What Are The Best Investment Blogs and Websites?

Skimming the online version of The Wall Street Journal each day will have a massive impact on your ability to understand investing.

“Well, that’s a pretty bold statement.”

If you’re saying that to yourself, let me explain. I started reading the WSJ when I was in college over 30 years ago. In fact, my friends used to give me a hard time about it. But I knew that I wanted to work in finance- and I’m also a reader my nature.

The WSJ is a great way to learn about how businesses make money, and how people successfully (and unsuccessfully) invest in companies. Let’s use an easy example that everyone understands: Apple Computer.

The story of a business

So, consider the story of a particular business- then the financial results that follow. I really liked Terrance Yang’s approach to answering this Quora question, because he gives the reader a bunch of great web links to investment sites, based on the reader’s area of interest. I’ll eventually get to those specific links, eventually.

If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend Walter Isaacson’s bio of Steve Jobs. What do you learn? Steve Jobs is a visionary, because he sees what’s possible in the future, by envisioning personal computers, ITunes, and the IPhone.

Click Here For Free Report: 10 Great Resources For Personal Finance

Now, there’s a financial payoff for Apple, since a certain percentage of the population is willing to pay just about any price to “be first”- to get the next tech product before anyone else (my brother-in-law is one of these people).

Since Apple can determine the prices they charge, the firm can always maintain a healthy profit margin. Even when its competitors try to roll out a similar product, Apple continues to innovate and stay ahead.

I’ll always buy IPhones and a Mac- I don’t care if a competitor shows up at my door and offers a competitor’s devices for free….I’m all in.

Financial impact

The story of Apple has a massive financial payoff to investors. The most recent financial data reveals that Apple’s earnings per share (Earnings over the last four quarters/ common stock shares outstanding), totals $8.55. Based on the current stock price, Apples price earnings (P/E) ratio is about 17 times earnings.

Click here for sample chapters to my free ebook: How To Save, Invest and Manage Debt.

So, what do those statistics mean exactly? It means that the price per share that you pay now is 17 times each dollar earned. P/E ratio is a measure of how relatively expensive (or inexpensive) a stock is, compared to the broad markets. If you look at the P/E ratio for the Standard and Poor’s 500 index as of this writing, the ratio is 25.59. Apple’s current P/E is less than the broad market- meaning that the stock price is “cheaper”, relatively speaking.

Bottom line: Apple is an innovative company that can control its prices, which allows the firm to generate a high level of earnings and cash. These types of companies are attractive to investors.

Read the story of business- and understand the financial impact behind each story.

Sites that I follow

All that being said, here are some great blogs and websites that I follow:

Forbes and Fortune Magazine: Two great online (and print) magazines that help you do a deeper drive into business topics. I recommend scanning these sites each week, then read the articles that interest you.

The Simple Dollar: The best- I think- personal finance blog out there. TSD writes on a variety of topics to help consumers be frugal and make smart investment decisions.

Entrepreneur: The best site, if you starting (or thinking about starting) a business. Even if you’re not an entrepreneur, you’ll learn a ton about how businesses should work.

Your investment statements: The number one task that investors don’t do: they don’t read and understand their own monthly investment statements. Please read them- particularly when the markets decline and you have losses on your statements. Take the time to understand what you own.

Those are my tips- best of luck! As always, this is for educational purposes only. Consult a CPA or a financial advisor for guidance.

This article was originally posted on my Quora page.

Ken Boyd

Author: Cost Accounting for Dummies, Accounting All-In-One for Dummies, The CPA Exam for Dummies and 1,001 Accounting Questions for Dummies

Co-Founder: accountinged.com

(email) ken@stltest.net

(website and blog) https://www.accountingaccidentally.com/

(you tube channel) kenboydstl

Image:

Wall Street Sign, Sue Waters CC by SA-2.0