Learn about investing with The Motley Fool
Welcome to The Motley Fool's Investing for Beginners
Education Centre.
This section of our website caters to those relatively new to investing, although even a seasoned investor will find lots of helpful information here.
The investment world is full of (often unnecessary) jargon, and we're here to help you cut through all that to understand the underlying concepts. Simply use the links below to click through to your area of interest. They'll take you to general topic pages, which may, in turn, link out to more specific terms. Either way, know that we're here to help!
Let's build our investing knowledge together. And Fool on!
Section 1: Investing Basics
A beginner's guide to investing in shares
Buying shares remains one of the most popular ways to grow wealth. But why invest in the stock market and not something else?
Get the basics
The ASX is a marketplace where listed companies sell shares to investors to raise funds. For investors, it’s a place to both buy and sell their shares.
Investing is about building wealth. It's about having financial assets that increase in value over time.
When starting out in the world of investing, it's important to understand the different types of investments available.
As Albert Einstein said, “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it. He who doesn’t... pays it.”
The two heavyweights of the investing world are shares and property. But which is the best way to build your wealth? Let's find out.
Owning shares in great companies can be a powerful way to generate passive income. You don't even need to sell your shares to profit from holding them.
Investing doesn’t have to be difficult or require a huge amount of money. There are plenty of ways to start investing with $10,000 or less.
Want to know the details for day session of trading on the ASX? Or get across the closed days to watch out for?
If you are ready to start investing in the share market, but aren't sure of the first steps to take when investing in shares, you’ve come to the right place.
Good news! You don't need a lot of money to start investing. Here's what you need to know to launch your investment empire.
You may think these terms are interchangeable, but they are, in fact, two completely different approaches to investing in shares.
If you want to invest in shares, you can use a full-service broker or an online broking service. Let's take a look at the options.
Section 2: Before You Start
How to choose which shares to buy
Choosing which shares to buy can be nerve-racking. There are many options and variables to consider. Here we look at a few of the key attributes for investors to consider when deciding which shares to buy.
Prepare for action
There are no hard and fast rules about what makes a good share 'blue', but here are some common characteristics of blue-chip shares, how they perform, and how you can invest in them.
Recessions are an economic reality. They typically start before anyone realises they’re happening and end before economists have enough data to know they’re done.
Value investing strategies take time to follow, but the time and effort you spend can be well worth it. The most important factor to understand is that value investing requires a long-term mindset.
If you’ve decided that you want to start investing in shares, congratulations! There is no more reliable way to create long-term wealth than through ASX share investments.
Investing isn't about chasing the next big winner – it's a journey involving a number of steps and decisions. Think of it as putting together your personal financial roadmap.
The risk/reward ratio is an important risk management tool that helps investors create a clear picture of whether or not a venture is likely to pay off.
If you want to build a solid foundation for your own investment journey, here are 9 investment lessons from some of the greatest investors.
If you’re new to buying shares, you need to consider what type of shares will best help you achieve your unique investing goals.
Section 3: Getting Started
The importance of diversification
By demystifying share investing and learning how it all works, we hope that you’ll see it’s relatively simple and can lead to great rewards.
Let's get started
How do you find ASX growth share winners? Here are a few methods we use to identify ASX growth shares with the potential for significant gains.
The ASX technology sector has comfortably outperformed the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) over the last 1, 3 and 5 years.
There are significant differences between a balance sheet and a profit and loss (P&L) statement, with important impacts on your investment choices.
Investing offshore can offer significant benefits to Australian investors. These include increased diversification, lowered portfolio risk, and more.
Several factors need to be considered, including the amount of money you have available to invest, your risk tolerance, and your personal investment goals.
One of the first questions you might naturally ask is: How often should I be investing?
Let’s take a deep dive into ETFs, managed funds, LICs and individual share investing to see what each can offer an investor.
Every investor will need to weigh the individual risks and benefits of holding cash given their personal financial situation. How much cash should you hold at any one time?
Teaching your kids to invest is a daunting prospect, but it may be one of the most valuable lessons they learn.
How much tax you will pay on your shares depends on a number of factors, but an important one to keep in mind during your investing journey.
Section 4: Guides
Your definitive ASX dividend investing guide
Using ASX shares that pay dividends as the backbone of a diversified portfolio is a beautiful thing. Yield and passive income are commodities that have become increasingly scarce in our modern, low-interest-rate world.
What comes next?
Today there are more than 200 ETFs listed on the ASX, allowing investors instant diversification and the ability to gain investment exposure to specific industries and themes.
Gold can be a volatile investment, but new and experienced investors will discover that the real benefit comes from the diversification that this precious metal can offer.
Energy prices have been on the rise in 2022. We take a look at how to invest in ASX energy shares and whether they may be worth adding to your portfolio.
Careful planning is essential to ensure a happy and stress-free retirement. Our retirement guide is here to help you get started!
Careful planning is needed to ensure a financially comfortable retirement. Here are seven steps to calculate how much you’ll need to retire and a plan to get there.
Our employer pays contributions towards our ‘super’ each pay cheque. But just what exactly is super, how does it work, and why is it so crucial for a long and happy retirement?
Hungry for more?
ROI, QE, PE, EBITDA, IPO, REIT? Yes, it’s clear that the investing space has some pretty bewildering acronyms and jargon to navigate when you first dive in. To help out, we’ve started building a handy list of definitions for reference if you get stuck.