This Week...
Featured Classroom: Evaluating Dividend-Paying Stocks (Scroll down for more courses)	How good are you at analyzing dividend-paying stocks? Click here to test your knowledge.

First Steps to Successful Investing Need help getting your foot in the door of the investing world? A few simple concepts lay the groundwork for establishing a portfolio that fits your needs and goals.

	Balancing Your Return Ideals With the Realities of Risk
	Know Thyself: How Your Needs Will Steer Your Decisions
	Dividing Your Assets Between Stocks, Bonds and Cash
	Slicing Up the Stock and Bond Pies
	Making Your First Investments
	Setting Up an Ongoing Investing Program

Understanding How Mutual Funds Work If you're contemplating investment in mutual funds, you'll want to arm yourself with some basic information. A tour through this classroom gives you all the tools you need to get started.

	Mutual Funds by Design
	Grappling With Fund Risk
	Fund Statements: What to Look For
	Fund Mechanics: Investing & Redeeming

Choosing the Best Fund for You With thousands of mutual funds to choose from, how do you narrow the field? Knowing the right questions to ask, and where to find the answers, will allow you to focus on the funds that are right for you.

	What You Need to Know: The Nine Essential Fund Facts
	Researching Funds Through the Internet
	Tips When Looking at Funds
	Getting to Know a Fund's Manager: Question to Ask
	Breaking a Tie Between Funds

Digging for Gold: What the Financial Statements Reveal About a Firm Trying to determine the worth of a company is like going on a mining expedition, but it doesn't have to be laborious. A basic understanding of the important numbers will ease your way.

	Snapshot of a Stock: The Balance Sheet
	Mapping Earnings: Finding the Bottom Line in Profits
	Show Me the Money: Tracing a Firm's Cash Flow
	Putting the Numbers to Work: The Magic of Ratios
	Frequently Asked Questions About Financial Statements

How to Choose a Stock Checking out the merits of a stock as a potential investment can be a daunting task. Our Valuation Worksheet simplifies the process so that you can easily determine what any stock is worth.

	Using a Simple Worksheet to Analyze a Stock
	Collecting Basic Data on a Stock
	Evaluating Dividend-Paying Stocks
	Evaluating Growth Stocks

Investing in Bonds Think of the bond market as a mystery wrapped in an enigma? You are not alone. But this classroom pulls back the curtain so that you can analyze individual bonds with confidence.

	Getting a Handle on the Bond Market
	Why Bond Prices Go Up and Down
	Understanding Bond Credit Ratings
	The Ins and Outs of Bond Yield