<p>Just wondering if anyone knew of any good financial / investment forums?</p>
<p>Or rather, what do you use to stay updated on markets?</p>
<p>I don't plan on investing yet, but some interesting stuff is going on in the marketplace--credit crunch, fed pouring 24 billion into the money market, etc.</p>
<p>any advice would be appreciated!</p>
<p>I watch BBC and listen to the news on the radio.
It has been suggested to me to invest in businesses in accordance with the state of finances in the nation/financial cycle. I believe currently is the time to invest in staples such as that company P&G (Procotor and Gamble...sorry I cannot spell that...). </p>
<p>Latest I have heard, the decision to maintain interest rates in the US has possibilty to cause a world-wide recession. Sounds lovely, eh?</p>
<p>DOW went down yesterday too...has been doing that a lot recently. But who can say that daily numbers are indicative of anything?</p>
<p>I wouldn't mess with forums...</p>
<p>Read the WSJ, Yahoo Finance! updates, and watch CNBC if you can--you learn quite a lot this way.</p>
<p>I do follow the markets....I actually maintain a virtual portfolio. </p>
<p>PM me with your email and I can send you an invitation.</p>
<p>I have a couple of virtual portfolios. I wouldn't use forums to gather information about the stock market. Watching CNBC is a good idea or getting info off of good websites.</p>
<p>motley fool is ok, lots of basic and free info at investopedia too</p>
<p>oh and the dow went down maybe 30 points yesterday so it wasn't that much, thurs it went down quite a bit more then that though</p>
<p>i personally use zecco for my "real" trading and <a href="http://simulator.zacks.com%5B/url%5D">http://simulator.zacks.com</a> for simulated stuff (I didn't go looking around for the best simulated one much)</p>
<p>Here is the Dow during the last month:</p>
<p>
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<p>Reminds me of Goliath at Six Flags...</p>
<p>I would second grandpabuzz's advice wholeheartedly. </p>
<p>Motley Fool CAPS is interesting but only for finding stocks-- DO NOT follow the recommendations on there or anywhere else at all without doing a lot of research first. Yahoo MSG boards are good to read, but they are chock full of noise.</p>
<p>I'll add these bits too:
x Take everything non-objective that people tell you about stocks/the market with a grain of salt.
x Do your research before you act. [I said this above, but it's really important]
x Stay the hell away from penny stocks. Small cap is okay.
x Remember the tax benefits of a long position versus short in your general investment strategy. (i.e. don't day trade)
x Remember you win some and you lose some. Don't let the losses get you down. Just make sure you win more than you lose. :D
x Diversify, Diversify, Diversify!</p>
<p>[That list is not all conclusive--I tried to stay away from matters of personal opinion and to keep it general.]</p>
<p>Not market related, but fatwallet finance forums is very good for credit related info and various other things.</p>
<p>There are lots of good sources of information. MSN has good info under their money section, Bloomberg news etc. The problem with tv shows is in general they sensationalize everything - just like now. Try reading books on the subject. One word of caution - take any advice from virtually anyone with a grain of salt. Nobody really knows what the market is going to do except that over time (years) it generally goes up.</p>