Synopses & Reviews
For the geek who's an investor, and the investor who's a geek, we present Online Investing Hacks, 100 industrial-strength, bleeding edge tips, tools and techniques for analyzing and managing online portfolios.Individual investors have become more computer-literate and technology-dependent than ever before. Whether you're looking for suitable investments, studying alternatives, or managing your portfolios, you need data. The Internet can be a goldmine of financial data and research, but today's online investors also use spreadsheets, databases, and financial applications to select, study and manage investments. If your proficiency has grown to the point where you crave industrial-strength tips and tools to turbo-charge your efforts, this is the book for you.Online Investing Hacks covers:
- Screening Investments
- Collecting Data
- Fundamental Analysis
- Technical Analysis
- Executing Trades
- Investing in Mutual Funds
- Portfolio Management
- Updating Stock Data
- Financial Planning
Other books for managing online investing are either out of date, are for beginners and don't go beyond the most basic advice, or are so dull and boring they squeeze that last bit of fun out of the topic.
Online Investing Hacks is for the customer who wants to know the latest techniques, to go beyond the basics, who gets jazzed by cool online tools and services, and who actually wants to have a bit of fun while trying to strike it rich (or at least not lose their shirt).
Synopsis
To streamline the amount of time it takes to research, analyze, and manage an online portfolio for better results, this unique collection of tips shows experienced investors how to find existing software tools that work--and build their own.
About the Author
Bonnie Biafore has always been a zealous planner, whether setting up software demos, cooking gourmet meals, or scheduling a vacation to test the waters of spontaneity. Ironically, fate, not planning, turned this obsession into a career as a project manager. When she isn't managing projects for clients, Bonnie writes about project management, small business accounting, personal finance, investing, and technology. She's also branching out into other "dry" topics with articles for the Wine Enthusiast. As an engineer, she's fascinated by how things work and how to make things work better. She has a knack for mincing dry subjects like accounting and project management into easy to understand morsels and then spices them to perfection with her warped sense of humor.
Bonnie is the award-wining author of more than a dozen books including Quicken 2009: The Missing Manual, QuickBooks 2009: The Missing Manual, Project 2007: The Missing Manual, the Better Investing Stock Selection Handbook (which won an APEX Award of Distinction), Online Investing Hacks, and On Time! On Track! On Target!. She also writes regularly about financial topics for Better Investing bankrate.com and interest.com. When unshackled from her computer, she hikes in the mountains, cycles, rehabilitates horses, cooks gourmet food, and, most importantly, tries saying no to additional work assignments.
Table of Contents
Credits; About the Author; Contributors; Acknowledgments; Preface; Why Online Investing Hacks?; How to Use This Book; How This Book Is Organized; Conventions; How to Contact Us; Got a Hack?; Chapter 1: Screening Investments; 1.1 Hacks #1-6; 1.2 Screen Savings Rates; 1.3 Screen Fixed-Income Investments; 1.4 Screen Loan and Mortgage Rates; 1.5 Fast and Free Stock Screening Tools; 1.6 Build Industrial Strength-Stock Screens; 1.7 Weed Out Results; Chapter 2: Hacking Excel for Financial Analysis; 2.1 Hacks #7-13; 2.2 Download Data Using Excel Web Queries; 2.3 Make Good and Bad Values Stand Out; 2.4 Make Nested Functions Work in Excel; 2.5 Prevent Growth Calculations from Blowing Up; 2.6 Flexible Techniques for Referencing Data; 2.7 Add Conditional Commentary; 2.8 Create Financial Charts in Excel; Chapter 3: Collecting Financial Data; 3.1 Hacks #14-24; 3.2 Fathoming Financial Statements; 3.3 Download Mutual Fund Data; 3.4 Choose Your Favorite Flavor of Data; 3.5 Obtain Price Quotes; 