Why You Should Join a
Stock Investing Forum

Stock investing forums — well established, top notch ones — are one of the best places to find good stock advice from real investors .... for free!

Let's look at what exactly a forum is, which ones are appropriate for individual stock investors, and how to go about joining a stock investing forum.

What is a Forum?

An internet forum, also called a bulletin board or discussion area, is an online meeting place for an open discussion on various topics.

Forums come in all flavors. The main objective is to provide an area where users can interact with questions, answers and discussions on a given topic. A good forum has strict rules that prevent profanity, offensive material, and spamming.

How Are Forums Organized?

Forums usually are broken by category. Within each category you will find multiple topics. Inside each topic you will find several messages — the meat of the discussion.

A good forum has a moderator assigned for each category or topic. Think of them as online hall monitors.

How Exactly Do Forums Work?

As a member of a forum, you can post a question which becomes visible to all other members. Your question will usually generate multiple responses....then responses to these responses....and so on. Pretty soon, you will have a full-fledged discussion sparked by your one question.

How Do You Join A Forum?

To become a member of a forum you need to register online at the forum's website. You might be required to post some basic information about you that is relevant to that forum — it helps other people interact with you more meaningfully.

The Best Stock Investing Forums

There are several really good stock investing forums on the internet, but a majority are focussed around technical analysis. The forums we've covered here are relevant to fundamental analysis.

Here's a list of what we think are the best stock forums....

• Motley Fool Discussion Boards

  This is one of the best stock forums we've found. We're frequent users and are always deeply satisfied with the quality of information.

  Be sure to check out the "Learning to Invest" discussion board for some really useful posts perfect for investing beginners. The "Investing/Strategies", "Personal Finances" and "Investing Books" boards are also loaded with great advice and ideas.

  Overall, the stock advice here is top notch. As always, listen to all the advice you can get, use it in your decision-making process. But ultimately, think independently.

• Yahoo Answers

  The Business & Finance category in Yahoo Answers has two sub-categories that are relevant to stock investing -- Investing and Personal Finance.

  This forum is one of the largest knowledge-sharing communities in the world -- mainly due to Yahoo's incredible reach over the internet. You have to register to be able to use Yahoo Answers.

  The format is simple....you can either ask questions within your sub-category or view answers to a variety of questions posted. Members can vote on answers to select the best one for a particular question.

  The quality of answers is not always the best. However, Yahoo has a way of rating the users providing answers. Look for "% best answers" for a member -- the higher the %, the more credible the member.

Stock forums are a great place to interact with other like-minded investors. The forums listed above can give you good insight into and advice for stock investing. Use them wisely!

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