Why Consider Stocks? Long-term Investing Fundamentals

This is a comprehensive, but accessible PowerPoint presentation containing the most important facets concerning long-term investing for the individual (31 slides in the full presentation, 12 in the sample download). Clip-art is generously distributed throughout and sound clips are sprinkled sparingly to make the presentation more lively and engaging. This presentation is very polished and has been refined multiple times with the help of several classes of students and also using feedback from staff and others.

Important concepts such as types of risk, compound interest, dollar-cost averaging, diversification (mutual funds, ETFs, etc.), investment class selection (savings account vs. CDs vs. stocks) are presented with examples to clearly explain each concept simply without watering them down. Specific examples of one-time and continued investments over time are included both in table and three-dimensional graph form.

Structure of the presentation (31 slides):

I. What are Stocks?
a. Stocks
b. Mutual funds - basics
c. Mutual funds - actively-managed vs. index
d. ETFs

II. Fears / Concerns
a. Aren't stocks just for the rich?
b. I don't know anything about stocks! What would I buy and why?
c. Aren't stocks risky?
d. Why bother with stocks?

III. Gains / Rewards
a. Historic rates of return
b. The power of compound interest
c. Investment examples
d. Dollar-cost averaging

IV. Web Resources for Further Study

Thad's Resources for Busy Teachers
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Copyright 2008, Thad J. Ackerman

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