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3 D’s to make you a better self-directed investor

While many self-directed investors understand that managing their own money can involve a great deal of responsibility and work, many do not realize the important skills they need to commit to mastering in order to succeed.  Certain investors want to “dabble” or learn to trade with what they often characterize as “fun money” however losing money or hurting your portfolio’s performance is no laughing matter.

Regardless of whether you are a novice or an expert, everyone who manages a portfolio faces the same challenge of maximizing the returns on their capital while effectively managing risk.  While the finer points are certainly different between multibillion dollar fund managers and everyday self-directed investors, there are three core characteristics that all successful investors share.

3 Ds for Self-Directed Investors

Diligence

Great investors and traders are always willing learners. While one of the key differences between experienced and novice investors is the length of time it takes to do sound research and analysis, all successful investors still have to do their homework.

Investing and trading involves doing a lot of research and so becoming both fast and accurate in making assessments will make doing that homework much more manageable. Getting to that point, however, takes time.

The process of scanning through possible opportunities, monitoring your portfolio’s performance and paying attention to the markets are just some of the tasks successful investors are willing to make part of their routine because ultimately the payoff justifies the investment.

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Educational Resources to Learn About Investing in Junior Mining Stocks

Introduction

Whether you are Warren Buffet or an ordinary do-it-yourself investor, doing your homework is vital to managing your investments successfully.  Almost all of the experts we’ve talked to have consistently told us the same thing: investors need to do their due diligence before making investment decisions.  Given the risks associated with investing, the advice is prudent, but even more so when you consider how much marketing investors are exposed to.

Because every company has a story to tell, seasoned investors learn to separate hype from fact and ask informed questions about potential investments before taking any kind of investing plunge.  For beginner investors, two common challenges to sound decision making are knowing what questions to ask and understanding what facts to look out for when assessing potential opportunities. To make matters more challenging, while there is a lot of information out there to help you learn about investing, finding good information can be onerous, sometimes requiring “Buffet-like” patience and scrutiny.

Understanding how to invest in junior mining companies

Given the popularity of junior mining stocks with investors and the enormously speculative nature of the investments, understanding some of the basics of mining and exploration is essential to navigating the sheer number of stories out there. While not a comprehensive list, experts often mention that when considering junior mining companies investors should pay attention to the following:

  • The mining company’s structure
  • The track record of the management team
  • The nature of the deposit itself
  • The jurisdiction of the project(s)

To help our readers with their homework, we have put together a selection of resources that help explain important points of investing in junior mining and exploration companies.   The resources we’ve gathered take a fundamental approach to understanding junior mining and exploration companies and cover information on topics such as understanding share structures, basic resource sector terms and concepts investors should be familiar with, how to read financial statements of mining companies and more.

As a note, these sources provide a good overview and starting point but are not intended to be exhaustive.  Keep in mind that the works likely reflect each author’s particular viewpoint and/or interests.  That said, we think these resources offer concise but informative ways of analyzing junior mining and exploration companies.

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FCAC Website – Section on Savings & Investment

FCAC – Savings & Investment Section

In this section of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada website, (FCAC) you can find a wealth (pun intended) of information on getting started with investing.

Through this page you can learn about:

As a launching point for self-directed investors or folks that are curious about investing, the FCAC is a great resource.  It covers important definitions of terms that investors should familiarize themselves with as well as provide tips that also talk about tax considerations, something a lot of other stock market education sites don’t really cover.

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Investing Online Resource Center

Investing online resource center Today I came across a great educational tool for individual investors curious about online investing.   The investing online resource center (IORC) was designed to to be a source of noncommercial information about investing online and was created by the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA).  While it is still online, the IORC does not seem to be updated anymore.  Even so, there is a useful section for beginner investors to check out called the “investing simulation center” which contains three interactive modules:

  • Find out what it’s like to trade online
  • Learn how margin accounts work
  • Don’t get burned: Spot the hype

Overall the modules are both interactive and informative.  My biggest recommendation is to turn down the volume when going through the modules as there is a constant strange techno “music” playing in the background (and there is no way I found to turn it off). Also, the modules are flash based (mac users take note).

 

About the Daily Stumble
This section provides links to interesting websites or resources that we uncover as we scour the internet and beyond for the best stock market education resources for investors.

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The Mighty TFSA

Tax Free Savings Accounts (TFSA)

Many of you are probably familiar with the saying: “the only sure things in life are death and taxes.” Well, as of January 2009 there’s been a little ray of hope as far as those taxes are concerned.   In February of 2008 the Canadian Minister of Finance (Jim Flaherty) announced a new program would start in 2009 that would forever change how Canadians can choose to save their hard-earned money.

