Current savings interest rates for Certificates of Deposit and Money Market accounts are tracked by Bankrate.com
A comprehensive site for information on "529 Plans" and saving for college is Savingforcollege.com. You can also consult Private College 529 Plan concerning prepaid tuition plans sponsored by private or independent colleges.
Bloomberg.com offers Stocks with market indexes from around the world.
Good market coverage is also available from Yahoo! Finance, including trading volumes, market indices, and financial news.
Yahoo! Finance is also the best source of Historical Quotes; you can obtain stock prices (open, high, low, close) back to December 1981, along with basic charts. More detailed charts can be created with SharpCharts from StockCharts.com.
Online Stock Trading Reviews offer in-depth reviews of some of the best online stock brokers.
The most useful site for mutual fund (and bond fund) information is Morningstar.com, with free fund screening and profiles; detailed reports require a subscription but you can sign up for a free 14-day trial.
Another fund screening site is Lipper Leaders, with ratings of several criteria including return on investment, preservation of capital, and fund expense for bond and equity mutual funds from around the world.
You can also make use of FINRA's Fund Analyzer which covers over 18,000 mutual funds, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs).
Over a thousand ETFs and ETNs are profiled at:
For investors with concerns about corporate ethics, environmental initiatives, and workplace conditions, SocialFunds.com provides news and profiles of dozens of socially responsible mutual funds.
To help you make comparisons between funds, refer to the advice provided by the SEC for Calculating Mutual Fund Fees and Expenses and use Bloomberg BusinessWeek's Mutual Fund Scoreboard.
For various statistics on the mutual fund industry, consult the Investment Company Fact Books from the Investment Company Institute.
The Options Industry Council offers calculators, a glossary, and free online classes (as well as podcasts and webcasts) on various aspects of investing in options.
Basics of the operations of and investing in futures markets are provided by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Alternative Investments: Understanding their Role in a Portfolio is a brief guide from ProShares, a large Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs) firm.
The Alternative Investment Management Association has put together an extensive Roadmap to Hedge Funds. Many other Hedge Fund Articles are available from HedgeCo.
A workbook on Life Insurance as an Alternative Investment is offered by the Insurance Studies Institute.
Here are answers to Frequently Asked Questions About REITs, or Real Estate Investment Trusts.
Finally, consider the advice from the Financial Planning Association in Investigating Alternative Investments.
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