Investment Courses
Online Course Fees and Overview
Courses will be available only through our Live Online Meeting Platform through 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In-person courses are planned for 2021 if conditions safely permit.
Course 1: Stocks, Bonds and General Securities Overview | Instructor: Dan Goldberg
Objective: To gain a general understanding of the investing process, common securities, the impact of inflation, and delve into the detailed workings of stock and bond investing.
Course Description:
Click to View Descriptions for Course 1 Syllabus
1) Overview of Securities Investment
- a. Course Goals
- b. General investment concepts and purpose of securities investment
- c. Why does a majority of today’s professionals invest in securities?
- d. Brokerage firms
2) Common Investment Accounts
- a. Employer sponsored retirement plans
- b. Individual and self-employed retirement plans
- c. Rollover Retirement Accounts
- d. Health Savings and Educational Savings Accounts
- e. Individual taxable investment accounts
- f. Estates, Trusts and Annuities
- g. Retirement savings “Catch-up” provisions
3) Available Securities and the Impact of Inflation
a. Detailed overview of available securities
- a.i. Bonds and other fixed income securities
- a.ii. Common stock and preferred shares
- a.iii. Mutual Funds and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)
- a.iv. Complex Securities (Options, CDOs, REITs, Derivatives etc.)
- b.i. What is inflation?
- b.ii. How inflation impacts our spending power
- b.iii. How inflation affects equities and fixed-income securities differently
4) Bonds and Related Debt Securities
- a. Bond mechanics (how bonds function)
- b. Bond types
- c. Bond Credit ratings and risk management
- d. Pros and Cons of fixed income investments
- e. Common Terms, definitions and bondholder’s rights
- f. Examples and calculations
- g. Interest rates and inflationary risks
- h. Living off fixed income investments during retirement
- i. Calculations used to evaluate bonds for purchase
- j. Short-term protection vs. Long-term growth
5) Stocks – The Fundamentals of Equity Investing
- a. Stocks and partial ownership
- b. Rights of stockholders
- c. Pros and Cons
- d. Inflation protection and dividends
- e. Broad returns reflect economic performance
- f. Volatility, the voting machine and market forces
- g. Margin of safety
- h. Long-term growth vs. short-term risks
- i. Stock evaluation and financial metrics
- j. Growth vs. Value investment strategies
- k. Stock comparison and the impact of market forces
2020 Schedule for Online Course 1
- Tuesday - August 11
- Tuesday - September 8
- Tuesday - October 13
- Tuesday - November 10
- Tuesday - December 8
Course 2: Mutual Funds, ETFs, Portfolio and Retirement Planning | Instructor: Dan Goldberg
Objective: Detailed analysis of Mutual Funds, ETFs and Portfolio and Retirement Planning Strategies.
Course Description:
Click to View Descriptions for Course 2 Syllabus
1) Mutual Funds and Exchange Traded Funds
- a) Course overview
- b) Mutual funds and how they simplify the investment process
- c) What’s in a mutual fund?
- d) Blended, diversified and focused funds
- e) Overview of benchmarks/indices, fund fees and trading limitations
- f) “Active” and “Passive” management of mutual funds
- g) Impact of high fund fees on investor performance
- h) Fund comparisons
- i) Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs):
- › a. Similarities and differences to mutual funds
- › b. ETFs vs. Mutual Funds as investment vehicles
- › c. Hyper-active trading of ETFs
- › d. How some ETFs have diverged from their origins
2) Portfolio Management
- a. Historical performance of stocks and bonds
- b. The importance of diversification
- c. Bull and bear Markets
- d. Asset allocation and long-term returns
- e. Blended portfolios and the need for stability
- f. Rebalancing and adjusting stock and bond ratios over time
- g. Keeping investment costs reasonable
- h. Short-term and long-term investment strategies
- i. Detailed retirement calculation examples
- j. Fixed-income calculation examples
- k. Risk tolerance and managing expectations
3) Dangers of Complex Securities, Leverage and Statistics
- a. Clarity and a security’s underlying structure
- b. How complex securities led to the 2008-2009 collapse
- c. Complex security examples and their inherent dangers
- d. Hedge funds and “hedged’ mutual funds
- e. Leveraged, amplified and inverse amplified ETFs
- f. An overreliance on statistics and false security
- g. Speculation, trading and the herd mentality
- h. Investing in international securities
2020 Schedule for Online Course 2
- Thursday - August 13
- Thursday - September 10
- Thursday - October 15
- Thursday - November 12
- Thursday - December 10
Sign Up and Registration
Refund Policy
Course cancellations made 3 days or more in advance of the course date, will receive a 100% refund. Cancellations that are made with less than 3 days’ notice, will incur a 10% fee.
Please contact us if you need to reschedule a course date or have any questions. Call us at (805) 210-2997 or email at dan@simi-investments.com
