Patrick had his first taste of investing while in college where he was part of Huntington 360, the student-run group that invested a portion of the school’s endowment in mutual funds.

There are some tools that Patrick recommends, the first is an SEC site that will give you any publicly traded company’s quarterly filings.  The next is from Business Week which provides financial statements as well as ratio calculations.

Aside from hard numbers, it’s also important to consider emotions that could be inflating or deflating a stock price.  Several months ago a Tesla car caught fire and affected the stock price.  Conventional cars catch fire too but as Teslas are new, this was suddenly considered a safety issue specific to them.

Another important consideration when buying single stocks is your familiarity with the company’s products.  If you are researching something you have no knowledge of, you won’t understand the data you are finding.

If mutual funds are more your thing, Morningstar’s compare tool is a good starting point for your research.

Loyal3 is a site geared towards beginners in the stock market that allows you to make small volume trades for no fee.  Robin Hood is a similar site that is not live yet but  poised to shake up the big investment banks.

Thanks to Patrick for spending some time with us and teaching us all how to be more like him and Andrew!

Show Notes

Morningstar:  They’re mutual fund comparison page.

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