Some of the best sites

401k Retirement Investing

Smart 401k Investing is a site run by the National Association of Securities Dealers. (NASD).  It provides an excellent overview of 401k investing, a critical component of your retirement.

Charting

BigCharts offers several different charting technologies as well as news items.  Owned by MarketWatch it provides an easy way to create quality charts for trading and investing.

IQ Chart is a feature rich, web based charting site available by subscription.  A good one for active traders of stocks, options and e-mini futures contracts.  If you are looking for a quality subscription service this is an excellent choice and they have a 30 day free trail.

Prophet.net is comprehensive charting service that offers a basic charting for free and 3 subscription levels.  Provides extensive features and excellent charts.  Very useful for both traders and investors.

StockCharts.com is another quality charting site with a comprehensive set of features.  One unique item is their Public Charts List, a place where members can present their charting ideas for the market and stocks.  There are some excellent ideas there.

Economics

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is the home to a wealth of information on economics and finance.

Education

AAII: The American Association of Individual Investors specializes in providing investment education and they have a stock screener.

Investors Alliance is a non-profit membership association serving individual investors with programs of investment education, research, and information.

Investopedia.com - your complete, unbiased, and easy to understand educational guide to investing and personal finance. The site includes the most comprehensive investing dictionary on the web as well as tutorials and articles covering just about every area of the market.

Shrewd Investing: Stock market research and investment education for stock market investing with links to free stock research tools, investment basics, investor news and online resources.

Financial Analysis

FinPortfolio has excellent institutional quality financial planning and portfolio analysis tools.

Financial Analysis and Business Analysis Tools.

Investment advisor - stock market forecast, analysis and commentary

Calculate Financial Ratios.

Business Owners Tool Kit.

Financial Information

The stock exchanges such as the NYSE, NASDAQ. ArcaEx and AMEX each offer valuable information on investing and trading stocks, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and options.  ArcaEx  merged with the NYSE.

Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) trades futures and options with ore than 3,600 members trading 50 different futures and options products through open auction and/or electronically.  Volume at the Exchange in 2005 surpassed 674 million contracts.

Crestmont Research - Crestmont Research develops provocative insights on the financial markets. The primary focus of the research has concentrated on the characteristics of secular stock market cycles, the impact of historical interest rates on the stock market and bond ladder investing.

FinancialSense.com - Uncommon News and Views for the Wise Investor. Daily market commentary, resource pages, current news, editorials from around the world, and a 3-hour weekly Internet broadcast.

Google Finance is an excellent source for financial and stock information with some unique twists.

MarketWatch is a good source of news and stock insight as well as research information, much of it free.

MoneyChimp: learn Stock Investing, Index Funds, Valuation Models, and more is an excellent source for all kinds of financial information.

MSN Money is another good source of news and stock information as well as stock screening.

Securities and Exchange Commission Investor site offers an extensive set of information for today's investors.

SmartMoney.com is a good source of news and research with a lot of free information.

Comprehensive Directory of the Top Financial Sites on the Internet, FinancialLinksOnline.com

Yahoo.finance is an excellent source for financial and stock information.  I use it every day.

Glossaries

OASIS Management provides an excellent glossary on financial, business and technical terms.

Stock Screeners

AOL stock screener
BusinessWeek stock screener
Joel Greenblatt's "Magic Formula"
Morningstar stock screener
MSN Money central stock screener
MarketWatch stock screener
Reuters Powerscreener Lite
Yahoo stock screener

Taxes

Bankrate.com provides some valuable comments on taxes including capital gains rates.

Intuit's TurboTax also offers information on many tax topics.

Smart-Money highlights tax topics as well.

Of course, you can always go to the Internal Revenue Service.

Magazines

Barron's A weekly magazine for investors that contains some of the best analysis on companies, markets and the economy.

The Wall Street Journal [1-year subscription] This daily newspaper seeks to inform the educated reader about pressing economic, business, finance and world events.

Book List

Investors

Active Value Investing: Making Money in Range-Bound Markets (Wiley Finance) by Vitaliy Katsenelson. The core of Katsenelson's strategy is to break down into three key pieces what you need to look at when analyzing a company: Quality, Valuation, and Growth (QVG).

Ahead of the Curve: A Commonsense Guide to Forecasting Business and Market Cycles by Joe Ellis is an excellent book on how to predict macro moves of the market.

Analysing and Interpreting the Yield Curve (Wiley Finance) by Moorad Choudhry does a good job explaining how to trade and invest using the yield curve. Investors interested in the bond market will find this book helpful.

Automatic Wealth for Grads... And Anyone Else Just Starting Out by Michael Masterson describes a complete program for recent college graduates and any else just starting to achieve financial independence.

The Exchange-Traded Funds Manual by Gary L. Gastineau The manual on Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).

Economic Growth by David Weil. An easy to read book that presents the key factors to understand global economies. It is expensive and is used as a text book for college students, but it is worth the money.

Financial Institutions, Markets, and Money by David S. Kidwell, David W. Blackwell, David A. Whidbee and Richard L Peterson. The best book I can find on financial institutions including how they work and analyzing their statements.

