Re:[Ask HN] How should I teach myself about investing?
by anigbrowl on Tuesday March 30, 2010 @08:22PM
(#1230580)
Upvoted just for the fabulous essay you referenced.
I'm not sure what sort of investing you have in mind - small face-to-face angel participation, or working the treasury bond market. Nor do you say much about the size or timescale of the investments you'd like to make. And I'm in no position to give you expert advice either; all I can say from experience is that nonprofit financial advisers generally seem more helpful with advice about saving rather than investing (eg what sort of IRA and 401k options are available) while wealth management experts either charge a hefty premium for their opinion or function as sales staff for a range of vehicles and funds operated by an employer.
since patience is a key aspect of investment, I think you might as well park your cash for a few months and begin with the basic-but-essential advice offered by the SEC: http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/begininvest.htm. This will teach you the fundamentals of how to read a balance sheet or 10-k filing, how to make sense of popular metrics and acronyms and stuff like that. At the same time, take out a subscription to the Economist, Wall Street Journal or Financial Times. there's another newspaper called Investor's Business Daily but I don't rate that very highly. See what insights you can glean on your own for a few months, then buy a few serious-minded books rather than the get-rich-quick variety.
At that point, go talk to some financial advisers, and it will be much easier to assess the quality of their advice without feeling baffled by jargon or bamboozled by a sales pitch. I know, this is kindergarten-level advice from a first-grader - sorry if you've already done all this and are looking for a more technical insight.
I'm not sure what sort of investing you have in mind - small face-to-face angel participation, or working the treasury bond market. Nor do you say much about the size or timescale of the investments you'd like to make. And I'm in no position to give you expert advice either; all I can say from experience is that nonprofit financial advisers generally seem more helpful with advice about saving rather than investing (eg what sort of IRA and 401k options are available) while wealth management experts either charge a hefty premium for their opinion or function as sales staff for a range of vehicles and funds operated by an employer.
since patience is a key aspect of investment, I think you might as well park your cash for a few months and begin with the basic-but-essential advice offered by the SEC: http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/begininvest.htm. This will teach you the fundamentals of how to read a balance sheet or 10-k filing, how to make sense of popular metrics and acronyms and stuff like that. At the same time, take out a subscription to the Economist, Wall Street Journal or Financial Times. there's another newspaper called Investor's Business Daily but I don't rate that very highly. See what insights you can glean on your own for a few months, then buy a few serious-minded books rather than the get-rich-quick variety.
At that point, go talk to some financial advisers, and it will be much easier to assess the quality of their advice without feeling baffled by jargon or bamboozled by a sales pitch. I know, this is kindergarten-level advice from a first-grader - sorry if you've already done all this and are looking for a more technical insight.