Investment Resources @ Lake County Public Library

Investment Resources @ Lake County Public Library Carolyn Strickland 2010 Subject Overview

Investment Resources - Agenda
Investment Basics
Investment Resources @ LCPL
Investment Training Online – sampling of vendor training tools
Creating a Portfolio – Practice using sources
Research a list of companies & stocks
Select best companies to invest your “money”

The Stock Market
Organized way to buy & sell stocks
Centralized location for buyers & sellers
Transactions between companies & stockholders regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission

What is the stock market’s function?
Gives companies a way to acquire money (from investors) to further develop product or service
Provides investors with a place to put their money
Shows which segments of economy display most growth
Allows investors to diversify their funds

Initial Public Offerings
Primary market to purchase stocks
When company goes public and first offers shares to the public - IPOs

Stocks – Ownership in a Corporation
Two Types:
Common
Preferred

Stock Market Exchanges
NASDAQ
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
American Stock Exchange (AMEX)
Over-the-Counter (OTC)

What are stock market indexes?
Benchmark for measuring the performance or strength of stocks
Three types of indexes:
Those produced by a trading system using all of the stocks
Those in which an organization chooses the stocks to include
Those in which stocks are chosen on an objective measure

What stock indexes are there?
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)
Dow Jones Transportation Average
Dow Jones Utility Average
Dow Jones Composite Average
NASDAQ Composite Index
AMEX (American Stock Exchange) Composite
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Composite
Standard and Poor’s 500

What plays a part in whether an index rises or falls?
Success of the industry
State of the economy
The job market
Stock prices rise or fall depending on interest in a stock or how the company is faring financially

Mutual Funds
Companies that invest a pool of money from individual investors in various securities such as stocks, bonds, government securities, and real estate.
Some portfolios follow specific industries or categories.
Different types: Open-end funds, income funds, growth funds, stock funds, bond funds,etc.

Bonds
Municipal Bonds are loans investors make to a company or to the Federal or State government.
Always pay a dividend at specified time (called the maturity date).
Main types of bonds: corporate, municipal, and federal government

Sources
Value Line Research Center
Standard and Poor’s Net Advantage
Morningstar Investment Research Center
Business and Company Resource Center
Mergent Manuals (formerly Moody’s) – company histories & financial information (Print format – LCPL)

More Sources
Periodicals Department – Finance Journals & Magazines (print & microfilm)
Barron’s Business Week
Fortune
Forbes
New York Times
Wall Street Journal

Free Online Sources
http://treasurydirect.gov/ gives U.S. savings bond information
http://Bigcharts.com (1985 to present) current & historical quotes

Where to check out Financial Advisors?
Society of Financial Service Professionals – Consumer Area
Indiana Secretary of State’s Office
http://www.in.gov/sos/securities/index.htm

Education & Glossaries
InvestorWords.com
SmartMoney University: Glossary
SEC Investor Education and Assistance
Online Publications for Investors:
http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs.shtml

Ask a Librarian
Although we cannot provide investment advice, we can and should be able to answer questions about any library investment resource.

Investment Resources @ Lake County Public Library

by Lake County Public Library on Mar 22, 2010

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Investment Resources @ Lake County Public Library — Presentation Transcript