Introduction to BetterInvesting

I mentioned BetterInvesting in the last paragraph here. This is something I plan to use to help manage individual stock positions as part of a longer-term portfolio.

I subscribed to BetterInvesting late last year after finding the organization in fall 2021. From their website:

> Today NAIC [National Association of Investment Clubs] is known as BetterInvesting, a 501(c) (3)
> nonprofit association that remains dedicated to helping individuals and investment clubs learn and
> practice our fundamental approach to stock investing. Passionate volunteers, who follow our
> principles and practice the SSG [Stock Selection Guide], teach our educational programs. The SSG
> is available online 24/7, making it even easier to study and invest in stocks.

I don’t think of it like a service to be sold as much as I do a tool for analyzing stocks. Their approach covers a wide breadth and if someone is going to do fundamental analysis to any degree, then something to organize all the inputs and a process guiding what to do with them can be extremely valuable. One could do without such a tool and if this is something you try, then I’d be interested to hear what you do to get all the information and just how long it takes.

Personally, learning the BetterInvesting approach has given me a process to gather relevant data and make investment decisions in 1-2 hours per stock. Prior to this, I really had no idea. If I wanted to make decisions based on fundamental analysis, then I could look at suggested buy lists, perhaps investment newsletters (which I think are generally a waste of money), and some other places.

In 2001, I developed a stock screen after some book reading that was effectively the beginning to managing my own portfolio. It took me about an hour per week and I fared well with it on an absolute basis. I never revisited this once I discovered options in 2006. While I’ve thought about rekindling the original stock screening effort in recent years, I have also become a true believer in classic fundamental analysis for longer-term purposes. This is more the BetterInvesting way.

Any explanatory content I publish under the category BetterInvesting might be better studied in the video education library on their website since I’m a new member rather than an official instructor or volunteer. I might actually like to become a volunteer if it got me out to the community to teach the process to other like-minded individuals.

This would then beg the question whether their process is the best? I think we’re far away from having enough information to answer that question with any validity. I believe having a process and sticking with something repeatable to optimize efficiency is probably as good as anything else.