The Internet and Investing Ignorance 6

The freedom that the Internet has created for individuals to make their own, unsupervised investment decisions has made it more risky and difficult than ever for inexperienced traders to earn consistent, positive returns on their capital. Abell, Koppel, and Johnson point out that, “despite their enthusiasm, most people entering the markets today simply do not have the skills and experience to trade effectively” (xiii). The resources that the Internet has made available to investors have proved both helpful and detrimental. Useless and incorrect investment data has flooded the information superhighway, and the speed at which investment transactions now take place lets investors act in mere seconds. Likewise, the simplification of the investment process with the Internet, through the exclusion of full-service brokers, has made it even easier for new investors to mismanage their own money. The Internet has become a marvelous tool for investing, but as Abell, Koppel, and Johnson ask, “why would you risk your hard-earned money without an effective trading education?” (31). As a result, a strong need for training in the discipline of online investing is apparent. Additionally new investors simply do not understand the skills, risks, and discipline associated with online investing, and, as a result, are too ignorant to sufficiently manage their own investments.


Works Cited
Abell, Howard, Robert Koppel, and Ken Johnson. The Sixth Market. Chicago: Dearborn Trade, 2000.
Carreon, Charles. "Mutual Funds." 401KInvestor.Net: Charles Carreon's Simple Guide To Investing. 9 Apr 2007 .
Collins, Victoria. InvestBeyond.com. Chicago: Dearborn, 2000.
Goodchild, John, and Clive Callow. Double Takes. Chichester, England: John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2000.
Masonson, Leslie N. Day Trading on the Edge. New York: Amacom, 2001.
Pasternak, Melvin. "Technicals versus Fundamentals." Street Authority. 18 Apr 2007 http://www.streetauthority.com/terms/t/technicals.as>.
Seeto, Brandon C W. The Psychology of Electronic Trading. Singapore: John Wiley and Sons (Asia) Pte Ltd, 2004.
Thomsett, Michael C. Mastering Online Investing. Chicago: Financial Publishing, Inc., 2000.