Resource Review: Investopedia

Welcome to Resource Review!

Throughout this blog series, we aim to shine a light on websites, books, podcasts, and various other resources that have helped us on our journey of financial literacy and the creation of Nexus Research.

Investopedia

First on our list is the website Investopedia. Many financial websites and resources aim to have what Investopedia actually delivers on: high-quality, easy-to-understand information that covers a wide array of topics.

Chances are that if you've searched any financial term or subject in the past, the first link takes you to one of Investopedia's articles. One of our favorite aspects of the website is that it has a variety of content beyond articles. There are simple and short videos, current world news, reviews of brokerages and other financial products, and one of Nexus's favorites—the stock simulator.

With this amount of information, Investopedia naturally covers various topics related to financial literacy. Anyone from beginners, students, industry professionals, and aspiring investors will find something of value within Investopedia. This is one of the main reasons why the website has grown in popularity since its launch in 1999 and continues to be one of the world's leading financial literacy platforms.

Use Case: Budgeting

Let's pretend that you're an absolute beginner when it comes to finance; you've never taken a class, watched videos, or even talked to a friend about the subject before. The new year comes around, and you set what you believe to be a lofty goal for yourself. You plan on creating and sticking to a budget for the entire year.

Although you've tried to do this in the past, it has never worked out the way you were hoping. You run into the same roadblocks many people do, most commonly, not knowing where to start and not knowing how to adjust once you get the ball rolling.

Don't worry, and certainly don't feel alone, because we have all been there. Many of us, including myself, started exactly where you are.

1. Start by heading over to the Investopedia website.

   
   

2. From there, you're going to hover over the "personal finance" section on the subject ribbon, then click on "budgeting and saving." This will take you right to Investopedia's section where every article you could imagine on the subject is neatly organized.

   
   

   If you're overwhelmed, we recommend just clicking on an article and starting to read. Starting, especially when venturing out into something new, is half the battle.

   
   

3. Now look at that! After some time of reading and planning your budget, you're able to crush the goal you've set for yourself in the new year.

   
   

4. If you're not experienced with the actual creation of a budget and don't want to start from scratch, use our budgeting template.

   
   

The beautiful thing about Investopedia is that you can rinse and repeat this process for all the financial topics you'd like to learn.

Say you want to learn about investing and how to open a brokerage account or how to sign up for a money market account or even learn about options hedging strategies. All these topics and more can be found on the Investopedia website.

Stock Trading Simulator

As mentioned previously, Investopedia even has its own built-in stock trading simulator. These are extremely useful tools, especially once you get deeper into the topic of finance.

Normally, you start out with a fake account that contains $100,000 of "paper money," meaning that the money isn't actually yours. The simulator is tied to the exact movements of the stock market from day to day, which allows you to experiment with different investing strategies with no actual financial risk.

If you want to create a dividend portfolio; find a few dividend stocks you're interested in, decide the amount you want to allocate towards those stocks, and buy them. Now, pay attention over time to see what happens with your simulated account.

Did you make a profit, or did you make some mistakes? Evaluate the outcome after some time, then make a decision on whether or not you should make those same choices on a live investment account with real money.

Key Takeaways

Finance is a complex topic and can be daunting at first, but after making a conscious decision to learn about different parts of finance using free tools like Investopedia, you will be well on your way to growing your knowledge.

It can be difficult to come across high-quality information that is organized in such a thoughtful manner and even more challenging to sort through all the information out there. We plan to keep highlighting different resources as well as create our own to help you build confidence in your personal finances.

Nexus truly believes that Investopedia is one of the best resources in the industry and will remain something we recommend to everyone, no matter their experience when it comes to finance.

Do yourself a favor and begin the journey—you might just set yourself up for life!