Choosing specific investments

[Ulquiorra]

I'm a beginner and I've been doing a lot of reading on finance and investment, but one thing that seems to never come up is what to look for when picking potential investments, particularly with index funds and individual stocks. What sorts of things should I look for, and what are some places to get some reliable (and if possible, free) information?

Thanks in advance.

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[Sol Rosenberg]

Everyone has a different strategy (and some sources advocate multiple strategies.) Not sure if it is free anymore, but I always thought that the Motley Fool (www.fool.com) was decent. They present a few different strategies (DRIP, Index Funds, "Rule Maker," "Rule Breaker,") but also talk about thing like how to read SEC filings, etc. They used to be free, but I'm not sure anymore. It's a good place to get started. You need to know enough to be able to draw your own conclusions and invest the way that you feel most comfortable. It's more about learning some of the things that you SHOULDN'T do, because, remember, at the end of the day a lot of "top" stockbrokers get beat by a chimp throwing darts.

 

[etf]

picking specific stocks is hard unless you're willing to put in the time - i've been to the annual meetings this year of 6 out of the 10 stocks i own. etfs are a good way to get started, or a nice target retirement/asset allocator fund from one of the usual suspects fidelity or vanguard.

 

[The White Coat Investor]

picking specific stocks is hard unless you're willing to put in the time - i've been to the annual meetings this year of 6 out of the 10 stocks i own.

I am thoroughly impressed. And you're a med student/resident?

 

[etf]

I am thoroughly impressed. And you're a med student/resident?

not yet i'm still a "premed" who will be (re)applying this summer. i live in san francisco though, and all of the meetings were in/around the city, so it wasn't that big a deal.