Man, Look before you Leap! p3

One, perhaps, may not have to go the extra mile to ascertain the investment merits of a company under consideration. Some industry veterans are of the opinion that most information one needs for analysis are contained in the company Annual Reports. These days, it is so easy to get company annual reports. Most self-respecting companies maintain websites. And annual reports are presented in a downloadable PDF formats. So, annual reports are just a mouse-click away. Here, one might like to go through a real business school textbook which describes the nitty-gritty aspects of understanding Balance Sheet and Financial statements etc. You might find it boring. But very important! Remember, you want to grow wealth! “No pain, no gain.” “One Up on Wall Street” by Peter Lynch will also tell you what to look for. But this book is not intended for in-depth analysis. As you would notice that, balance sheet, income statement or cash flow statement are built logically in a way one can easily follow. And knowledge of high level math like nonlinear partial differential equation is not required. Simple arithmetic will do! You still find it difficult to grasp? I suggest you take a course in securities analysis. In Canada, Canadian Securities Institute (www.csi.ca) provides online education programs. For the US, you might visit the website http://www.investopedia.com. It will cost you some money, though. A thousand bucks at least. But then, building wealth is a serious business. One can not afford to be amateurish! One can retain the label of an amateur without being amateurish.