10 Ways to Improve Your Financial Literacy

Updated

10 Ways to Improve Your Financial Literacy

TD Ameritrade Celebrates 10thAnniversary of Financial Literacy Month with Free Investor Education

OMAHA, Neb.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- TD Ameritrade, Inc. ("TD Ameritrade"), a broker-dealer subsidiary of TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation (NYS: AMTD) is celebrating the 10th anniversary of Financial Literacy Month by encouraging investors to take time to improve their financial knowledge with these 10 tips:

  1. Make a plan. Identify your financial goals and objectives and use a free calculator like WealthRulerTM to help you assess your financial situation and devise a plan to help you pursue those goals.

  2. Know thyself. Do market swings make you uneasy? Or, do you seek opportunity in the daily swings? There are plenty of investing and trading approaches; be sure to consider your goals, risk tolerance, and time frame when you choose the one that makes sense for you.

  3. Protect your assets. Understand your tolerance for risk and use it to determine the size of every investment you make. Position sizing and utilizing stop orders or Trade Triggers™ are tools that can be used to help you protect your investment capital.

  4. Analyze from the top down. Learn how to identify current market trends and the stocks following them.

  5. Search for additional opportunities. Build a list of securities to "watch" and invest in when your criteria indicate the time is right.

  6. Get technical. After you've done your research but before you place your trade, be sure to review the security's past performance and identify when you might want to get in—and out.

  7. Manage and monitor your positions. Use online tools to better understand your portfolio's exposure to different industries, geographic regions and sectors. You can also monitor on the go using mobile apps.

  8. Keep emotions in check. Investing should be rational. Always refer back to your investing plan, especially during times of extreme volatility when you are tempted to respond to panic and fear.

  9. Practice first. Using paperMoney® allows you to get your feet wet with investing concepts before you dive in with real money. Test your investing plan and new trading strategies until you're comfortable.

  10. Commit to learning. Make financial education an ongoing priority. Identify resources that can help, follow financial experts @TDANSherrod or @TDAJJKinahan on Twitter, or sign up for investing courses from our affiliate, Investools®.


Now through April 30, 2013, investors get free* access to educational content and coaching support from Investools from TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. For more information, visit www.investoolsfree.com.

TD Ameritrade also provides a variety of free tools, resources and webinars - for the novice investor to the sophisticated trader - in its online education center. Investors can also follow the Company on Twitter, @TDAmeritradePR for additional investment news.

AMTD-G

All investments involve risk, including loss of principal. Asset allocation and diversification do not eliminate the risk of experiencing investment losses.

Past performance of a security or strategy does not guarantee future results or investment success.

WealthRuler does not make specific asset class or security recommendations. Users enter criteria including desired retirement age, income and planned expense information, plan end date, and current value and allocation percentages of stocks, bonds and cash. The tool classifies a user into one of five portfolio strategy/risk tolerance models. These models, combined with time horizon, determine the return and risk assumptions used in the calculations. The tool runs multiple simulations to determine the likelihood of plan success during average and poor market conditions. Results may vary with each use and over time.

For complete details on criteria, methodology, limitations and key assumptions, please seeMethodologies & Assumptions.

IMPORTANT: The projections or other information generated by WealthRuler regarding the likelihood of various investment outcomes are hypothetical in nature, do not reflect actual investment results and are not guarantees of future results.

The paperMoney®software application is for educational purposes only. Successful virtual trading during one time period does not guarantee successful investing of actual funds during a later time period as market conditions change continuously.

About TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation

Millions of investors and independent registered investment advisors (RIAs) have turned to TD Ameritrade's (NYS: AMTD) technology, people and education to help make investing and trading easier to understand and do. Online or over the phone. In a branch or with an independent RIA. First-timer or sophisticated trader. Our clients want to take control, and we help them decide how - bringing Wall Street to Main Street for more than 37 years. An official sponsor of the 2014 and 2016 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams, TD Ameritrade has time and again been recognized as a leader in investment services. Please visit TD Ameritrade's newsroom or www.amtd.com for more information.

Brokerage services provided by TD Ameritrade, Inc., member FINRA (www.FINRA.org)/SIPC (www.SIPC.org)/NFA (www.nfa.futures.org).

Investools Inc., and TD Ameritrade, Inc. are separate but affiliated companies that are not responsible for each other's services or policies.

Neither Investools Inc. nor any of its officers, employees, representatives, agents or independent contractors are, in such capacities, licensed financial advisors, registered investment advisors or registered broker-dealers. Investools Inc. does not provide investment or financial advice or make investment recommendations, nor is it in the business of transacting trades, nor does it direct client commodity accounts or give commodity trading advice tailored to any particular client's situation. Nothing contained in this communication constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, promotion, endorsement or offer by Investools Inc. of any particular security, transaction or investment.

*Educational content and coaching support from Investools is available for free until 04/30/2013. Capacity is limited for live online coaching sessions and the Investing Foundation Workshop and can be accessed on a first-come, first-served basis. After 04/30/2013, you must subscribe to maintain access.



TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation
For Media:
Christina Goethe, 201-369-8541
Communications & Public Affairs
christina.goethe@tdameritrade.com
On Twitter@TDAmeritradePR
or
For Investors:
Jeff Goeser, 402-597-8464
Investor Relations & Finance
jeffrey.goeser@tdameritrade.com

KEYWORDS: United States North America Nebraska

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:

The article 10 Ways to Improve Your Financial Literacy originally appeared on Fool.com.

Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 - 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Advertisement