COURSE DESCRIPTIONS FOR UPCOMING ACADEMIC TERM
1) LEVEL 1 ("beginning investing")
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
The Level 1 class is an "introductory" course ideal for women (or men) who are new to investing or who have limited knowledge about the financial markets.
This class focuses on basic terminology and concepts that are important in investing.
Topics include:
1) Rule of 72 (compounding)
2) IPO, stock
3) stock exchanges (NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ)
4) dividend, dividend yield, DRIP, ex-dividend
5) stock split, reverse stock split
6) P/E ratio
7) market cap (large cap, midcap, small cap)
8) indices (Dow, Standard & Poor's 500, NASDAQ Composite)
9) real estate investment trusts (REITs)
10) mutual funds (actively managed vs. "index" funds, NAV, expense ratio, 12b-1 fee, front-end load, deferred load, redemption fee, transaction fee, "NTF" fund, turnover ratio)
12) exchange traded funds (ETFs)
13) discount brokerages
14) basic "buy" and "sell" orders (placing trades)
Approximately halfway through the course, you will set up your own "fantasy" brokerage account (with $100,000 "cash").
You will use this "fantasy" account to apply your new skills and practice buying/selling stocks and/or ETFs using "market" orders and "limit" orders.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2) LEVEL 2 ("intermediate investing")
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
The "Level 2" course is a continuation of "Level 1" and covers more complex investment strategies.
It is open to all women (or men) who have successfully completed my "Level 1" class or anyone who THOROUGHLY understands ALL the topics listed in the course description for "Level 1."
Note: Topics covered in last term's Level 1 class will NOT be repeated in this term's Level 2 class.
Topics include (not necessarily in this order):
1) closed-end funds (CEFs)
2) HOLDRS
3) short selling
4) leveraged/inverse ETFs
5) more specialized ETFs (precious metals, commodities, currencies, agriculture, etc.)
6) business cycle (sector investing, interest rate cycle)
7) economic indicators ("soccer mom" indicator, "lipstick" indicator, LEI, CEI)
8) technical analysis (EMA, stochastics, RSI, MACD)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
3) LEVEL 3 (intro to options)
LEVEL 4 (options trading workshop)
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Did you know that some people are willing to PAY you just for AGREEING to sell your stock or ETF at a price that's HIGHER than your original purchase price?
Trading OPTIONS is the secret!
Professional options traders know how to protect their portfolios – and even make money – during wild markets.
Trading options is not at all complicated! You just need to learn the fundamentals plus some basic options terminology.
In the LEVEL 3 course, you will learn what options are and how to use them to enhance and/or protect your portfolio.
The LEVEL 4 course is structured as a "workshop" in which students will be discussing their real options trades as well as their "fantasy" options trades.
During each session, we will examine several stocks and ETFs. Then, using technical analysis, we'll make the following decisions:
1) buy long (bullish strategy) OR
2) sell short (bearish strategy) OR
3) buy put (bearish strategy) OR
4) buy call (bullish strategy) OR
5) sell covered call (neutral or semi-bullish strategy) OR
6) sell "uncovered" ("naked") call (HIGH RISK bearish strategy) OR
6) sell put (bullish strategy)
Weekly assignments will focus on options strategies.
