Best Investing Tools

published 1 November 2006

We pick useful tools to help you invest wisely. Find out the number-one investing portal, top-performing stock and fund newsletters, the best books, where to go for bond data and more.

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Many have tried, but none has been able to match the depth and utility of Yahoo's investing portal (http://finance.yahoo.com). Type in a ticker symbol and you are instantly linked to virtually every public piece of information available about that particular stock. In fact, the strength of the Web site is its clean design and smart linking, which allow you to find what you need without getting lost -- or suffering intrusive ads.

Stock message boards are essentially online hangouts where users hash over their favorite -- and not-so-favorite -- stocks. Postings can be insightful, but they can also be freewheeling and frivolous. ClearStation.com, run by E*Trade Financial, lets you search for posts by ticker symbol. A rating is assigned to the author of each post, based on what other users think of the author's picks and comments.

Before Benjamin Graham, stock investing was about as scientific as astrology. Graham, who died in 1976, pioneered security analysis and propounded the notion that a stock's price should have some connection to the underlying company's actual worth. He condensed his vast knowledge into The Intelligent Investor, a book first published in 1949. Among his timeless suggestions: Seek to buy a stock at a price that is well below the company's intrinsic value. The Intelligent Investor dispenses timeless advice for less than $20. Now that's good value.

But my choice is "Other People's Money," which offers a more nuanced and satisfying view of business. Danny DeVito, as corporate raider Lawrence "Larry the Liquidator" Garfield, is stereotypically ruthless and self-centered as he tries to take control of an old-line New England manufacturer of cable and wire. Gregory Peck, as CEO of the targeted company, is wonderfully caring and devoted to his longtime employees. But the company's a financial mess, and he's clueless about his obligations to shareholders.

Want to know just how hard it is for fund managers to beat the market? Pick up Common Sense on Mutual Funds, by John Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group and creator of the first mutual fund designed to track Standard & Poor's 500-stock index. Bogle's 1999 manifesto laments that his pleas on behalf of low-cost index investing are "not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor." The ensuing years, though, have been marked by the rise of exchange-traded funds, which in many cases undercut the expenses of even traditional index funds. Bogle's cogent criticism deserves at least some of the credit.

George Putnam began a love affair with companies that flirt with bankruptcy in the late 1970s. Since 1986, his newsletter has been handicapping the odds that troubled companies will stage comebacks. Over the past 15 years, according to The Hulbert Financial Digest, the monthly letter's picks have returned an annualized 18%. The letter costs $195 a year. For a sample issue, visit www.TurnAroundLetter.com.

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