Here’s what to look for when searching for value stocks and what fundamentals to screen for. Here is a free value investing cheat sheet.

The hardest part of deciding where to invest is actually deciding what criteria you want to look for in a company. I am a huge value investor, and look for solid companies that can be purchased at a discounted price (maybe due to bad short-term news). The trick to finding these companies is to use a stock screener. Most online brokerages have them, as does Yahoo! Finance or Money.com. What I highlight below are some key fundamentals you may want to look at when investing in a company. Remember, a number or ratio may look good, but it is important to understand why that number looks good, or if it looks “too” good.

In the last year traditional financial advisors have started to be replaced by technology at a more rapid pace. At first this can seem like a scary thought – computers having the ability to give financial advice? Then when you give one of these new platforms a try you’re more than pleasantly surprised. Financial advising […]

Setting up the perfect portfolio is impossible.  But, the perfect portfolio is one that has a solid asset allocation.  We’ve talked about the importance of asset allocation before, and one of the most common questions is: that’s great, but HOW do I set it up?  Fair enough. Here are five model portfolio asset allocations that you […]

No matter what, every individual has a unique insight into an industry that is useful for investing for profit. If you are a shoe freak and see a certain brand selling well from Nike (NYSE: NKE) and know that those from Crocs (NASDAQ: CROX) are no longer the rage, then gains can be made from […]

John and I used to play golf regularly until one day when he started asking me about what stocks I invested in. At this point in time, I refused to tell him what I was specifically doing until he mentioned what he was doing and just wanted to know why I was doing whatever I […]

Investing seems pretty straightforward, until you are faced with the simple question: “How do you actually generate a monthly income from your investments?” Then, things can become challenging. Investing no longer becomes a “stash it away” objective, but rather, an art of generating money to live off of. And it’s easier said than done. For example, […]

SprinkleBit is a new social trading and investment network that seeks to help the average Joe investor do better in the stock market.

2013 was a great year for most investors, but that makes a new challenge for 2014 — changes to your portfolio that you probably don’t even know about! We’ve talked before about how asset allocation is important for investors, but now that is true more than ever. Why? Because last year saw huge gains in […]

You want to learn about investing in the stock market — but you just don’t know where to start. There’s so much information out there that learning basic stock market investing seems overwhelming. I know this because I’ve been in this exact same position, too. If one of your goals for the new year is […]

Merry Christmas! Did you know that more people will be turning on and activating their brand new iPad today more than any other day of the year? Over one million new iPads will be booted up for the first time today — and with every new tablet, it means new apps as well. If you’re […]

It’s almost the holidays, and that means traveling to see family and friends in different parts of the country. But what happens if you need to manage your investments while you’re in the airport, or on a train, or at your parent’s house? That can be tricky . . . While this scenario is rare, […]

If you’re going to invest in a company, you need to know what the leaders of that company are all about. Do they have integrity, or have they been investigated for being unscrupulous in the past? These are important questions, because as a shareholder, you’re essentially trusting the people with your money. You expect them […]

When I first started looking at investing in stocks, I really didn’t know much about them. I basically looked up local companies that I had heard of and then looked at the historical graph to see if their value had been consistently increasing. If it showed growth in the past year or two, I invested. […]

What if I told you a crucial key to your investing success is something you never expected? It’s not a breakthrough stock-picking formula. It’s not a special brokerage account. It’s not a cutting-edge tax shelter. It’s your personality type. Now, bear with me: I’m not talking about astrology, newspaper horoscopes, or those scammy online tests. Those […]

Are you thinking about investing? Or maybe you’re already dabbling in stocks through an online brokerage company? Whatever the case may be, you are making an incredible first step toward your financial future. By investing your money instead of spending it, you are an absolutely radical human being. Instead of giving the typical excuse of, […]

When I was little, I used to love looking at paper stock certificates — I thought that they were so pretty. As I got older, I liked to look at paper stock certificates because I really was looking at money! However, now, I find dealing with paper stock certificates to be a hassle. In fact, […]

Everyone is talking about the government shutdown — the battle of partisan politics, the 800,000+ jobs that have been furloughed, the irritation of not being able to visit a national park. But what’s going to happen to your investment portfolio? It’s tough to give a definitive answer to what’s going to happen, but we can […]

A picture is worth a thousand words. The use of a simple picture can tell you the story of a complex topic — and that’s especially true when it comes to investing in the stock market. But for many new investors, it can be hard to find free charts for investing. Many professional investors use […]

In movies, investors are often seen analyzing charts of numbers or reading The Wall Street Journal. But while data plays a key role, investing often comes down to what happens in our heads. The truth is, human beings are not naturally “wired” for investing. We evolved in caves and jungles – and nothing in our […]

Let’s face it: investing can be a pretty lonely journey. Poring over the Wall Street Journal, reading prospectuses, monitoring your brokerage account . . . these aren’t the kind of activities your college buddies are eager to come over and do with you. But what if they could be? It’s not impossible. By forming an […]

If you’re a trader or investor, it’s important to know and understand what time the stock market opens. If you place a trade outside of stock market hours, your trade will wait in a queue until the start of the next trading session. This can also make a big difference on the prices you’ll get […]