Online Investing: The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition's Complete Guide to Becoming a Successful Internet Investor [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Dave Pettit (Author), Rich Jaroslovsky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 23, 2000

The only book investors need to reap the rewards and avoid the treacheries of the investing cyber jungle.

When it comes to personal investing, the Internet has changed all the rules. The sophisticated tools and access to information once enjoyed only by financial professionals and the most well-heeled of investors are now easily available to anyone with a computer and a modem. But online investing can be a treacherous cyber jungle. Who better than the reporters and editors of The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition, the online version of The Wall Street Journal, the world's most authoritative source of business and financial information, to provide you with the best and most complete coverage of everything you need to know about online investing?

This is a book any investor can use, whether you're just starting a portfolio or have years of experience in the markets. Online Investing provides basic, must-know information on stocks, mutual funds, and bonds. It then shows how to take advantage of the vast power of the Internet to become a savvy and successful investor. The coverage includes:How to trade stocks online (and a rundown on the biggest, most popular online trading firms) How to use the Internet to research and take part in initial public offerings (IPOs)The online resources for choosing the best mutual fundsHow to navigate the complicated world of bonds, futures, and optionsTools of the trade. A guide to the wealth of information and resources available on the Net: from stock quotes and news stories to Wall Street research reports, corporate documents, investment primers, and sophisticated spreadsheetsHow to find a message board for your investing needs and interpret the information you findHow to spot scams and deceptionsRecourse: What to do if you lose money, have a dispute with your broker, or are scammedElectronic banking: How to use the Web to get the best deals on credit cards, mortgages, and insurance

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The editors of the online version of The Wall Street Journal have produced a comprehensive overview of the best Web sites and resources available to the online investor. "There's no question that the Net has empowered a new generation of investors, giving them access to information and tools that were once available only to the privileged Wall Street few," say authors Dave Pettit and Rich Jaroslovsky in Online Investing.

Both the neophyte and savvy investor will find this book an informative and useful resource. It tells where to find the best interactive tools, online calculators, and worksheets for selecting stocks and mutual funds and for researching and charting investments. There's plenty of practical information here, such as how to pick an online broker and how to invest online in IPOs, bonds, futures, and options. Newsletters, bulletin boards and chat rooms are covered, and there's a detailed chapter on how to avoid the online scams, frauds, and deceptions that author Pettit specializes in exposing in his online column "Heard on the Net." For those already victimized, a chapter entitled "Recourse" includes contact information for state and federal regulators and details as to how to proceed. Concluding chapters explain how to choose an online banking service, and how to find the best online deals on credit cards, home mortgages, and insurance.

There is much of practical value here for those who use the Internet to research, trade, and track investments and finances. As a guide to the best of these sites on the Web, this book is highly recommended. --Scott Harrison

From the Inside Flap

The only book investors need to reap the rewards and avoid the treacheries of the investing cyber jungle.

When it comes to personal investing, the Internet has changed all the rules. The sophisticated tools and access to information once enjoyed only by financial professionals and the most well-heeled of investors are now easily available to anyone with a computer and a modem. But online investing can be a treacherous cyber jungle. Who better than the reporters and editors of The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition, the online version of The Wall Street Journal, the world's most authoritative source of business and financial information, to provide you with the best and most complete coverage of everything you need to know about online investing?

This is a book any investor can use, whether you're just starting a portfolio or have years of experience in the markets. Online Investing provides basic, must-know information on stocks, mutual funds, and bonds. It then shows how to take advantage of the vast power of the Internet to become a savvy and successful investor. The coverage includes:How to trade stocks online (and a rundown on the biggest, most popular online trading firms) How to use the Internet to research and take part in initial public offerings (IPOs)The online resources for choosing the best mutual fundsHow to navigate the complicated world of bonds, futures, and optionsTools of the trade. A guide to the wealth of information and resources available on the Net: from stock quotes and news stories to Wall Street research reports, corporate documents, investment primers, and sophisticated spreadsheetsHow to find a message board for your investing needs and interpret the information you findHow to spot scams and deceptionsRecourse: What to do if you lose money, have a dispute with your broker, or are scammedElectronic banking: How to use the Web to get the best deals on credit cards, mortgages, and insurance

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 342 pages
• Publisher: Crown Business; 1 edition (May 23, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812932501
• ISBN-13: 978-0812932508
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,908,888 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars very basic guidebook for novices, September 26, 2000

By 

+++ (OR, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Online Investing: The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition's Complete Guide to Becoming a Successful Internet Investor (Hardcover)

This book is an entertaining, written in easy non-technical language, but VERY basic text about what types of investing and trading exist, how they work (i.e., what and where is traded), and where to look for further information about these issues on the internet. The book does a good job discussing what sources of information can be trusted on the web, and which not, and gives an useful list of URLs on every investing-related topic you can think of. The comparative analysis of online brokerages and their services and fees is quite good. Stocks, IPOs, mutual funds, bonds, futures, and options are explained on a very simple level, which will help those who never heard these words to understand what they mean. I liked that the book is unbiased: unlike most other guides on online investing it does not promote a specific web page or a specific online brokerage. This book is fun to read, and it would be a good starting point for people who decided to go into online investing (but never did it before) and have little or no internet experience. However, my opinion is that it does not woth purchasing if you already have investing experience or read a few other books about investing because the book is just too simple and not as much about investing strategies as about the web resources, discussion boards, and investor stories. The authors' analysis of what drives the discussion boards is probably the only part which I have not seen anywhere else; this part may be useful for investors on all levels. Therefore, my rating is 5 stars for the novices, 3 for everyone else, which makes it 4 stars in average. By the way, most of this book is available online on wall street journal web page, so check it out before you buy.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another fine Wall Street Journal Guide, May 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Online Investing: The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition's Complete Guide to Becoming a Successful Internet Investor (Hardcover)

The Wall Street Journal has come out with a series of clear and concise investing guides in the past. This one, from the editors of the interactive site, is a little bit more involved than the other ones, but just as helpful. Unlike some other online investing guides I've read, this book doesn't advocate risky trading, and leans in the direction of more conservative advice. Still, it covers a wide variety of trading strategies for the more adventurous. It's a good introduction for beginners, but it also is helpful to an experienced investor who hopes to become a more well-rounded investor. I highly recommend it.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good supplement for a well trained investor, July 27, 2000

By 

R. WHITTEN "rick_whitten" (Fresno, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Online Investing: The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition's Complete Guide to Becoming a Successful Internet Investor (Hardcover)

This book offers an excellent introduction to the mechanics of online investing. Don't look for the secret to successful investment results. But if you already have the basics of asset allocation and markets, it is a well written how-to guide to assist you in dramatically lowering your transaction costs. But hurry...this information will become stale at lightning speed.