I’ve missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot . . . and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.- Michael Jordan

Very few people are born with the ability to successfully pick stocks and outperform the market when they start their investing adventures or careers. There is simply too much information out there these days that it’s tough to separate what works and what doesn’t. It took me a while, and some money, to figure this out. I spent a great deal of money on books, magazine subscriptions, software,etc.. to finally understand what’s  really worth it. Surprisingly, most of the information that is worth reading is available for free.

Thus, I present to you the tools that I use that help me find bargains. These services are available for free or are very affordable and are worth purchasing. They are listed in no particular order.

Stock Screens

Magic Formula Stocks- This screen is the basis of our PRO Membership. There are no fees and is updated on a daily basis. Simply create an account, verify your e-mail, and start screening. Depending on the market cap you are screening for, the screen produces a list of stocks that have a high return on invested capital, a high earnings yield or both.

MSN Deluxe Stock Screen-  The MSN Deluxe Screen requires a download and is among the best free stock screens out there. If you are confused as to which criteria to use, they have some pre-made screens. Also, you can Google a famous investors name and stock screens usually come up. For example, if you Google “Peter Lynch Stock Screen”, the first page is a stock screen based on Peter Lynch’s criteria for stocks as described on One Up On Wall Street

Morningstar Stock Screener-  This is similar to the MSN Deluxe Screen but requires no download. You can select the criteria you want or use one of Morningstar’s Screens. I personally use this screen to screen for non-magic formula stocks as I use Morningstar for my financial news.

Financial News

I used to believe a subscription to the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times were a must, I was wrong. While the Wall Street Journal definitely has great insight into what’s going on in the economy and financial sector, that insight is usually published by other online websites such as Digg.com, Yahoo Finance, Google Finance, etc..

Yahoo Finance/ Google Finance- Both offer similar features such as the day’s headlines, recent company news, a stock chart, message boards, portfolio tracking, etc. It really comes down to personal preference.

Value Investing/Warren Buffett

Despite being a successful long term investing strategy, there are few online sources that dedicate themselves completely to value investing.

Warren Bufett Watch-  CNBC seems to be the preferred channel for Warren Buffett and is constantly being interviewed by them.  Most Warren Buffett tracking sites usually use Warren Buffett Watch as their main Buffett source, so why not cut the middleman and go straight to the source.

Morningstar- Not only do they keep track of Warren Buffett, they constantly hold interviews with value oriented fund managers to get their latest thoughts on the market and their latest stock picks.

Gurufocus.com- This is a site that has grown in the past couple of years. The information they provide is second to none and they have added some real nice features such as a broad market valuation tool that is show below.

Subscriptions

In our PRO membership, we only recommend one premium service, so it would only be fair to recommend it to the rest of the world. We have mentioned this service several times already and for a good reason.

• It’s affordable-  $14.50/mo on an yearly plan or $18.95 monthly. There’s a 14 day free trial!!
• The site layout is user friendly
• Customer support is great
• The features are worth the price
• There research is above average

Below are a couple snapshots of a company snapshot and the premium stock screen using a predefined screen for companies with a terrific 10 year track record.

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