Understanding Stocks and Bonds: A Beginner's Guide

If finance talk makes you feel locked out of the conversation, this is the guide that hands you the vocabulary. It starts with what a stock and a bond actually are, works through risk, diversification and where to hold your money, and ends with the mindset that keeps people invested when markets wobble. Written for complete beginners, with no assumed knowledge and no jargon left unexplained.

What's inside

• The vocabulary first: what stocks, bonds, the market, a portfolio, asset allocation and risk tolerance actually mean
• Why investing matters even on a modest income, and a straight answer to the three excuses people usually give
• Stocks explained: common and preferred, growth and value, dividends and capital appreciation
• Bonds explained: Treasuries, TIPS, corporate, municipal, agency and high-yield, plus coupon payments and maturity
• The five kinds of risk to know about - market, interest rate, credit, inflation and liquidity - and how to work out your own risk tolerance from your time horizon, goals and circumstances
• How to diversify: asset allocation, spreading within asset classes, international exposure and rebalancing
• Where to hold investments, from brokerage accounts to 401(k)s, traditional and Roth IRAs, mutual funds and ETFs
• Staying steady when markets fall: why they move, the emotional traps to avoid, and a plan for sticking to your plan

Details

• PDF, 37 pages
• Instant digital download
• Read on any device, or print it
• For personal use