How to Invest in Stocks, Mutual Funds & ETFs for Beginners

Name: How to Invest in Stocks, Mutual Funds & ETFs for Beginners
Rating: 4.7 (29 reviews)

Learn to Invest in the Stock Market, Choose Stocks and ETFs, Place Orders to Buy and Sell Shares, Read a Stock Chart

Created byPatricia Saylor

Last updated 9/2022

English

English [Auto],

What you'll learn

Research and select stocks for a personal investment portfolio.
Enter market and limit orders to control the price you pay for stocks.
Understand financial services companies, funds and fund families.
Make informed choices about how to use dividend payments; cash or reinvestment?
Understand the benefits and risks of lump sum investing vs dollar cost averaging.
Read a candlestick chart.
Enter a trailing stop order to protect your profits.
Meet The Fearless Girl and The Charging Bull.

Course content

6 sections • 24 lectures • 49m total length

Welcome | Ready to Make Decisions1:44
Course Overview0:57

Bulls Bears and Corrections1:59
Explore stock market fluctuations by defining bull markets, bear markets, and corrections, including 20% rallies, 20% declines, and 10% corrections, with buy opportunities in context.
Questions to Ask Yourself1:20
Researching a Stock2:33
Diversification | Donna's Portfolio1:57
Explore diversification as a risk management strategy through Donna's portfolio, spreading a starting $750 and monthly $100 contributions across several stocks to avoid concentrated risk.
Risk Tolerance | My Risk With Shopify1:55
Learn risk tolerance through a real Shopify story: invest a small portion in confident stocks or funds, then decide whether to hold or sell after a large gain.
Terminology Review #1

Sage Advice2:12
Dividends and Dividend Payment Dates1:28
Learn how dividends work, including quarterly payments and key dates—dividend declaration, ex-dividend, and payment dates—to time purchases and capture returns.
Lump Sum Investing vs Dollar Cost Averaging2:02
Reading a Chart | Jackie; KO, WBA and T7:27
Read along with Jackie as she analyzes charts and plans her purchases of Coca Cola, Walgreens and ATT.
Candlesticks1:41
Understand candlestick charts showing opening and closing prices, green candles, red candles, with shadows for highs and lows, and learn about dividend payments, price support and resistance.
Price Support and Resistance1:46

Market vs Limit Orders (Alyssa buys KO)4:47
Sell with Trailing Stop Orders (Francine)3:25
Use trailing stop orders to automatically sell shares when prices pull back, locking in gains as stock trails, demonstrated by Francine, a 10% trail on 10 shares bought at $50.
Deciding to Sell: My Shopify Stock1:50
I evaluated my Shopify position, sold four shares at $718 to recover my original investment after the shares approached ten times my cost, and kept 16 for the long term.
Short term/long term capital gains taxes1:40

Funds1:23
Learn how mutual funds and ETFs let you diversify your portfolio and access a range of investments, either by choosing individual funds or by owning shares of a diversified fund.
Fund Families, Managers and Financial Services Corporations2:37
Mutual Funds and ETFs0:48
Personal Reflection and Sharing0:48
Finish the course by completing a personal assignment that helps organize and share your investing goals and style, then post to the Financial Fundamentals Online Forum for feedback.
Terminology Review #2

Requirements

Have at least some understanding of the stock market and related terminology.
Recommend Completion of Level One, Novice Investors Guide to the Stock Market
Set up an individually-managed brokerage account where you can buy and sell shares of stock.
Or have a paper trading account where you can practice buying and selling.

Description

Are you ready to take charge of your own investment accounts? Make informed decisions about how to manage your money and let it work for you.

Know what questions to ask and learn basic research skills to understand the companies in which you are considering investing. Feel more confident choosing stocks, mutual funds and ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds).

Understand bulls, bears and corrections and why a correction can be a great time to buy. Protect your investments with diversification, by wisely selecting your own investments or by buying diversified funds.

Know which stocks pay a dividend and the importance of dividend dates, including declaration, ex-dividend and payment dates. Decide whether you will take your dividends in cash or use them to re-invest in shares of the company that pays them.

Use your knowledge to decide not only what to buy, but when to buy. Read a stock chart, look at trends, and decide whether lump sum investing or dollar cost averaging is right for you. Enjoy several case studies with examples of investors who are making the kinds of decisions you will be making.

See the relationships between investment companies, fund managers and brokerage services. Sometimes the names seem the same when the services are not!

Finish this course as a stronger, more knowledgeable investor. Then, after you gain some investing experience, I hope you will join our Novice Options Traders program and safely take your investing to the next level.

Who this course is for:

Novice investors who are ready to invest.
Investors wanting to make more informed choices about their stock market purchases.
Investors who want to speak confidently with a financial advisor.

How to Invest in Stocks, Mutual Funds & ETFs for Beginners

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Introduction2 lectures • 3min

Choosing Stocks5 lectures • 10min

When to Buy, How Much to Pay, Charts6 lectures • 17min

Orders to Buy and Sell Stocks4 lectures • 12min

Mutual Funds and Exchange Traded Funds4 lectures • 6min

The Fearless Girl and the Charging Bull3 lectures • 3min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: