Business A to Z: A Glossary of Business Terms http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/business/specials/glossary/
This
dictionary "contains more than 1,250 business terms, organized and
cross-referenced." Includes terms related to finance, investment, business
law, real estate, taxes, and other business topics. Searchable
and browsable. From the website
for the Washington Post.
Glossary of Financial
and Business Terms
http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/glossary/bfglosa.htm
Glossary
of more than 2,500 terms related to business and finance. Find
definitions for terms such as "bull market," "J-curve,"
"kiretsu," and "Pac-Man
strategy." Compiled by a business professor for
The New York Times.
The
Layman's Finance Crisis Glossary
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7620678.stm
"Here
is a guide to many of the business terms currently cropping up regularly, as
well as some of the more exotic words coined to describe some of the social
effects of the credit crunch." Defines terms such as
credit default swap, derivatives, short selling, sub-prime mortgages, and
write-down. Includes links to related news stories and
the number of mentions in British newspapers. From the
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
BizLink: Your On-line Business Resource -
http://www.bizlink.org/ This
is an excellent, selective, annotated directory of resources that "support
the local, national, and international business communities and others
conducting business research." Topics covered include business forms;
careers, jobs, and salaries; company and industry research; international
business; investment and personal finance; marketing and demographics; patent
and trademark; starting a business; and taxes. From the
Public Library of
Charlotte and
Mecklenburg County,
North Carolina.
+
LII.ORG’s Business Links http://lii.org/pub/topic/busfinjobs This valuable
resource that categorizes and evaluates web resources. One of
the very best places to start research on a variety of topics.
INVESTMENT RESOURCES
Invest like Warren Buffet, Live like Jimmy
Buffett
Ref HG 179
V317
The
Money Encyclopedia
Ref HG 181
M574
The Complete Book of Personal Finance
Ref HG 179
C323 1989
The Dow Jones-Irwin Business and Investment Almanac
Ref HF 5003
D68 1990
Practical Money
Skills for Life
http://www.practicalmoneyskills.com/english/index.php
A great “financial
literacy program” brought to us by VISA.
This resource has many of the tools and skills needed to learn and plan
for a wise financial life.
Motley Fool: Finance and Folly ‑
http://www.fool.com/
A comprehensive investment resource for small investors.
They say their mission is “to educate, amuse, and enrich" The Motley Fool
champions shareholder value and advocates tirelessly for the individual
investor. The company's name was
taken from Shakespeare, whose wise fools both instructed and amused, and could
speak the truth to the king -- without getting their heads lopped off. Has helpful personal finance information
contained in the Fool's School which
is still here but no longer linked to on the top level – enter “fools school”
in the search box to get to it – Getting Started has great sections including a
good section on How to Value Stocks; and discussion boards within the School
are very helpful, with topics ranging from broker comparisons to mutual funds
and stock tips. Be sure to read their Fool Discloser Policy – they never met a
pun they didn’t like!
Investorama -
http://finance.yahoo.com/
Incorporated
into Yahoo!Finance.
Has great sources under Investment tab>
Education
Center. It includes links to financial calculators,
financial dictionaries, lists of financial Web sites, a strong collection of
guides to investment topics, including Investing 101 and Personal Finance 101. One of the good sites for stock quotes.
InvestorGuide ‑
Your Guide to Investing on the Web ‑ http://investorguide.com/
Excellent, comprehensive source of information for the investor.
Excellent
source of information for the investor. Includes news and information on
stocks, bonds, mutual funds, brokers, exchanges, and much more, credit, loans,
taxes, retirement, etc. The site also has a large categorized directory
with annotated links, a learning center called University, and a glossary of
over 6,000 terms.
Investor Home
http://www.investorhome.com/
An excellent resource
for investors. In addition to quick and direct access to the most
popular investing sites on the Internet, a stock or fund ticker symbol entered
in the DailyStocks links list box on the home page
takes you directly to a page with links to quotes, Contents takes you to education
materials http://www.investorhome.com/educate.htm
, also tests, a who's who in
investing, broker, consultant and money managers information, and even
investment humor.
Value
Line Investment Survey
Ref HG 4501 V26
Mergent Handbook of Common Stocks
Ref HG 4501 M815
Mergent Handbook of NASDAQ Stocks
Ref HG 4501 M 58
Business
Pages of Daily Newspapers
New
York Times,
Sacramento Bee,
Los Angeles Times, etc.
EDGAR
Online ‑ http://www.edgar‑online.com/
Once said by Business Week to
be the best interface to the SEC filings. Still great but no longer free. Not
even a free trial anymore.
$229/year. Features include: Today's
Filings, available to visitors one full business day after filing date; EDGAR
Online People, search Proxy Filings (DEF14A) by individual name; Full Search,
to access filings with any combination of 10 criteria; Glimpse, an extract of
the 10K & 10Q Management Discussion and Analysis for an overview of
operating results; Financial Data Schedule (FDS) that downloads a company's balance sheet and vital financial statistics, in
Excel format; HTML format suitable for on‑screen reading and Rich Text
Format (RTF) for word processing programs; and complete EDGAR database back to
1994.
