I am going to show you how to pick winning stocks. You'll even learn the basics of reading and analyzing a company's financial statements (oh, oh, can you really do this? Of course you can!). This is part of what is called "fundamental analysis".

To pick winning stocks, you need the tools to separate the companies with superior sales and profit growth from the ones who are just making a lot of noise. Besides choosing the right companies to invest in, you must learn how to read the market's trend so that your timing is right.

And picking the next big winner based on the news is not as likely as picking the next big loser. The news media's time-frame is usually very short, sometimes just that particular day!

Okay, you've made it this far. Unless you're feeling totally overwhelmed, don't skip to the mutual fund chapter now.

If you're really serious about becoming a pro at investing in the market you might want to become a student of technical analysis - reading stock charts. Read How To Make Money In Stocks and 24 Essential Lessons for Investment Success by William J. O'Neil.

Then attend one of his remarkable Investor's Business Daily's workshops. At the very least, subscribe to the Investor's Business Daily. This incredible publication does most of the work for you, the serious or casual stock market investor. (I receive nothing from Mr. O'Neil or his excellent business paper for my endorsement. You can depend on me to only recommend the best).

Doing all this research takes a lot of time and is prone to error. Isn’t it easier to just get copies of Money, Smart Money, Business Week, Forbes, Fortune, etc. and buy the stocks that they recommend? After all, most of these stocks have been chosen by really smart professionals. No, no, no. See the section on stock market analysts at the end of this chapter, you may be surprised.

Other Stock Market Basics Topics:

1. Stock Market Investing – the Right Way
2. More Stock Marketing Investing
3. How to Pick Winning Stocks
4. The Golden Rule of Investing
5. Avoid Psychological Traps to Have Successful Investing
6. Changes in Stock Values Can Be Big Numbers
7. How to Invest Smart
8. Stock Advice - Important Selling Rules
9. Poor Stock Buying Decisions
10. Market Indicators
11. Stock Market Cycles
12. When a bear stock market may not be a bear market
13. Stock Index Futures
14. Four Things that Affect Stock Valuation
15. What is a P/E ratio?
16. Value Investing
17. Cheap Stocks
18. What is a Financial Statement?
19. Analyzing Financial Statements
20. Stock Market Tip - Red Flags to Look For When Investing?
21. The Annual Report – How to Read
22. Stock Market Analysts – Stock Market Advice and Tips