Post: #1

We have a lot of topics about investing ideas, strategies, and advice, but equally important are the tools and resources used to research securities and economic info, as well as those used to actually buy and sell securities and assets and execute trades. As we all know, theory is nice, but logistics and execution are where real winners are made, and these can be some of the trickiest parts for those just starting out.

To that end, I think it'd be beneficial if the seasoned investors chimed in with what type of asset class they are typically involved in, and the tools and resources they use.

I am far from an expert on this, (hence the topic) but for example:

- Strategy: buy and hold stocks and bonds
- Research: Valueline subscriptions, yahoo finance, Seeking Alpha, Edgar
- Tools: Vanguard for broker, morningstar to monitor portfolio

- Strategy: buy physical gold
- Research: Kitco, xx industry report
- Tools: buy from UOB, store at Cisco Certis

- Strategy: buy real estate
- Research: zillow to find properties, xx site for researching area economics, yy website to learn about tax incentives
- Tools: zz software to run cashflows

I think you get the picture. Obviously only share what you're comfortable with.

I checked the search to see if anything like this is out there but saw nothing

Post: #2

Valueline and Morningstar are great! Especially for getting quick news all in one place and seeing a snapshot of a company's fundamentals. Members should note that many public libraries will have a subscription to Value Line and/or morningstar for free so take advantage of it.

The morningstar Star rating system is the easiest to see snapshot of a company, a 5 star company is solid financially so I go long and a 1 or 2 star company will probably be bought out within a year... And their resources on funds and indexes are 2nd to none.

Post: #3

This is the only investing advice I will give you:
Don't invest any money unless you are okay with losing all of it.

Post: #4

Just wanted to share this thread on WallStreetOasis that I came across that touches on a lot of the type of stuff I was hoping would get shared in this thread, particularly on the research end:

http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/how-...–-for-free

Still looking for more info on “tool” and how to actually execute investing strategies.

Post: #5

My formula is pretty simple...I dont get caught up in alot of research that most guys use.

Strategy: Day and Swing Trading Options/Stock

1. Market Commentary - (reviewed daily)

T3Live.com (http://www.t3live.com/videos.html) - they do morning and afternoon recaps which give me a good overview on the patterns building in the market and specific stocks to look at

ibankcoin.com (http://ibankcoin.com/chessnwine/) - this guy does an after market recap which is a quick 5 minute look at where the market is trading on a macro level

2. Trade Ideas -

T3Live Price Point Sheet (http://www.t3live.com/premium-products/p...sheet.html) - I purchase a daily sheet which is sent to me in the morning prior to the market open highlighting the best setups for the day and specific price triggers for these patterns.

Fitzstock Charts Service (http://fitzstock.com) - weekly and daily trade ideas. This guy is a really good chartist and provides very good trade ideas for both swing and day trades.

Twitter - I follow around 25 people on twitter who I trust. I dont blindly follow trades off twitter but look to it for trade ideas and confirmation of my own ideas.

3. Research -

I also pay for an additional service that provides me with buy/sell or hold strength on a particular basket of stocks that I trade. It's basically an algorithm which inputs around 15 - 17 data points to give you a bias and trend rating on a stock. I would be happy to share this in private but not on here.

4. Charts & Trading -

I trade with Thinkorswim but often do charting with optionsexpress.

btw - For those guys just starting out I highly recommend one of the t3live courses to get a good foundation built in terms of developing a repeatable trading strategy. I believe they offer active, momentum and swing trading courses.

Post: #6

I think the original scope of this thread was to wide and confusing. For the sake of simplicity let’s focus on two questions, within equity and bond market investing:

1) What tools do you use to screen stocks and bonds, and what metrics do you focus on?

2) What platform do you use to execute trades, and how does it link to your cash?

Remember, this is for the absolute beginner to investing.

Post: #7

I get many of my best ideas from following the super investors. You can find their stock picks at http://www.dataroma.com

Many of the guys tracked here have made fortunes of over 1 billion dollars each from their investing skills.

You can drill down into each portfolio, for example :

Bruce Berkowitz's port : http://www.dataroma.com/m/holdings.php?m=fairx (I found it interesting that he has 59% of his clients money invested in AIG...that really takes balls...not recommended for a beginner!)

David Einhorn: http://www.dataroma.com/m/holdings.php?m=GLRE

etc...

I also get stock ideas from Gurufocus : http://www.gurufocus.com and Valuewalk : http://www.valuewalk.com