies

Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Introduction
	About This Book
	Foolish Assumptions
	Icons Used in This Book
	Beyond the Book
	Where to Go from Here
Part 1 The Essentials of Stock Investing
	Chapter 1 Surveying the World of Stock Investing
		Understanding the Basics
		Preparing to Buy Stocks
		Knowing How to Pick Winners
			Recognizing stock value
			Understanding how market capitalization affects stock value
			Sharpening your investment skills
	Chapter 2 Taking Stock of Your Current Financial Situation and Goals
		Establishing a Starting Point by Preparing a Balance Sheet
			Step 1: Make sure you have an emergency fund
			Step 2: List your assets in descending order of liquidity
			Step 3: List your liabilities
			Step 4: Calculate your net worth
			Step 5: Analyze your balance sheet
		Funding Your Stock Program
			Step 1: Tally up your income
			Step 2: Add up your outgo
			Step 3: Create a cash flow statement
			Step 4: Analyze your cash flow
			Another option: Finding investment money in tax savings
		Setting Your Sights on Your Financial Goals
	Chapter 3 Defining Common Approaches to Stock Investing
		Matching Stocks and Strategies with Your Goals
		Investing for the Future
			Focusing on the short term
			Considering intermediate-term goals
			Preparing for the long term
		Investing for a Purpose
			Making loads of money quickly: Growth investing
			Steadily making money: Income investing
		Investing for Your Personal Style
			Conservative investing
			Aggressive investing
	Chapter 4 Recognizing Risk and Volatility
		Exploring Different Kinds of Risk
			Financial risk
			Interest rate risk
			Market risk
			Inflation risk
			Tax risk
			Political and governmental risk
			Personal risk
			Emotional risk
		Getting the Scoop on Volatility
		Minimizing Your Risk
			Gaining knowledge
			Staying out until you get a little practice
			Putting your financial house in order
			Diversifying your investments
		Weighing Risk against Return
	Chapter 5 Stock Investing through Exchange-Traded Funds
		Comparing Exchange-Traded Funds and Mutual Funds
			The differences
			The similarities
		Choosing an Exchange-Traded Fund
			Bullish ETFs
			Bearish ETFs
		Taking Note of Indexes
Part 2 Before You Start Buying
	Chapter 6 Gathering Information
		Looking to Stock Exchanges for Answers
		Grasping the Basics of Accounting and Economics
			Accounting for taste and a whole lot more
			Understanding how economics affects stocks
		Staying on Top of Financial News
			Figuring out what a company’s up to
			Discovering what’s new with an industry
			Knowing what’s happening with the economy
			Seeing what politicians and government bureaucrats are doing
			Checking for trends in society, culture, and entertainment
		Reading (And Understanding) Stock Tables
			52-week high
			52-week low
			Name and symbol
			Dividend
			Volume
			Yield
			P/E
			Day last
			Net change
		Using News about Dividends
			Looking at important dates
			Understanding why certain dates matter
		Evaluating Investment Tips
	Chapter 7 Going for Brokers
		Defining the Broker’s Role
		Distinguishing between Full-Service and Discount Brokers
			At your disposal: Full-service brokers
			Just the basics: Discount brokers
		Choosing a Broker
		Discovering Various Types of Brokerage Accounts
			Cash accounts
			Margin accounts
			Options accounts
		Judging Brokers’ Recommendations
			Understanding basic recommendations
			Asking a few important questions
	Chapter 8 Investing for Long-Term Growth
		Becoming a Value-Oriented Growth Investor
		Choosing Growth Stocks with a Few Handy Tips
			Looking for leaders in megatrends
			Comparing a company’s growth to an industry’s growth
			Considering a company with a strong niche
			Checking out a company’s fundamentals
			Evaluating a company’s management
			Noticing who’s buying and/or recommending a company’s stock
			Making sure a company continues to do well
			Heeding investing lessons from history
	Chapter 9 Investing for Income and Cash Flow
