Investing 101

Options
In general, there are three main goals or objectives to use options as part of your overall investment strategy: Portfolio Protection, Generate Additional Income on Your Portfolio, and Speculation/Leverage. Read More

  

Stocks
You can buy stock in thousands of publicly traded companies, though chances are your portfolio will include only a tiny fraction of what's available. Read More

Bonds
Companies and governments pay for some of their expenses by borrowing money from individual investors. Just as you may borrow money for major expenses if you don't have enough cash on hand, so may businesses and governments. Read More

  
Futures

The motivations of futures market participants can be divided into two broad categories: hedging and speculating. Read More

Mutual Funds
Each mutual fund has an investment objective - a goal or financial result it wants to realize. And each fund manager has an investment style, which is the approach he or she follows in making investments to achieve the fund's goal. Read More

    
More Resources

OIC - Created to educate the investing public and brokers about options.
CBOE - Visit CBOE's new Online Learning Center.
Events - Attend a seminar near you.
Good Reads - Visit our bookstore to get the latest options books.
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The above content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. We offer no investment, tax or legal advice, and nothing in this material should be construed as such. Materials written for optionsXpress, Inc. by Robert Sullivan. All rights reserved, 2008, optionsXpress, Inc.

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Futures involve substantial risk and are not appropriate for all investors. Please read Risk Disclosure Statement for Futures and Options prior to applying for account.