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Low interest rates on bank savings accounts have many people looking for
more productive ways to invest their money, but the world of stocks,
bonds and mutual funds can be intimidating to the uninitiated.
Fortunately, the World Wide Web is full of investment information, for
both novice and veteran investors, and surprisingly, much of it is free.
A good place to start looking for investment resources is InvestorWeb (http://www.investorweb.com/). The InvestorWeb homepage offers several menu options, one of them being the "Beginning Investors Page." Topics covered on this page include: "Asset Allocation for the Absolute Beginner," "Individual Stock Investing for the Small Investor," "Investment Style," "Money and Investing" and "Good Books for Beginners." More seasoned investors will find InvestorWeb's links to other investment sites a boon to their financial research. When most individuals take their initial plunge into the stock market, they usually invest through mutual funds, so it is not surprising that several mutual funds sites have appeared on the Web. One of the most popular sites is NETworth: The Internet Investor Network (http://networth.galt.com/). NETworth provides access to the well-respected Morningstar database which supplies profiles on more than 5,000 mutual funds. The site also features the "Fund Atlas," a customized search function that lets you define and organize the mutual funds that are of interest to you. NETworth can be searched for free, but registration is required. Once registered, you'll be assigned a user name and password. These should be written down because you'll need them for future searching sessions. Serious investors will be happy to learn that a number of Internet sites offer free 15-minute delayed stock quotes. A very popular quote site (it doesn't require you to register) is the Security APL Quote Server (http://www.secapl.com/cgi-bin/qs /). Access is by ticker symbol, and a ticker symbol look-up feature is supported. Information provided includes the usual stock quote data, but Beta, price/earnings ratio, and annual dividend data are supplied for most companies as well. For assistance in connecting to the World Wide Web via UB computer accounts, contact the Computing Center's Help Desk at 645-3542. For more information on Internet investment resources, contact Michael Lavin, MRLAVIN@ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU, Lockwood Library, 645-6211. -Gemma DeVinney and Don Hartman, University Libraries
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