Free Edgar
SEC Filings & Forms (EDGAR) http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml
Full-text searchable index to the
filings by corporations to the Securities and Exchange Commission
that are available to the public (including 10-K reports).
Non-electronic filings, filings that are not available to the public, and any data prior to 1994 will not be available
here. EDGAR stands for "Electronic Data Gathering Analysis
And Retrieval." The somewhat useful tutorial:
http://www.sec.gov/edgar/quickedgar.htm
is a little tricky to use. Hence, ,all of the user friendlier versions that have been
developed and charge for the ease of use.
Value Line.Com -
http://www.valueline.com/
The free on-line
version of the well-known investor service. Many links to investment
sources. Does
not offer the same services as the print version or subscription version. Also has a university with good basic
information. Many useful general investment and business
references and links.
Historical
Stock
Quotes
http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/
This handy tool from BigCharts
is especially useful for income tax and estate planning preparation. Just type
in a stock or mutual fund symbol
and the desired date (back to January 2, 1970), and Big Charts provides the
closing price. Also, this free service provides easy-to-use online charting.
Mergent Bond Record
Ref HG 4651 M618
Several
of the investment web sites also have mutual fund sections.
Lipper
Leaders: Funds That Fit http://www.lipperweb.com/
Mutual fund
screening tool from Lipper, a provider of
mutual
fund data and analysis. The site describes how
funds are evaluated and provides
scores for funds in the
United States as well as from several countries
in Europe and
Asia. Search for
funds based on classification, asset
type, fund
company, total return, consistent return, preservation, tax efficiency,
and expense.
ICI
Mutual Fund
Connection http://www.ici.org/
A primary source of statistical
information on the mutual
fund industry. Monthly and weekly
releases cover trends in stock, bond, hybrid, closed-end, and money market
funds. Contains data
on fund shareholders and information about related legislation and
regulation. Other topics covered include retirement security, taxation,
and basic investor information. From the Investment Company Institute, a trade
association representing the investment company industry.
Invest Wisely: An Introduction to
Mutual
Funds
http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/inwsmf.htm
This site from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
"explains the basics of mutual fund investing — how mutual
funds work, what factors to consider before investing, and how to avoid
common pitfalls." Includes discussions of advantages and disadvantages,
different types of funds, and how to buy and sell shares. Also includes
a glossary.
NAICS,
United States,
1997
Ref HF 1041.5 N674 1998
Hoover's
Handbook of American
Business
Ref HG 4057 A28617 v. 1 & 2
Mergent Complete Corporate Index
Ref HG 4961 M66
Mergent Industrial Manual
Ref HG 4961 M63 v. 1 & 2
Mergent OTC Manual
Ref HG 4565 O8 M59 &
ebook in LOIS
Mergent Bank and Finance Manual
ebook in LOIS
Mergent Public Utility and Transportation Manual
ebook in LOIS
Standard
and Poor's
Register of Corporations, Directors and Executives
Ref HG 4057 A4
Top
25 Book of Lists
Ref HF 5065 S12 B8
California
Manufacture’s Register 2000
Ref T 12 C15 2000
Hoover's Online ‑
http://www.hoovers.com/
Database of
information on more than 50,000 of the largest or fastest‑growing public
and private
U.S.
companies. Information provided
includes company address, number of employees, key people, financial data, news
items and selected Web links to company Web site, SEC filings, and current
stock prices (click on ticker symbol).
AnnualReports.com
http://www.annualreports.com/
A collection of hundreds of the annual reports and 10K
reports of companies traded on the
U.S. stock exchanges, including
most of the Fortune 500. "Visitors are able to look for a company through
5 search criteria: alphabetically, by company name, by ticker symbol, by
sector, or by industry." Searchable.
Forbes.com
Lists http://www.forbes.com/lists/
This site provides a compilation of
Forbes
magazine's annual lists, such as the
world's richest people, the most
powerful women, largest companies, and the most expensive real estate. Browse
lists by topics such as people, companies, education, health and style,
technology and Internet, sports, places, and vehicles. From Forbes.com.
http://metamoney.com/usListIndex.html
Searchable site that supplies company Web pages, annual reports, and
company information. Also has consumer ratings and product information.
SocialFunds.com
http://www.socialfunds.com
SocialFunds.com has over 1000 pages of strategic content to help make informed
investment decisions regarding socially responsible investing. The site
provides news, information, research, investment analysis, and financial
services. Especially helpful is the searchable newsroom and activism libraries.
Tutorials
Tutorial
for Company Research
http://www.nypl.org/research/sibl/pbi2/home.html
Excellent research guide from the New York
Public Library that contains tutorial and great list of resources..
Researching Companies
Online: http://www.learnwebskills.com/company/
“This business research tutorial presents a step-by-step
process for finding
free company and industry
information on the World Wide Web.”
