For a long time our advice to novice investors has been to join an investment club. It’s a good way to learn the ropes and share the large amount of homework involved in successful long-term investing. The Web has made it possible for groups to form online bringing clubs within the reach of investors everywhere. Sadly, we have read of at least one online scam which billed itself as a club but was really one individual stealing investors’ money. So we still recommend joining a club – but check out the group carefully.

• The N. A. I. C. and D. Gerlach ‘s I-Club Central Between them, the National Association of Investors Corporation and NAIC member Douglas Gerlach cover a wealth of sensible advice and information for the individual wishing to become his owns security analyst. These sites also present information on how to start an investment club. The NAIC has financial analysis software and a database of the type of companies a club or individual will be interested in investing in.

• The World Federation of Investors (originally The World Federation of Investment Clubs) International organization.

• Bivio.com Bivio is a web-delivered application which enables groups of individual investors to create and manage their own investment clubs online. It is sponsored by Buy&Hold.com, a leading financial services company focused on the needs of long-term investors.

• A.A.I.I. (National Organization) The American Association of Individual Investors offers valuable information and education for the do-it-yourself portfolio manager. They also have financial analysis software and, via subscription, a growing database of financial figures for most of the publicly traded companies in the US.

• NAIO The National Association of Online Investors is a relative newcomer but shows a lot of promise. It offers a study course and individual certification.

• Invest-FAQ Not an investment club but useful for a beginning investor. You can spend hours reading at this site. You can read on a specific subject or use it as a textbook. In reality, it is a very comprehensive online “book” on the subject of investing. The advantage of an online book is, of course, that it can be changed as circumstances change and it has links for additional reading.