Before the TFSA was introduced, if you saved or invested your money(the money you would have already been taxed on) you would then go on to be charged more taxes if those savings or investments made money. Many Canadians felt that they were being punished despite trying to do the right thing by saving or investing. While many of those same rules are still in place, the reason a TFSA is so innovative is because it gives Canadians an option to save and grow their money without having to pay any taxes on it. Sounds like a great option to us.

What is a TFSA exactly?

A TFSA is a special type of account that enables Canadians to grow the money in the account tax-free.   Whether the money is in cash or is invested in allowable products (such as stocks or GIC’s) any money made within a TFSA account will not be taxed.  For example, when most people saved money in a bank they generally put the money is a savings account.  Aside from keeping the money safe, there was the added bonus of gaining some interest for parking your money there.  The consequence of earning some interest is that it can be taxed as income by the government.  In a TFSA, however, any money earned in the TFSA is not taxable by the Canadian government – ever.

How it works?

Most large Canadian banks as well discount brokerage firms offer a TFSA.  Opening a TFSA is generally as simple as opening any other account at these institutions.  In order to qualify for getting a TFSA however you have to meet the following criteria:

  1. You have to be a Canadian resident
  2. You have to have a Social Insurance Number
  3. You have to be 18 years of age or older

The government has set a limit on the amount of money you are able to contribute into your TFSA in any one year. In the first year of the program (2009) the amount was set at $5000 and every subsequent year this amount increases according to the inflation rate. As of 2013, the limit will now be $5500.

The good news is that you are able to carry forward any unused contribution room to future years so even though you might not have opened a TFSA in 2009, you have accrued the contribution room since that time.  The CRA will provide the contribution room figure on your income tax statement (called the Notice of Assessment).

To help understand better how a TFSA works, let’s walk through an example. Suppose you had $1000 to save in the first year (2009) and you decided to put that $1000 into a TFSA. Your contribution limit for the year was $5000 but since you only used up $1000, you’re left with $4000 of extra room for that year. As of January 1st the following year your contribution room would increase by $5000 plus any unused contribution room from the prior years ($4000) bringing your grand total of contribution room to $9000.  The exact amount of contribution actually is slightly more than $5000 each year because of inflation. Your personal amount can be found on your tax return or via Canada Revenue Agency’s  “my Account” website [http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/myaccount/] .

Some Limitations…

There are, however, some important limitations to how you can access the account that you should be aware of.  Probably the one that causes the most trouble for people is in understanding how money can be put back into a TFSA after it has been withdrawn.  Even though you can withdraw money from a TFSA without any tax penalties, you have to keep track of how much you removed and how much contribution room you have left for the year because the CRA will penalize you if you over-contribute (i.e. put more money in your TFSA than you are allowed to).

Let’s use an example to clarify.  Suppose you have $5000 of contribution room in 2010 and you decide that in January you want to put $4000 into your TFSA. Since you have $5000 of contribution room then depositing $4000 will not exceed your contribution limit and therefore not result in any penalty and it leaves you with $1000 of contribution room for the rest of the year. Now let’s suppose that in June you need to make some repairs to your home so you remove the $4000 from your TFSA.

Here’s where it gets a bit tricky – because you have already made a “contribution” of $4000 you only have $1000 of “contribution” room left for the calendar year of 2011.  If you decide to put money back into the TFSA, that would count as a “contribution” and so you would only be allowed to “contribute” $1000 more for that year.  If you tried to deposit $4000 you would actually go over your contribution limit by $3000 ($1000 remaining contribution room – $4000 deposit) at which point CRA would penalize you for every month you have that excessive amount ($3000).  To quote the CRA website:

You cannot contribute more than your TFSA contribution room in a given year, even if you make withdrawals from the account during the year. Withdrawals from the account in the year will be added to your contribution room in the following year. If you over-contribute in the year, you will be subject to a tax equal to 1% of the highest excess TFSA amount in the month, for each month you are in an excess contribution position (http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/tpcs/tfsa-celi/wthdrwls-eng.html )

Although it sounds a bit complicated, just remember that your total deposits for the year cannot be more than your contribution limit each year, regardless of how much you remove.  The good news is that you “get back” the contribution room at the start of the following year. So in our example above if the contribution room as of January 1st  2011 is set to  $5000, that would mean that you could deposit up to $5000 + $4000(the amount you removed from the past year) = $9000.

