The Handy Investing Answer Book. Paul A Tucci

are some good personal finance blogs?

      According to experts at the website www.technorati.com, some of the top personal finance blogs include: Free from Broke (http://freefrombroke.com/), Digerati Life (http://www.thedigeratilife.com/blog/), Oblivious Investor (http://www.obliviousinvestor.com/), Cash Money Life (http://cashmoneylife.com/), and Get Rich Slowly (http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/).

      There is so much information online. How do I choose what to read?

      It is important to use the Internet to search for broad topics, beginning first with various financial sites, and then digging deeper into the subject before moving on to the next subject. If you study this information in small increments, over time you will learn a considerable amount about each of the areas of personal finance of interest to you. When you feel the subject matter is getting too technical for you, stop and move on until you are ready for more details. Websites are developed and produced in the same manner as newspapers and magazines. Editors and writers cover many topics, from basics on personal finance to very advanced technical analysis of individual stocks and trading strategies. Find websites that are at your level, and just dive in. If the story or topic is too deep, try Googling that word or phrase, and read a definition of it before continuing. After you do this daily or weekly, you begin to see similar stories covered many times, and you will be able to develop an opinion on that idea after reading so many different perspectives. This is how you begin to build your knowledge on personal finance and keep current about what is happening with your money.

      How many people use the Internet to find economic or financial information?

      Of the approximately 220 million online users in the United States, according to the Pew Research Center, nearly 70%—or 154 million people—seek some form of economic information while surfing the Internet.

      Where Americans get their financial and economic news.

      What are the most popular sources of financial information?

      Among Americans who use broadband to connect to the Internet, 52% get their financial and economic information from the Web, compared with 43% for TV/cable, and 46% for newspapers.

      How do Americans find economic information?

      Americans use a variety of sources: talking to people; using the Internet; hearing about some financial information while watching TV; listening to financial programming on the radio; and reading a newspaper.

      How active are Americans in using the Web to find financial and economic information?

      Only 18% of Americans actively use the Internet every day to find financial and economic information. About half of all Internet users get this information every few days.

      What percentage of online economic users receive alerts or feeds about news and information pertaining to their investments?

      About 13% of these users utilize Really Simple Syndication feeds (“RSS feeds”) and other alerting tools that allow them automatically to receive information from a website, blog, financial company, or news source that is relevant to their investments or investing ideas.

      What percentage of economic users online use the Internet to find information to protect their personal finances?

      Twenty-seven percent of all users use the Internet in some form to seek information to protect and grow their investments. Seventeen percent use the Web to compare financial companies and professionals who work in financial services.

      Does access to so much information come at another hidden price?

      According to the Pew Research Center, 37% of all economic Internet users feel more worried about our nation’s economic future, compared with 10% who feel more confident about it. The access to so much information, both good and bad, shapes how we feel about our investments and future financial picture.

      What percentage of all online economic users feel they have learned something about our financial crisis?

      Thirty-nine percent of these users feel they have increased their own understanding of the situation by using the Web.

      What percentage of all Americans have contributed to content about the recession online?

      About 23% of all adult Americans have contributed something online about the recession, through blogs, social media sites, comments on news sites, and discussion boards.

      Who are the financial information seekers online?

      The majority of Internet users seeking financial information are older than 30. In fact, 14% are age 30–49, 13% are 50–64, and 15% are 65 and older. Only 6% of these users are age 18–29.

      What is “investing”?

      Investing is the act of using money to buy a financial product with the expectation of making more money over a period of time than what you used to buy the financial product.

      How long should I hold an investment?

      Some people who trade stocks can make a return on their investment in a few seconds, while others take a few months or even years. If you keep your money invested in cash in a bank, you might make anywhere from 0% interest to a few percent return on the investment over a few years.

      What must I consider before investing?

      You must decide what type of investment to buy, how much money to put into the investment, how long you will hold it, how much of a return you wish to make, how much risk there is of losing money on the investment over time, how much could you potentially make, and how much you can afford to lose.

      What is “total return”?

      Total return means how much your investment grew over a period of time, including all interest, dividends, and capital appreciation, less fees and/or commissions.

      How do I compute the total return?

      Your total return is computed by taking the amount your initial investment increased (your gain) plus all dividends or interest you received while you owned it. To calculate your percentage of total return, take the number you calculated above and divide by the amount of your initial investment. In order to compute your total return on an annual basis, take your percentage of total return and divide by the number of years you held the investment. Of course, these calculations are not adjusted for any taxes due on the investment gains. Please consult your tax adviser for further information.

       What is a simple example of return on investment?

      If you bought a stock for $5,000 on January 1, and sold it one year later for $5,500, your return would be 10%. You can compute this by subtracting $5,000 from $5,500, dividing this number ($500) by $5,000, and multiply by 100. This means your investment earned a one-year return of 10%.

      What is “return on investment”?

      Return on investment, expressed as a percentage, means how much more money you will make or earn over a period of time as a result of buying the investment.

      How do I compute my return on investment?

      You can figure your return on investment by taking how much money you originally put in when you purchased it, and subtracting it from the value of your investment when you sell it, less any fees/commissions or taxes, and then dividing this number by the amount you originally invested. Multiply this number by 100 to reveal your return on the investment, expressed as a percentage.

      Why is patience important to successful investing?

      Patience is important to successful investing because you may have