		Understanding the Basics of Income Stocks
			Getting a grip on dividends and dividend rates
			Recognizing who’s well-suited for income stocks
			Assessing the advantages of income stocks
			Heeding the disadvantages of income stocks
		Analyzing Income Stocks
			Pinpointing your needs first
			Checking out yield
			Looking at a stock’s payout ratio
			Studying a company’s bond rating
			Diversifying your stocks
		Exploring Some Typical Income Stocks
			It’s electric! Utilities
			An interesting mix: Real estate investment trusts (REITs)
			Business development companies (BDCs)
		Covered Call Writing for Income
		Writing Puts for Income
	Chapter 10 Understanding Technical Analysis for Stock Investors
		Comparing Technical Analysis and Fundamental Analysis
			Looking under the hood of technical analysis
			Examining the good and bad of technical analysis
			Combining the best of both worlds
			Using the technician’s tools
		Staying on Top of Trends
			Distinguishing different trends
			Looking at a trend’s length
			Using trendlines
			Watching the channel for resistance and support
		Getting the Scoop on Technical Charts
			Checking out types of charts
			Picking out chart patterns
		Surveying the Relative Strength Index
Part 3 Picking Winners
	Chapter 11 Using Basic Accounting to Choose Winning Stocks
		Recognizing Value When You See It
			Understanding different types of value
			Putting the pieces together
		Accounting for Value
			Breaking down the balance sheet
			Looking at the income statement
			Tooling around with ratios
	Chapter 12 Decoding Company Documents
		A Message from the Bigwigs: Reading the Annual Report
			Analyzing the annual report’s anatomy
			Going through the proxy materials
		Dig Deeper: Getting a Second Opinion
			Company documents filed with the SEC
			Value Line
			Standard & Poor’s
			Moody’s Investment Service
			Brokerage reports: The good, the bad, and the ugly
		Do It Yourself: Compiling Your Own Research Department
	Chapter 13 Emerging Sector and Industry Opportunities
		Telling the Difference between a Sector and an Industry
		Interrogating the Sectors and Industries
			Which category does the industry fall into?
			Is the sector growing?
			Will demand for the sector’s products and/or services see long-term growth?
			What does the industry’s growth rely on?
			Does the industry depend on another industry?
			Who are the leading companies in the industry?
			Is the industry a target of government action?
		Outlining Key Sectors and Industries
			Robotics and artificial intelligence
			Ecommerce
			Marijuana investing
			Commodities
			Precious metals
			Cryptocurrency opportunities
			Driving it home
	Chapter 14 Small Cap Stocks, IPOs, and Motif Investing
		Exploring Small Caps
			Checking that a small cap stock is making money
			Analyzing small cap stocks before you invest
			Picking out principles for small cap success
			Finding small cap gems
		Investigating IPOs
		Getting the Scoop on Motif Investing
			Discovering what you get with motifs
			Focusing on motif features
			Considering motif categories
			Understanding the risks
	Chapter 15 The Big Economic and Political Picture
		Tying Together Politics and Stocks
			Seeing the general effects of politics on stock investing
			Ascertaining the political climate
			Distinguishing between nonsystemic and systemic effects
			Understanding price controls
			Looking at the role of central banks
		Poking into Political Resources
			Government and other reports to watch out for
			Websites to surf
Part 4 Investment Strategies and Tactics
	Chapter 16 Discovering Screening Tools
		Understanding the Basics of Screening Tools
			Choosing the category
			Distinguishing “min” versus “max”
			Setting value ranges
			Searching regardless of your entry
		Touring a Stock Screening Tool
			Before you begin: Selecting your screener
			First up: The major categories
			The main event: Specific filters
		Checking Out an ETF Screening Tool
			Asset class
			Attributes
			Issuer
			Structure
			Expenses and dividends
