Krantz - Investing Online For Dummies

Investing Online For Dummies, 8th Edition

by Matt Krantz

Investing Online For Dummies, 8th Edition

Published by
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
111 River St.
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774

www.wiley.com

Copyright 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions .

Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.

For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport .

John Wiley & Sons, Inc., publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com . For more information about John Wiley & Sons, Inc., products, visit www.wiley.com .

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012952207

ISBN 978-1-118-49536-0 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-49541-4 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-55011-3 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-55015-1 (ebk)

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Author

Matt Krantz is a nationally known financial journalist who specializes in investing topics. He has been a writer for USA TODAY since 1999, where he covers financial markets and Wall Street, concentrating on developments affecting individual investors and their portfolios. His stories routinely signal trends that investors can profit from and sound warnings about potential scams and issues investors should be aware of.

In addition to covering markets for the print edition of USA TODAY, Matt writes a daily online investing column called Ask Matt, which appears every trading day at USATODAY.com and in USA TODAY. He answers questions posed by the websites audience in an easy-to-understand manner. Readers often tell Matt hes the only one who has been able to finally solve investing questions theyve sought answers to for years.

Matt has been investing since the 1980s and has studied dozens of investment techniques while forming his own. And as a financial journalist, Matt has interviewed some of the most famous and infamous investment minds in modern history. Before joining USA TODAY, Matt worked as a business and technology reporter for Investors Business Daily and was a consultant with Ernst & Young prior to that.

He earned a bachelors degree in business administration at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. In addition to appearing on the print and online pages of USA TODAY, he has spoken for investing groups, including at the national convention of National Association of Investors Corporation, and on Nightly Business Report, which airs on PBS.

Matt is based in USA TODAY s Los Angeles bureau. When hes not writing, hes spending time with his wife and young daughter, running, playing tennis, mountain biking, or surfing.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my wife Nancy, who has supported and carried me throughout the entire project from the very beginning. During my bleary-eyed writing sessions sitting in front of the computer at 1 a.m., Nancy was always there to suggest that perfect word I couldnt think of, bring in fresh-cut strawberries, or read every single page. The book is also dedicated to my daughter, Leilani, who makes me proud every day.

Authors Acknowledgments

Staring at a flashing cursor on a blank Microsoft Word window, knowing I needed to fill hundreds of pages in a few months, was an intimidating task. Thats why all the support I received kept me going. My editors at USA TODAY supported the book from its genesis and encouraged me along the way. My assignment editor, David Craig, as well as other USA TODAY editors, supported this book and my development as a writer and reporter.

Wiley personnel have been tremendous to work with as well, including Senior Acquisitions Editor Bob Woerner, Senior Project Editor Christopher Morris, and Copy Editor Debbye Butler, who found ways to make this edition of the book even more useful to readers with great edits and suggestions. Julie Mak, technical editor, made sure that the book was free of dead links by checking every URL. A big thanks to Matt Wagner, my literary agent, for thinking of me for the project and presenting it to me. Fane Lozman provided a hand by sharing his options expertise. Thanks to my mom and dad for instilling, at a very young age, a curiosity in investing, writing, and computers (and for buying me my first computer well before having a PC was common). And thanks to my grandparents for teaching me the power of saving and investing.

Publishers Acknowledgments