Holiday Gifts : For Investors, Guides Can Keep on Giving
If you really want to give friends or family a holiday gift that “keeps on giving,” help them with their investment plan.
If they don’t have much of a plan, you can help them start. What follows is a list of investment guides, associations and other resources available to small investors. All have been quite popular over the years, and most are available at reasonable cost for the value they deliver.
* American Assn. of Individual Investors. This 135,000-member, not-for-profit group was founded in 1978 to assist individuals in “becoming effective managers of their own assets, through programs of education, information and research.” They do a great job of it.
Annual membership is $49, which includes 10 investment journals over the year, the group’s no-load (no sales charge) mutual fund guide published each May and a year-end tax-planning guide in December. The journals carry stories on a wide range of investment topics and list periodic meetings of AAII clubs throughout the country, including those in Southern California.
Experienced investors who use a personal computer to track their portfolios might enjoy membership in the AAII’s computerized-investing chapter ($60 for one year, or $30 extra with a regular $49 AAII membership). You get six newsletters a year plus an annual guide to computerized investing techniques.
Write AAII at 625 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1900, Chicago, Ill. 60611, or call (312) 280-0170.
* Mutual fund guides. One of the handiest guides to mutual funds also is one of the cheapest: For $5, the Investment Company Institute (the main trade group for the funds) will send you its 231-page Directory of Mutual Funds, which lists virtually all stock, bond and money market funds, their toll-free phone numbers, minimum investment requirements and the type of fees charged.
The ICI directory doesn’t list performance statistics or give recommendations, but it’s a great tool for fund investors who often are frustrated by a simple inability to locate individual funds or fund families they may have heard about.
Send $5 check to Investment Company Institute, P.O. Box 66140, Washington, D.C., 20035-6140.
Fund investors looking for detailed performance statistics, fund ratings and commentary might appreciate a trial subscription to Morningstar Mutual Funds, a highly respected independent research outfit. For $55 you get coverage of 1,240 funds for three months, with updates mailed every two weeks. Full-year price: $395.
Write Morningstar at 53 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, Ill. 60604, or call (800) 876-5005.
If your investor is interested only in low-cost or no-load funds, the Assn. of No-Load Funds puts out its own directory. It includes performance statistics and each fund’s expense ratio (the internal cost of running the fund). Make $5 check payable to: Mutual Fund Education Alliance, 1900 Erie St., Suite 120, Kansas City, Mo. 64116.
* Help for do-it-yourself stock pickers. Whether your investor already owns individual stocks or wants to start building a portfolio, the Value Line Investment Survey could be a very useful tool. The survey tracks and rates 2,000 mostly big-name stocks. The historical information alone is excellent, including a trend line showing each stock’s performance back to 1980. A 10-week trial subscription costs $55. Call (800) 833-0046.
Do-it-yourselfers who like blue chip stocks also might appreciate the book “Buying Stocks Without a Broker,” which details how individuals can purchase shares directly from about 900 companies via dividend-reinvestment plans. The book, compiled by the editors of the investment newsletter Dow Theory Forecasts, costs $16.95. Call (800) 962-4369, ext. 2222.
For investors more interested in smaller stocks, which are most of those traded on the NASDAQ market, the amount of independent research available is relatively thin. But if your investor loves to do his or her own research into NASDAQ companies, the annual “NASDAQ Fact Book & Company Directory” is a great tool.
The book lists all 4,000-plus NASDAQ firms with addresses and phone numbers. Cost is $20. Make check payable to National Assn. of Securities Dealers and send to Book Order Dept., P.O. Box 9403, Gaithersburg, Md. 20898.
* All-around investment guides. The book “Stock Market Logic” is a timeless 384-page gem that explains many of the indicators and theories that affect the market’s gyrations--from “moving averages” to put/call ratios. The author, Norman G. Fosback, also publishes a number of market newsletters. The book costs $30. For $49, you get the book and one year of the newsletter of your choice. For more information, call (800) 327-6720.
Other good books for novice or experienced investors include “Trader Vic--Methods of a Wall Street Master” by Victor Sperandeo ($24.95, John Wiley & Sons), and “How to Make Money in Stocks” by William J. O’Neil, publisher of Investor’s Business Daily newspaper ($9.95 soft-back, McGraw-Hill). Most bookstores should stock them.
Finally, a fun gift is Yale Hirsch’s 160-page “1993 Stock Trader’s Almanac.” It’s a combination calendar/appointment book and guide to historical investment trends and trivia (for example, did you know that the first half of April is usually good for stocks, while the second half is usually bad?). Cost is $30, check payable to the Hirsch Organization, 6 Deer Trail, Old Tappan, N.J. 07675.
