PRISM: Prioritizing Your Goals

Reflect 

Finding the right stock for your portfolio doesn't have to be overly difficult. At AAII, we aim to make this choice as simple as possible by providing our members with countless resources and tools to find the best stocks to add to their investments.  

We've compiled a checklist of every AAII resource we offer on our website for stock investors to utilize. We have everything from pre-built screening strategies, real-money model portfolios, a comprehensive Investing Ideas section, stock grading system that will help you identify potential opportunities and so much more. 

Screens filter the vast universe of stocks to find one with specific traits such as a low price-sales ratio, strong growth in earnings, a growing dividend or rising earnings expectations.  

Among one of the largest advantages stock screens provide investors with, is the ability to identify stocks you may have otherwise overlooked or missed that possess the characteristics you desire. 

Delve into the full checklist that is attached at the bottom of this lesson! 

Participate 

Knowing where to start can be the hardest part of finding the right stocks for your portfolio. Now that you have a comprehensive list of tools and resources to use, we want to show you how you can use them. For this lesson, we challenge our members to use a few resources from the checklist to choose a few stocks or overall screens/portfolios to evaluate.   

For this activity, please review the attached checklist PDF and complete these two tasks: 

1. Find a stock screen that fits your individual needs (investing style, tolerance, allocation, etc.) by visiting the Investing Ideas section on the AAII website. 
2. Under the Investing Ideas section, you can click on any of the areas below to find stock screens that are performing well or fit into your investment plan: 
   1. Stock Ideas 
   2. Custom Stock Screener 
   3. A+ Stock Grades Screener 
   4. Top/Bottom Rated Stocks 
   5. Upgrades & Downgrades 
3. Each of these different tools gives insights on over 60 stock screens. You can also view our premium Model Portfolios if you'd rather follow an entire data-driven, real-money portfolio that has significant historical data and performance information. 
4. Now, drill down into the stock screen you chose and see if it fits your investment management preferences and allocation. You will want to write down notes so you can refer to your findings for future lessons. 

Now, we want to hear about your findings!  

1. Which stock screen or model portfolio did you choose to evaluate? 
2. What criteria did you focus on the most when comparing which stock screen to delve into? 
3. Follow up question: Which style of stock investing are you learning towards (growth, value, momentum, etc.) 
4. Using the screening tools, were you able to find stocks to fill the gaps in your portfolio (the ones you identified in the previous lesson such as large-caps or emerging market equities)? 

If you find specific stocks or overall screens you'd like to add to your portfolio, you can easily add to AAII's My Portfolio if you have A+ Investor or Platinum. You can also write these stocks down on your "S" - Selecting and Managing Your Investments worksheet so you can keep track of promising opportunities. 

View and download the "Selecting and Managing Your Investments" worksheet 

Questions about coursework, webinars, worksheets, etc.? Drop your inquiries in the discussion below. We're happy to help!