Why get one?

Earning money is hard enough for most people, so when we see those deductions from our paycheques we know that what we earn isn’t necessarily all we take home.  While it’s not a knock against taxes, from the point of view of the individual, to get ahead you and your money have to factor in taxes.  Having the opportunity to put your money to work and then be able to have it grow means that it is working more efficiently. Remember that the harder your money works, the harder you don’t have to.

While traditional savings strategies are safe, they typically do not earn much of a return.  On the other hand, because you are able to buy other investment products through your TFSA (such as stocks) you are able to take advantage of more strategies (such as dividend paying strategies or capital gains strategies) without incurring extra tax consequences. Another important catch however is if you decide to invest the money in your TFSA in a stock and you suffer a loss on the stock, you can’t claim the capital loss against any capital gains.

There are many reasons people open up and keep a TFSA – they may be saving for a rainy day or just saving for a special vacation or specific purchase. Others use their TFSA to get the most out of their investments. For those who like to trade stocks and are good at it (big catch there!) a TFSA is an amazing opportunity to lock in tax free gains.  While TFSAs are a lot like other normal bank accounts, there are some things you’ll want to be aware of if you have one or are looking around for one.

What you need to ask when shopping around

One of the first things you’ll want to know about is if there are any fees associated with opening or holding a TFSA with a financial institution. Not many institutions charge them, but a few do have an annual charge so be sure to ask if there are any annual fees for holding a TFSA.  Also ask if there are any minimum balance requirements (i.e. do you have to keep a certain balance so that you don’t get charged fees)

The next thing you’ll want to know is what kind of transfer out fee they charge. For example if you are unhappy with either the service or you just want to change financial institutions, how much will you be charged if you want to switch.  All of the brokerage firms we reviewed charged anywhere from $60 to $150 to transfer out of a TFSA.  Be sure to also ask if they distinguish between partial transfer out and full transfer out.

One of the worst kinds of fees are those that are charged for accessing your money.  Only two brokerages we reviewed actually charged a withdrawal fee ($25), so be sure to inquire whether or not you get charged if/when you want to withdraw your money.

Lastly, for those individuals who would like to use their TFSA to trade currency or stocks or simply to hold US Dollars, make sure to enquire about whether they a) have a US dollar account for TFSAs and b) if there is any annual charge.

We’ve actually reviewed many of the brokerages’ TFSA offerings/costs and you can access that review by clicking here.

To find out more information:

Of course we wanted to provide you, the reader, with a great overview of TFSA’s.  There are some sites that we highly recommend you check to get the latest and most official information on TFSA’s.

The first is the CRA TFSA guide for individuals located here: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tg/rc4466/rc4466-e.html

This is the official guide – so chances are if you have a question about TFSAs you can find it answered here although don’t expect too many great tips/strategies from it, it’s basically the rule book.

If you’re looking for great tips or strategies on how to use your TFSA, there are many great blogs/sites out there that can help.  A great book that will give you a comprehensive but very readable look at TFSAs and when they work best for you is by Gordon Pape.

TFSA

Lastly, even though there may be some sales pitches that come with it, talking to your financial planner or your bank’s financial planner is very worthwhile.  There are usually free seminars at some point that banks provide but if not, booking an appointment can be a great way to get your questions answered.

The bottom line…

Regardless of what you’re saving for, whether it is that new roof, minivan or Bengal Tiger for the backyard, the “Mighty” TFSA is a way to keep your money working harder and smarter for you.

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A 30 second primer on trading in markets

Trading In MarketsDefining a market is as simple as picturing a boxing ring with two opposing opinions representing the fighters.  One of these opinions places a bet on an increasing value of a share price while the opposing side wagers that the share price will decrease in value.  This is the simplest way to visualize the market: a boxing match with buyers in the blue corner and sellers in the red corner.  The most important aspect to understand is that both sides cannot win.  For every winner, there is a loser and this simple premise is what creates a market.

Markets therefore arise out of the need to connect people who have something with people who want something.  The more participants in this equation, the more accurate the true value of this something becomes.  This is called the market value.  If there are no buyers and no sellers, there is no value, and ultimately, no market.

Like in any boxing match and more importantly, the market, both sides will take hits.  The difference between people who lose money and those who profit is that these folks understand how to properly absorb and react to the hits.  The key is to not shy away from the markets for fear of losing, but to adapt and learn the techniques for winning along the way.

If you’re interested in learning more, check out a full length article on understanding markets here.

