Alpha Teach Yourself Investing in 24 Hours »

Kenneth E. Little is a long-time editor and investment and economic specialist who now edits the popular Guide to Investing for Beginners at about.com. He is a former president of the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation and helped charter and run the investment division of USAA Federal Savings Bank. He was also business editor of the San Antonio Journal for nine years.

Average Americans are finding themselves involuntarily immersed in the world of high finance. Banks, investment firms, and company benefit packages do no more than throw out a life preserver to pull customers in. Customers — investors — have to learn to swim on their own. For those who already know a little about their personal finances, managing them is getting more complicated, particularly as retirement plans increasingly require employees to make their own investment decisions. Sams Teach Yourself Investing in 24 Hours gives beginner investors the knowledge they need to understand documentation and investing concepts-from key terms to complicated interest bearing accounts. Using 24 lessons that can be covered in about an hour. This book touches on savings accounts, financial planning, the stock market, bonds, mutual funds, daytrading, low and high risk strategies.

• Forty-two percent of college graduates admit they have little grasp of personal finance
• Includes financial planning, returns, savings, mutual funds, and the stock market
• Addresses daytrading and Internet stock

(Each chapter begins with a Chapter Summary and concludes with What Can You Do; Workshop; and Hour's Up!)
Introduction.

I. GETTING STARTED.