			Liquidity and inception
			Returns
			ESG scores
			Fund flows
			Risk
			Holdings
			Themes
		A Few Final Points to Keep in Mind
	Chapter 17 Understanding Brokerage Orders and Trading Techniques
		Checking Out Brokerage Orders
			On the clock: Time-related orders
			At your command: Condition-related orders
			The joys of technology: Advanced orders
		Buying on Margin
			Examining marginal outcomes
			Maintaining your balance
			Striving for success on margin
		Going Short and Coming Out Ahead
			Setting up a short sale
			Oops! Going short when prices grow taller
			Feeling the squeeze
	Chapter 18 International Stock Investing Opportunities
		Investigating the Basics of International Stock Investing
			The easiest way to invest: American Depositary Receipts (ADRs)
			Before you buy: Political considerations
			An important distinction: Developed markets versus emerging markets
		International Stock Investing via Exchange-Traded Funds
			Global ETFs
			Region-specific ETFs
			Country-specific ETFs
			Creative international ETFs
		Checking Out International Investing Resources
	Chapter 19 Getting a Handle on DPPs, DRPs, and DCA . . . PDQ
		Going Straight to Direct Purchase Programs
			Investing in a DPP
			Finding DPP alternatives
			Recognizing the drawbacks
		Delving into Dividend Reinvestment Plans
			Getting a clue about compounding
			Building wealth with optional cash payments
			Checking out the cost advantages
			Weighing the pros with the cons
		The One-Two Punch: Dollar Cost Averaging and DRPs
	Chapter 20 Corporate and Government Skullduggery: Looking at Insider Activity
		Tracking Insider Trading
		Looking at Insider Transactions
			Breaking down insider buying
			Picking up tips from insider selling
		Considering Corporate Stock Buybacks
			Understanding why a company buys back shares
			Exploring the downside of buybacks
		Stock Splits: Nothing to Go Bananas Over
			Ordinary stock splits
			Reverse stock splits
		Keeping a Close Eye on Congress
	Chapter 21 Keeping More of Your Money from the Taxman
		Paying through the Nose: The Tax Treatment of Different Investments
			Understanding ordinary income and capital gains
			Minimizing the tax on your capital gains
			Coping with capital losses
			Evaluating gains and losses scenarios
		Sharing Your Gains with the IRS
			Filling out forms
			Playing by the rules
		Discovering the Softer Side of the IRS: Tax Deductions for Investors
			Investment interest
			Miscellaneous expenses
			Donations of stock to charity
			Items that you can’t deduct
		Taking Advantage of Tax-Advantaged Retirement Investing
			IRAs
			401(k) plans
Part 5 The Part of Tens
	Chapter 22 Ten Indicators of a Great Stock
		The Company Has Rising Profits
		The Company Has Rising Sales
		The Company Has Low Liabilities
		The Stock Is at a Bargain Price
		Dividends Are Growing
		The Market Is Growing
		The Company Is in a Field with a High Barrier to Entry
		The Company Has a Low Political Profile
		The Stock Is Optionable
		The Stock Is Benefiting from Favorable Megatrends
	Chapter 23 Ten Ways to Profit in a Bear Market
		Find Good Stocks to Buy
		Hunt for Dividends
		Unearth Gems with Bond Ratings
		Rotate Your Sectors
		Go Short on Bad Stocks
		Carefully Use Margin
		Buy a Call Option
		Write a Covered Call Option
		Write a Put Option to Generate Income
		Be Patient
	Chapter 24 Ten Investments and Strategies That Go Great with Stocks
		Covered Call Options
		Put Options
		Cash
		EE Savings Bonds
		I Bonds
		Sector Mutual Funds
		Motif Investing
		Bearish Exchange-Traded Funds
		Dividend Yield Exchange-Traded Funds
		Consumer Staples Exchange-Traded Funds
	Chapter 25 Ten Investing Pitfalls and Challenges for 2020–2030
		Trillion-Dollar Pension Shortfalls
		European Crises
		The Bond and Debt Bubble
		A Demographic Upheaval
		Federal Deficits and Debt
		A Social Security Reckoning
		Terrorism
		A Potential Currency Crisis
		A Derivatives Time Bomb
		Socialism
Part 6 Appendixes
	Appendix A Resources for Stock Investors
	Appendix B Financial Ratios
Index
EULA