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On Demand Webinar & Seminar Videos

seminar webinar

Below is a list of “on demand” educational seminars and webinars from a variety of Canadian discount brokerages on a variety of investing-related topics.  To access them, simply click on the video links.  As this list will be constantly reviewed and updated, check back for more links/videos.

Title Category Length Company Host url Description Registration Required
Investing Ideas: Research Tips for Dividend Investors Dividends 0:06 TD Waterhouse Bob Gorman video link Learn why investors use dividend-paying stock strategies in their portfolios during low interest rate environments. And, see how Do-It-Yourself (DIY) investors use the Screener tool in WebBroker Markets & Research to find the right dividend-paying stocks. N
Discover Exchange-Traded Funds Exchange-Traded Funds n/a National Bank Direct Brokerage Daniel Trempe video link This webinar will introduce the main fund families, their unique characteristics and advantages N
Turning Equity Volatility into Yield Exchange-Traded Funds 0:52 Scotia iTrade Horizons ETFs video link Discover how to implement alternative strategies to reduce downside risk in a portfolio while generating attractive monthly income with Horizons Actively Managed enhanced income solutions. This innovative approach provides investors with reduced cost and increased tax
Portfolio Drivers: Investing in Gold, Natural Gas & Other Broad Commodities Exchange-Traded Funds 0:53 Scotia iTrade iShares video link We introduce investors to the options, benefits and reasoning behind commodity investing. Discussion topics will include how to access commodities through different vehicles as well as the structural intricacies behind each method. This includes direct investing through the physical commodities, accessing contracts and equities.
Converting Market Volatility Into Income Using ETFs Exchange-Traded Funds 0:32 Scotia iTrade Horizons ETFs video link Currently we see a great deal of volatility in the markets. Join us to learn how to effectively use Exchange Traded Funds to turn market ups and downs into income.
Income Investing Using ETFs Exchange-Traded Funds 0:34 Scotia iTrade Horizons ETFs video link There has been a great deal of growth in the ETF market recently allowing individual investors a great deal of choice when tracking a particular market. Did you know that ETFs can also be used to effectively generate income? Join us to learn about ways to use ETFs to produce an income stream within your portfolio.
Bonds, The Better Investment Fixed Income 0:57 Scotia iTrade Scotia iTrade video link There’s misconceptions around bonds – investors are often unsure of how they work. Joey Mack will provide some surprising facts about bond market returns, and provide guidance over how investors can participate in the top performing asset classes in Canada.
Educational Summit Investing 1:55 Scotia iTrade Scotia iTrade video link Featuring presentations by recognized industry speakers, AJ Monte of The Market Guys who will discuss Managing Risk in today’s markets and Marcus Schlechta of iShares who will discuss how ETFs can help support your investing objectives.
Take advantage of margin accounts Margin 0:34 National Bank Direct Brokerage Daniel Bonilla video link This webinar is an introduction of the characteristics and function, as well as the advantages, of margin accounts. N
Contract Selection Options 0:58 Scotia iTrade The Montreal Exchange video link Find out which option contracts are best suited to meet your specific objectives and how you can apply some simple rules to make contract selection easier.
The Power of the Put Option Options 1:00 Scotia iTrade AJ Monte of The Market Guys video link AJ Monte of The Market Guys will cover key strategies you can implement when markets take a downturn which will appeal to both traders and investors at all skill levels.
Investing Ideas: Investing with Covered Calls Options 0:05 TD Waterhouse Dino Bourdos video link Learn more about the covered call options strategy as our TD Expert highlights some basic risk and rewards involved in the strategy and why investors may consider using it in a low interest rate environment. Also, see how Do-It-Yourself (DIY) investors use WebBroker to implement a covered call strategy. N
Five mistakes that options traders make Options n/a Questrade InvestView video link Options can be a good strategy for leveraging your portfolio. However, many new options traders (and, frankly, many seasoned options traders) make the same mistakes over and again. Sign up for this webinar to learn how to avoid the five most common mistakes:
Advanced Options Strategies: Straddles & Strangles Options 0:57 Scotia iTrade The Montreal Exchange video link The purchase of a call and a put simultaneously on the same underlying security allows the investor to take advantage of a volatile move in share price in either direction. Learn which market conditions favour this strategy, what types of stocks to look for and which strike prices and expiration months are
How to Manage Risk in Volatile Markets Risk Management 0:54 Scotia iTrade AJ Monte of The Market Guys video link Join The Market Guys as they describe strategies you can use to limit the downside risk while protecting profits in your stock portfolio.
The Science of Setting Stops Risk Management 0:59 Scotia iTrade AJ Monte of The Market Guys video link Come prepared to join The Market Guys for a REAL-TIME stock charting session where you are invited to provide your own stock symbols for analysis.
How to Manage Risk Using the 1% Rule Risk Management 0:58 Scotia iTrade AJ Monte of The Market Guys video link Join us as Rick and A.J. talk about protecting your downside in these volatile markets
Profit from Knowing the Best Times to Trade Risk Management 0:46 Scotia iTrade CyberTradingUniversity.com video link Many professional traders pick & choose their spots to trade because they know what periods of the day are most likely to lead to profits. Let Fausto teach you the “rhythms” of the market from his decades of experience.
