Lark Birdsong's List: Financial

book with chapter summaries

"The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) brings together the shared interests of hundreds of securities firms, banks and asset managers. SIFMA's mission is to support a strong financial industry, investor opportunity, capital formation, job creation and economic growth, while building trust and confidence in the financial markets. "

With TheMarkets.com, clients enhance portfolio and firm performance by streamlining access to investment research while maintaining the key relationships the firm values.

"mPayy, Inc. is a multi-channel, electronic, alternative payment company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in June 2007 by independent and institutional investors. We provide a highly secure, easy-to-use, flexible and efficient alternative payment solution. "

"Stocks "

"Today, we released ‘Market Pulse’ which is an aggregated stream of information from around the web. We blend the quality data from our launch partners such as Stocktwits and Covestor with internal feeds to show what’s happening in real time. We believe this continuous stream of information will help you get an edge on your trades. More partners will be joining the stream soon. While you are reading the pulse, you may be interested to know what’s buzzing on Market Pulse on Yahoo! Finance. Trending Pulse helps you identify companies that have an unusual amount of buzz among active investors throughout the tickers on Yahoo! Finance"

"Many of the financial blogosphere's luminaries, like Felix Salmon, John Carney and Roger Ehrenberg, are carrying on this debate right now.

And since I'm in the solutions business, I've created the above guide that may help a bit...

Just my 2 cents.

Some of my other guides:

Venture, Angel or Private Placement? (TRB)

Decoding Mutual Fund Brochures (TRB)"

"Two prominent schools of investment analysis are fundamental analysis and technical analysis. Fundamental analysis involves analyzing a company’s financial statements and health, its management and competitive advantages, and its competitors and markets. By contrast, technical analysis—in its purest form—assumes that all of these factors are reflected in the price of the company’s stock. As a result, technicians focus on the price activity and trading volume of securities to gain an understanding of the supply and demand to help them time buy and sell decisions. The hope is that the analysis of past behavior may uncover patterns that point to future price movements."

"Many individual investors view individual stock analysis and selection as a daunting task. However, the process can be made easier by organizing the decision-making process to ensure that pertinent data and information are evaluated in a logical sequence so that the investor can arrive at a reasonable and thoughtful decision."

"In the article “Buy-and-Hold Versus Market Timing,” which begins on page 16 in this issue, we discuss the research of Theodore Wong, who tested a moving average crossover MAC system to see if it was possible to generate better returns than a buy-and-hold strategy over an extended period of time. He used the interplay between the market index and a moving average of the index to time when to be invested in the market and when to hold cash."

"Spreadsheets allow us a great deal of flexibility when it comes to analyzing and manipulating financial data. However, a big hurdle is simply getting that data to manipulate and analyze.

While several Web sites, such as Yahoo! Finance and Google Finance, provide price and volume data that is easily downloadable to a spreadsheet, finding other data—and importing it into a spreadsheet—poses more of a challenge. Manually entering selected financial data for a few companies may not be overly time-consuming, but attempting to enter in detailed financial statement data for even a single company would be tedious and laborious."

"Evaluating stocks, bonds, mutual funds and ETFs is essential before investing. Most people know to look at financial statement data, ratios and valuation statistics, technical analysis charts and analyst opinions, but you can learn a lot about a potential investment by researching the investment’s industry and sector."

"Like most successful stockpickers, Warren Buffett thinks that the efficient market theory is absolute rubbish. Buffett has backed up his beliefs with a successful track record through Berkshire Hathaway, his publicly traded holding company."

"The Internet has become an invaluable source for investment information, tips, education and security data. There are thousands of sites that offer financial data. This comparison focuses on the best Web sites for comprehensive financial data coverage and tools. These sites offer portfolio tracking tools; stock, fund and ETF screening; technical charting; and educational advice. Each of these areas can be used in tandem to analyze and help select appropriate investments."