Online Investment Tips

Look for relevant information. Trying to read everything
online about an investment isn’t a good use of your
time. Your goal is to look at relevant information — such
as the current price, historical value, past profits, and
management capabilities. (In the section titled “Getting
the Answers,” later in this chapter, I tell you what information
to research and where to get it.)
16 CliffsNotes Getting Started in Online Investing
n Look for objective information. To determine if a Web
site is offering objective information, you need to ask a
few basic questions. Is the Web site trying to sell you a
subscription? Does anyone get a commission from investments
they’re advising you to look at? Who’s paying for
site advertising? The presence of the profiteers can be subtle!
With so much information on the Web, bypass the
promotional stuff in favor of objective information.
n Take advantage of not-for-profit Web sites. The advice
that analysts offer is interesting, but the most enduring
investing principles and strategies are available for free.
Several not-for-profit organizations, such as the American
Association of Individual Investors at www.
aaii.com (see Figure 2-2) and the National Association
of Investors Corporation at www.betterinvesting.
org, maintain Web sites devoted solely to
educating investors. These organizations offer memberships
for a nominal cost, which entitle you to use all areas
of their Web sites as well as other support services they
provide.