Financial Statement Analysis and Security Valuation by Stephan Penman.  By focusing on the output of financial statements, Professor helps readers understand how to use financial statements to value companies.  While expensive, this text book is an excellent reference for any investor who likes to do their own analysis and will pay for itself very quickly.

How To Make Money In Stocks: A Winning System in Good Times or Bad, 3rd Edition by William J. O'Neil is an excellent book on how to pick winning stocks.  Mr. O'Neil is the founder of Investors Business Daily a national financial newspaper read by many professional traders and investors.

Irrational Exuberance: Second Edition by Robert J. Shiller. An evaluation of market volatility and market excesses that can destabilize the economy and disrupt the stock market. In this edition he also examines the inflated real estate prices and its potential to harm markets and economies.

Stocks for the Long Run : The Definitive Guide to Financial Market Returns and Long-Term Investment Strategies by Jeremy Siegel. A history of the stock market that makes the case for long-term investing in stocks.

The Little Book That Beats the Market by Joel Greenblatt.  In about 2 hours you can read one of the best books on how to beat the market.  In fact, this book is one of the foundation blocks to our portfolio recommendations.  A must read.

The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing (Revised Edition) by Jason Kelly combines friendly guidance and sound financial expertise, giving readers a solid foundation on which to build a profitable portfolio. The guide includes important tips from Wall Street masters Peter Lynch, Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett, and others.

Just One Thing: Twelve of the World's Best Investors Reveal the One Strategy You Can't Overlook edited by John Mauldin.  Twelve investment gurus share the most important advice they have.  Well worth reading.

Rocking Wall Street: Four Powerful Strategies That will Shake Up the Way You Invest, Build Your Wealth And Give You Your Life Back by Gary Marks. Causing waves of dissent with many of the street's professionals, this book is easy to read yet insightful view of how to invest.

Value Investing: From Graham to Buffett and Beyond by Bruce C. N. Greenwald, Judd Kahn, Paul D. Sonkin, Michael van Biema Value investing in the manner initially defined by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd rests on three key characteristics of financial markets.

Sector Investing, 1996 by Sam Stovell discusses how to use sector rotation in your investing endeavors. Another expensive book, but worthwhile for those interested in using sector rotation strategies to improve the performance of their portfolios.

Standard & Poor's Guide to Sector Investing 1995 by Sam Stovell introduces the concept of sector rotation and how to use it to achieve higher performance in the stock market. While expensive, it is an important read for anyone interested in the theory and application of sector rotation.

Unexpected Returns: Understanding Secular Stock Market Cycles by Ed Easterling.  One of the best, easy-to-read, study of stock market cycles of which I know.

The End of Medicine : How Silicon Valley (and Naked Mice) Will Reboot Your Doctor by Andy Kessler, a successful hedge fund manager discusses the changes in medicine that technology will spawn.

The Intelligent Investor: The Classic Text on Value Investing by Benjamin Graham, the father of Value Investing. Warren Buffett studied under Mr. Graham and he became a very successful investor. An important read for every investor.

Stock Options

Options As a Strategic Investment (4th Edition Study Guide) by Lawrence G. McMill is a thorough study of options. It is as much a reference book and provides all the detail you would need on options.

Options Made Easy: Your Guide to Profitable Trading (2nd Edition) by Guy Cohen is an easier read to help investors understand options.

Traders

Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns (Wiley Trading) by Thomas N. Bulkowski is the only definitive study of chart patterns that includes statistical analysis of the success and failure of over 50 chart patterns.  It is a must have reference for every trader.

The Disciplined Trader: Developing Winning Attitudes by Mark Douglas.  Controlling ones attitudes and emotions are crucial if you are to be a successful trader.  An important read for all traders.

Stan Weinstein's Secrets For Profiting in Bull and Bear Markets is one of the best books on "reading the market".  It is easy to read and an excellent description of how traders and investors use technical analysis.

The Stock Market

The Stock Market Course by George A. Fontanills  An easy to read book on the basics of the stock market.  The Stock Market Course, Workbook is also available.  Highly recommended.

If You're Clueless About the Stock Market and Want to Know More by Seth Godin.  Good way to learn about the stock market, especially if you are an investor and not interested in day trading.

Stock Investing for Dummies by Paul Mladjenovic.  Another good book to get you familiar with investing in the stock market.

Stock Market Logic: A Sophisticated Approach to Profits on Wall Street (Dearborn Financial Publishing) by Norman Fosback. A valuable book on many stock market indicators and how to assess the health of the market.

Home Buying

The New Complete Book of Home Buying is a good place to start when buying a home.

Doing Good With Your Wealth

Three Cups of Tea : One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations . . . One School at a Time is a great story of how one man is making a difference in Afghanistan.  Just think what the world would be like if each of us did a little more to make it a better place.

Career Development

Don't Blow the Interview : How to Prepare, What to Expect, and How to React helps you get ready for that all important interview.  Good luck.

Right from the Start: Taking Charge in a New Leadership Role discusses how to begin that new job or position so you will be a success.  It covers the non-technical aspects of career success and is especially helpful as you become an executive.