Investing For Beginners – Free Investment Articles and Tutorials

Eighteen years ago, right after graduation from dental school, Morris Clark met a Connecticut financial advisor who taught him how to save and invest. “Peter talked about how finances can fit into the rest of your life,” says Clark. “His greatest value was in giving me the information I needed to think intelligently about money and separate emotion from objectivity. I learned to know when I was in over my head, when financial opportunities were more sophisticated than they appeared, and what to look for when examining a new investment choice.”

He showed me there are ways to take risk without jeopardizing my entire financial program” – Morris Clark, D.D.S.

“Peter knows I’m a risk-taker,” adds Clark, “so he showed me there are ways to take risk without jeopardizing my entire financial program.” “ That’s why I think it’s so important to have a real live person to work with, one who understands your personality. In all the years that I’ve known Peter I haven’t made any financial decisions without him, nor have I regretted any of the decisions I made.” Now a successful oral surgeon at the University of Colorado Dental School, 49-year old Dr. Clark has a bronze plaque tacked to the wall of his comfortable house. It says, “Thanks, Peter.”

Like all the people introduced on these pages, Dr. Clark is a real investor with real problems who found real help working with an investment professional. These situations may not be indicative of your circumstances or future experiences – which is exactly the point. That’s why you need to work with a real financial advisor who understands your unique situation.

Ms. Michael Drury is a single woman. A 76-year-old writer from Newport, Rhode Island, she has contributed articles over the years to Reader’s Digest, Good Housekeeping, and other popular periodicals. Today she supports herself with Social Security payments, writing, and income from the mutual funds her advisor persuaded her to invest in when she divorced thirty years ago. Freelance writing, she says, “is a bit like playing the horses for a living, and I set out about 45 years ago to provide my own pension. I saw too many artists and writers babysitting and doing other odd jobs to survive after 65. With excellent help from wise financial advisors – the first of whom would not let me invest at all for six months until he educated me about mutual funds and other investments – I now have a steady income.”

“He wouldn’t let me invest at all for six months until he educated me about mutual funds and other investments” – Michael Drury

Ms. Drury’s first investment consultant died some time ago, but her current financial advisor, an investment professional in Boston, is equally helpful, Ms. Drury says. “He’s always watching my pennies very carefully,” she says. “He’s so conservative that, if I suggest a speculative stock investment, he says, ‘Okay, you buy it, but not through me.’” As for the sales charges she’s paid over the years for that kind of advice, Ms. Drury insists, “Getting expert help makes all the difference.”

Young families often find financial advisors help them get started with an investment plan while time is on their side. Indiana businessman Mike Joseph and his wife Dana say their working relationship with an Indianapolis financial planner has reassured them that they are preparing for their children’s future. Mike, 34, in the oriental rug business with his father, and Dana, 29, a registered nurse, have a five-year-old daughter and a three-year-old son. “With the plan that our advisor helped us develop I feel like I can breathe easier.” Mike says, “She’s given us choices among mutual funds and other investment options,” he adds. “Our planner takes a genuine interest in us and treats us like family. She’s not just selling us products.”

“Our planner takes a genuine interest in us and treats us like family. She’s not just selling us products” – Mike & Dana Joseph

“It’s one thing to organize my business,” says Mike. “I can do that. But I need a professional to help me organize my personal finances.”

Some Investors Prefer to Do It Themselves…

Not all mutual fund investors employ professional financial advisors, though. Just as there are computer savvy people who like to assemble their own systems rather than hire a consultant, car lovers who enjoy tinkering under the hood rather than hire a mechanic, and taxpayers who prepare their own IRS returns instead of employing an accountant, some investors prefer to do it themselves.

Of course you can buy mutual fund shares directly through a mutual fund company. These are known as “no load” funds. Although they often carry no sales charges, like all mutual funds they charge management fees, which average about 0.6 percent on all stock and bond funds.* (Other annual expenses, such as payment for auditors, transfer agents, custodians, and lawyers, will vary in size.) Investors who buy fund shares through a financial advisor usually pay a sales charge, either when they first purchase the shares or when they redeem the shares. They may also pay an annual charge based on a percentage of their current investment in the fund or a fee for the advisor’s time. The real difference is that, when you buy directly from the fund company, you don’t have the benefit of a personal financial advisor. In most cases investors must make their own investment decisions after doing their own extensive homework.

When you buy directly from a fund company,
you don’t have the benefit of a personal financial advisor.

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