The 10 Most Frequent Mistakes Traders/Investors Make Risk Management 1:00 Scotia iTrade AJ Monte of The Market Guys video link Join AJ Monte of The Market Guy as he covers the major repetitive errors made by traders and investors alike and how to avoid them in your own portfolio.
The Market Guys Risk Management Strategies for Traders Risk Management 1:00 Scotia iTrade AJ Monte of The Market Guys video link We kick off the first of 3 Risk Management sessions this month with one of the top teachers in the industry. Join us to learn how to protect your stock and ETF positions using various methods. Presented by AJ Monte of The Market Guys.
Stay Out of Market Maker Traps – and Watch Your Profits Grow Risk Management 0:48 Scotia iTrade AJ Monte of The Market Guys video link Learn about common market maker set-ups and how to identify traps from a distance & avoid them to enhance your profits. Presented by: Fausto Pugliese, Founder & President of Cyber Trading University.
Mechanics of a Short Sale Short Selling <10 min Interactive Brokers Interactive Brokers video link The Mechanics of a Short Sale is a tutorial that is designed to show you the inner workings of how a Short Sale works.
Short Selling Short Selling 0:33 National Bank Direct Brokerage Daniel Bonilla video link This webinar is an introduction of the characteristics and function, as well as the advantages, of short selling accounts N
Charts & Patterns (a picture is worth 1000 words) Strategy 0:58 Scotia iTrade AJ Monte of The Market Guys video link Join The Market Guys as they give you the tools you need to identify patterns and simplify charting.
Trading Strategies to Consider for 2012 Strategy 1:01 Scotia iTrade AJ Monte of The Market Guys video link It’s a new year with new beginnings and new challenges. What new ideas can you place in your trading and investing toolbox for 2012? Let AJ Monte explore some possibilities with you.
Combining Technical & Fundamental Analysis Strategy 0:53 Scotia iTrade AJ Monte of The Market Guys video link Far too many investors and traders make the mistake of preferring one method of stock analysis over the other. Join The Market Guys as they show you how and why you need to use both.
Benefit from investing in the U.S. Strategy 0:05 BMO Investorline video link N
Key Strategies for a Bear Market Strategy 1:00 Scotia iTrade AJ Monte of The Market Guys video link Have past market downturns made you shy away from investing? Does today’s market volatility have you scratching your head over what to do? Let AJ Monte show you how to position yourself in order to take advantage of a market downturn. This session will be followed by an open Q&A session on Aug. 20th where you can volunteer stocks for analysis.
Picking Profitable Stocks in Volatile Markets Strategy 1:01 Scotia iTrade AJ Monte of The Market Guys video link Does volatility scare you as as investor? Wish you could understand how trends can influence the future possible direction of the markets? Join AJ Monte as he shows you how to make volatility your best friend in the markets by teaching you how to “Follow The Money”.
Bollinger Bands Technical Analysis n/a Questrade InvestView video link Bollinger bands are a powerful indicator for measuring volatility, which is essentially price movement. Register for InvestView?s Bollinger bands webinar and learn how to effectively use this important tool in your technical analyses.
Introduction to Technical Analysis Technical Analysis 0:25 Interactive Brokers Interactive Brokers video link The Technical Analysis Tour explains the important role of the chart analyst and how technical and fundamental analyses differ. In this introductory tour, you will learn how to identify areas of support and resistance on a chart, the role of different time frames, and how to interpret basic trend formation
Introduction to Technical Analysis with Recognia Technical Analysis 1:04 National Bank Direct Brokerage Kathryn Griffiths – Recognia video link This webinar provides an overview of technical analysis and how it can be used to help make investment and trading decisions. It includes a review of actual patterns and charts as they are identified by the Recognia system and made available to clients on National Bank Direct Brokerage’s transactional website. N
ETFs best practices Exchange-Traded Funds 0:40 Disnat John Gabriel – Morningstar video link John Gabriel from Morningstar discuss ETF best practices, how investors should use ETFs and how to make them part of your portfolio.
The five pillars of evaluating mutual funds Mutual Funds 0:41 Disnat Nick Dedes – Morningstar video link Nick Dedes, Mutual Fund Analyst at Morningstar to discuss the five pillars of evaluating mutual funds.
Stockscores Canadian Active Trader Expo (SCATE) – 2012 Strategy 0:56 Disnat Tyler Bolhorn – Stockscores video link Tyler Bolhorn from Stockscores explains the basics of stock analysis and trading at the 2012 Stockscores Canadian Active Traders Expo (SCATE)
How to Make a Living Trading the Stock Market  Strategy 0:12 Disnat Tyler Bolhorn – Stockscores video link Tyler Bolhorn from Stockscores explains how to make trades holding stocks for minutes or days. This is a video to watch if you want to quit your day job to become a full time trader
Manage Your Retirement Portfolio in Only Minutes a Day Strategy 0:20 Disnat Tyler Bolhorn – Stockscores video link Tyler Bolhorn from Stockscores explains how to manage your retirement portfolio in only minutes a day using Stockscores, stops and technical analysis.
How do you limit your losses? Use options to hedge your portfolio Options 0:51 Disnat Jason Ayres – Montreal Exchange video link This recorded webinar explains the safe usage of options as a means to hedge a portfolio against market risk. Learn to use options to help maintain profits and limit losses.
Emotion Control & Trading – The Mindless Investor Strategy 0:21 Disnat Tyler Bolhorn – Stockscores video link Tyler Bolhorn from Stockscores explains to investors how to manage their emotions and risk. Taking emotion out of trading is probably the most important element a trader as to obtain to be successful at stock trading.
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Learning to Trade On Your Own – Discount Brokerage Educational Resources