3.6 Download Historical Price Files; 3.7 Download Financial Statements; 3.8 The Best Data for Free; 3.9 The Best Data for a Fee; 3.10 Download News; 3.11 Locate the Competition; 3.12 Obtain Averages for an Industry and the Competition; 3.13 Create Alerts; Chapter 4: Analyzing Company Fundamentals; 4.1 Hacks #25-45; 4.2 Investing in Growth; 4.3 Insisting on Quality; 4.4 Buying Good Value; 4.5 Calculate Percentage Change for Growth and Return; 4.6 Calculate Compound Annual Rates of Growth; 4.7 Calculate Price and Dividend Ratios; 4.8 Calculate Additional Valuation Ratios; 4.9 Calculate Financial Strength Ratios; 4.10 Calculate Management Effectiveness Ratios; 4.11 Calculate Turnover Ratios; 4.12 Calculate Profitability Ratios; 4.13 Compare Year-to-Year Results; 4.14 Compare Several Competitors to Identify the Strongest Candidate; 4.15 Measure Earnings Predictability in Excel; 4.16 Use Rational Values to Buy and Sell Wisely; 4.17 Are You Walking on the Wild Side?; 4.18 Use Ready-Made Fundamental Analysis Applications; 4.19 Spot Hanky Panky with Cash Flow Analysis; 4.20 Use Online Analysis Tools; 4.21 Find the Best Free Excel Tools for Fundamental Analysis; 4.22 Find the Best Excel Tools for Fundamental Analysis for a Fee; 4.23 Analyze Real Estate Investment Trusts; 4.24 Bank on Banks; 4.25 Steps to Building a Financial Analysis Template; Chapter 5: Technical Analysis; 5.1 Hacks #46-53; 5.2 A Short History of Technical Analysis; 5.3 Computers and Technical Analysis; 5.4 Technical Charts; 5.5 The Importance of Money Management; 5.6 Use Line and Bar Charts; 5.7 Light the Way with Candlestick Charts; 5.8 Point and Figure Charts; 5.9 Look for Patterns in Technical Charts; 5.10 What's Volume Got to Do with It?; 5.11 How to Use Indicators and Oscillators; 5.12 Support and Resistance; 5.13 The Best Tools for Technical Analysis; Chapter 6: Executing Trades; 6.1 Hacks #54-58; 6.2 Pick the Right Type of Trade; 6.3 Execute After-Hours Trades; 6.4 Sell Fractional Shares; 6.5 Build Your Own Mutual Funds; 6.6 Buy Bonds Online; Chapter 7: Investing in Mutual Funds; 7.1 Hacks #59-72; 7.2 Mutual Funds Are Here to Stay; 7.3 It's Your Money; 7.4 Index Funds, Anyone?; 7.5 Why Don't My Funds Perform as Well as Others?; 7.6 Calculate the Damage of Mutual Fund Expenses; 7.7 Analyze the Hidden Costs of Fund Turnover; 7.8 The Taxman Cometh for Your Fund Returns; 7.9 Evaluate Short-Term and Long-Term Returns; 7.10 Manage Interest Rate Risk with Bond Fund Duration; 7.11 Evaluate Mutual Funds; 7.12 The Best Mutual Fund Screens for Free; 7.13 The Best Mutual Fund Screens for a Fee; 7.14 Beware of the Closet Index Fund; 7.15 Spot Mutual Funds That Don't Play Fair; 7.16 Know When to Fold 'Em; 7.17 Comparison-Shop for Mutual Funds; 7.18 Compare Mutual Funds Online; Chapter 8: Managing Your Portfolio; 8.1 Hacks #73-86; 8.2 What Is Portfolio Management?; 8.3 Tracking Results; 8.4 Build an Online Portfolio; 8.5 Asset Allocation: Less Risk on the Road to Returns; 8.6 Keep Allocation in Line; 8.7 The Best Portfolio Management Tools for Free; 8.8 The Best Portfolio Management Tools for a Fee; 8.9 Portfolio Management with Excel; 8.10 Take the Sting Out of Portfolio Management; 8.11 Use Bonds in a Portfolio; 8.12 Calculate Investment Return Over Different Time Periods; 8.13 Compare Your Return to a Benchmark; 8.14 Forecast Future Returns; 8.15 Compare Returns for Alternative Investments; 8.16 Assess Portfolio Quality; 8.17 Flag Fundamental Sell Signals; Chapter 9: Financial Planning; 9.1 Hacks #87-100; 9.2 Choose the Right Type of Account; 9.3 Choose an Online Broker; 9.4 Pick the Best Broker for Your Trading Style; 9.5 Save Up for Something Good; 9.6 Up, Up, and Away: The Cost of College; 9.7 Let Me Count the Ways to Save for College; 9.8 A College Savings Plan in Every State; 9.9 Balance Risk and Return for College Costs; 9.10 When It's Time to Break the College Savings Piggy Bank; 9.11 Save for Retirement While Still Enjoying Yourself; 9.12 Juggle Multiple Objectives; 9.13 Get Out of Debt Before Debt Takes It Out of You; 9.14 Find a Financial Planner; 9.15 Build a Ladder of Fixed-Income Investments; Colophon;