Motley Fools’ Tutorial – Investing Basics
http://www.fool.com/investing/basics/index.aspx
One of the best tutorials I have
encountered.
SMALL BUSINESS INFORMATION
GETTING STARTED
Business
Plans Handbook
Ref HD 62.7 B865
Business Plans for Dummies
Ref
HD 30.28 .T575 2005
How to Write a Business Plan
Ref
HD 30.28 H3839 M3839 2005
How
to Start a Business in
California: With Forms
Ref KFC 337 Z9 T35 2001
The small business start-up kit for
California
ebook in LOIS
West’s
Business Law
Ref KF 888 C55 1998
Small Business Entrepreneur Search http://www.smallbizsearch.com/
Help with business plans,
franchises, products and services for small business, thousands of articles
from Entrepreneur.com
– see below.
Entrepreneur.com
‑ http://www.entrepreneur.com/
This site, designed for the entrepreneur
or small business owner, contains tips on everything from starting a business
to finding funds. Includes franchise and business opportunity
databases, free e‑mail accounts, a chat room, and classifieds.
Contains articles from Entrepreneur Magazine, Business Start‑Ups
Online, and Entrepreneur's
HomeOffice.
Small
Business Development Center ‑ http://sbdcnet.utsa.edu/
The National SBDC National
Information Clearinghouse provides research support to over 900 Small Business
Development Centers throughout the
United States,
Puerto Rico and the
Virgin Islands. Their Web
site also has several sections of interest to the small business planner.
Information Pathfinders leads to guides to rural business, research companies,
and a Spanish language guide to searching the Internet. Internet Resources has
links in more than twenty categories, from start‑ups and buying/selling a
business to e‑commerce and employeeand tax
information.
Small
Business Administration (SBA) ‑ http://www.sba.gov/
Information on
starting, financing and expanding your business; SBA info by state; searchable.
SCORE:
Counselors to
America's Small Business ‑
http://www.score.org/
The Service Corps of Retired
Executives gives small business owners guidance in establishing and maintaining
successful enterprises. The Web site offers disaster advice; locations of local
chapters; links to calculators, free software, business plans, trade shows, and
other business resources; news and informational articles; and free,
confidential counseling by e‑mail. Counselors representing more than 600
skills are available to assist in locating investors, setting goals, veterans' business issues, and other matters.
CONSUMER INFORMATION
Brands and their Companies
Ref
T223 V4 A 25
Companies
and their Brands
Ref T223 V4 A253
Credit
Repair
Ref HG 3756 L46 1996
ConsumerSearch ‑
http://www.consumersearch.com/
A great place to
start researching a product. ConsumerSearch
reviews products, analyzes what others say (Full Story), and provides top‑rated
products listings (Fast Answers). Their reviewers include "former writers
for Consumer Reports, PC Magazine and The New York Times; a Wall Street
research analyst; and talent from dozens of major magazines and
newspapers." Product categories include electronics, sports & leisure,
office, house & home, kitchen, health, automotive, and lawn & garden.
You'll
find information on hundreds of items
including tires, vacuum cleaners, scanners, VCRs, strollers,
washers/dryers, Internet service providers, furnaces, hedge trimmers, inline
skates, mountain bikes, and exercise bikes.
Epinions ‑
http://www.epinions.com/
A well‑designed
consumer site that provides unedited opinions and reviews from user members
about a broad range of products, services, and travel destinations. “Unbiased
reviews by real people.” Links to professional reviews and buying guides are
also available in
many categories. Users can rate member reviews for usefulness, and reviewers
for "trustworthiness."
eShop ‑
http://www.eshop.com/category.asp
This Microsoft site provides product
information, comparisons, reviews (from Consumer
Guide, and buying tips for a selected number of consumer products – under
Shopping Advice. Categories with tools and tips include: electronics; computing
and home office; furnishings and home appliances; family and pets; sports and
outdoors; and home improvement and gardening.
Consumer
World ‑ http://www.consumerworld.org/
The most
comprehensive directory of consumer products and information on the Web.
Not annotated. Over 2000 resources: check an airfare, find an ATM machine, file
a consumer complaint with a state agency, read hundreds of consumer booklets, find a low rate
credit card or mortgage, look up the wholesale price of a car, locate a Better
Business Bureau, find a toll‑free number, contact a company's customer service
department, comparison shop for bargains, check stock quotes or CD rates, or
read a movie review. Created by Edgar Dworsky, noted
consumer advocate.
And finally
BLOGS
– do realize these are personal opinions
Small Business Blogs
http://www.forbes.com/bow/b2c/category.jhtml?id=320
NPR’s
Planet Money – business and
economics news and opinions
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/
Business
blogs from About.com
http://banking.about.com/od/blogscommunities/Money_Blogs_Podcasts_and_Communities.htm
Business
blogs - 2500 blogs by
business category
http://www.iblogbusiness.com/