discount brokerage education

Learning Objective – Discount Brokerage Education Resources:

  • To understand the different educational resources currently being offered by Canadian discount brokerages

Introduction

Increasingly, Canadian discount brokerages have begun to recognize that retail investors require tools and resources in order to support them in managing their own trading activities.  Fortunately for retail investors, the quality and diversity of resources is improving.  While some discount brokerages have very basic resources, such as glossaries of key terms that count as their “education” section, other discount brokerages, such as TD Waterhouse discount brokerage and Scotia iTrade, offer a number of investor education events both in person and online.

Types of “educational” content

The types of educational presentations that discount brokerages offer usually fall into the “informational” type or the “product orientation” type.  Sometimes there is a mix between the two types, where educational content is presented alongside a specific product, like a trading platform.  Often times, discount brokerages will open up events to existing clients as well as to non-clients in the hopes of being able to generate new business from those that attend the seminars, so be prepared for sales pitches or offers and promotions that are time-limited.  While there are times when you can land a great deal, it is wise to fully understand what you’re going to commit to before signing up on the spot.

Often, modules are presented by experienced teachers or partner organizations that work with a discount brokerage.  The topics presented can cover a wide variety of topics ranging from getting started with trading to more advanced strategies and techniques.   Most educational resources provided by discount brokerages today is geared towards beginners.  For that reason, some information and lessons are presented by staff members or business development associates that don’t have an in-depth background as a trader and/or teacher.  Be sure to ask about the background of the ‘instructor’ to gauge how well-versed they are in discussing the topic they’re presenting.

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Technical Analysis

Technical Analysis

With so many people talking about technical analysis and using stock charts to help make trading and investing decisions, here are some good tutorials to get your feet wet with some of the key concepts and terms used in technical approaches.

Top marks go to the folks at Interactive Brokers for preparing this handy introduction to technical analysis:

http://www.interactivebrokers.com/images/flash/TechnicalAnalysis/index.html

 

This is a great tutorial on charting prepared by Marketwatch explains many terms and concepts used by investors and traders and  can be found here:

http://design.dowjones.com/mwls/Tool-school/r1_charthelp_menu.html

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Short Selling – Two Perspectives

Shortselling

Ever wondered how shorting a stock works? A couple of handy tutorials help explain this often misunderstood approach to trading:

The first is a bit of a technical explanation prepared by Interactive Brokers on how a short sale works:

http://www.interactivebrokers.com/images/flash/shortsale/index.html

 

A simpler version prepared by the Khan Academy can be found here: