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Interpreting Financial Statements

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By Investor Jim


The First Step To Make Good Investments

Financial statements could really be difficult to understand at first for a fist time investor.  Especially if you do not have a business or accounting background knowing the terminologies and rules is simply confusing and hard to decipher.  Knowing the terms could not be understood in one sitting.  Trust me I tried it before but I was even more confused as before when my accountant friend tried to explain the terminologies.  There is a need to really study it.  The best way to better know about these things is to read a book.  Yes, you need to read a book.  In this way you could be properly guided in what kinds of stocks out there.  Have you ever wondered what a Dow stock is?  The book in Interpreting Financial Statements help me understood those things.




Growing your money like weeds
Growing your money like weeds

Share Certificates

The book guided me in how to knowing terminologies in the investment world. First thing I know is a share certificate that it actually refers as the word means. It is a physical paper stating that you are part owner of a certain company. Depending on how much you invested and percentage of investment that you made the profits are then divided into all the stock holders of the company. You can actually be a part owner of a company.

Stocks

Secondly, I learned the meaning of stocks in trading.  That stock is a share of ownership of the company.  This enables its investors to have shared ownership and the level of your ownership depends on how much you invest.  The higher the investment makes you have a larger ownership. 

Dow Jones

The third thing I knew when reading the book is the meaning of Dow Stocks.  What the stocks represent.  Dow Jones is actually composed of 30 or more big companies that are into trading.   It is aggregated into one stock holdings composed of many major industrial companies.  It could be pharmaceuticals, mining, steel and more.

Equity Financing

Lastly, I understood about equity financing.  That basically it is the backbone that created stocks exchange in the first place.  It is the haven for major companies to have a refinancing without needing to borrow money from the bank.  All they need to do is sell a portion of their company to the stock market.

My Conclusion

Buying stocks do have accompanying risks.  The thing that could only reassure the investor is that maybe the investment they made will be profitable when the day comes when the value of their stocks rise in the coming days.  To be able to trade stocks effectively it is essential for the investors to know how the system works.  The first step would is to know the terminologies and what it means.  To know more about the subject matter.  There is a need for you to buy a book on Interpreting Financial Statements.  The book will be educational in a sense because it will guide its readers the ways and means to buy stocks.  It would serve as a guide for future references.  The investor could suffer loses if they do not know what companies to invest and when is the right time to invest.  Being knowledgeable will certainly help you minimize the risks and the book will surely help you to do that. 

A Lesson On Video

Financial Statements

Do you use financial statements when you invest?

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StewardL profile image

StewardL  says:
7 months ago

Learning to interpret financial statements is really something that I need to do, especially if I want to become a capitalist and earn lots of money by lending out my money to other people or owning companies outright through stocks. What is the single best resource you know of for learning more about financial statments?

Investor Jim profile image

Investor Jim  says:
7 months ago

That's a tough one to narrow down man. I would suggest starting with the "Reading Financial Statements for Dummies" book. I'll add a link to it above.

Mary Fellows profile image

Mary Fellows  says:
7 months ago

Yeah but what about all the massaging of figures that happen before the statements are published

Investor Jim profile image

Investor Jim  says:
7 months ago

Good point Mary, you can't just rely completly on financial statments, but they are better then going into an investment blind. Since the new regulations in the US came in things have been better.

StewardL profile image

StewardL  says:
7 months ago

Yeah, wasn't that whole Enron scandal thingy about a "massaging" of financial figures. I also couldn't imagine trying to read the balance sheet of a bank right now - that would just be crazy!

DeMerch profile image

DeMerch  says:
5 months ago

There aren't a whole lot of secrets when you want to interpret financial statements but you should read as much about analyzing and interpreting financial statements as you can if you want to be successful. I find a lot of people rush into things and don't do enough research and that's when they get caught in a bad place. If you're smart then financial statements make a great tool for investing.

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