It's Your Money: The E*TRADE Step-by-Step Guide to Online Investing

It's your money -- why not take control of it? Here's the definitive guide to investing and managing your money online. This easy-to-use guide covers everything from getting online to Wall Street fundamentals to researching and investing in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options, and IPOs online. It's a must-read starter kit for anyone who's thought about managing his or her money online.

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If you're curious about investing but have been too afraid to try, or if you've wondered about the hype surrounding online trading but were unsure how to plug in, It's Your Money is for you. In it, Christos Cotsakos--the man who put online trading on the map--leads you step-by-step into the brave new world of Internet trading. The book begins literally at the beginning, with criteria for buying a computer and selecting an Internet service provider, moves on through investment basics, and finally offers sophisticated strategies for analyzing individual stocks. Ever wondered what the NASDAQ was but didn't want to show your ignorance? Or day trading? Read on. In a clear, conversational style, Cotsakos answers all the key questions, from what growth stocks are, to why bonds are really not boring, to the difference between front-end and rear-end loads (mutual funds, that is).

Once you've grasped the basics, you're on your way to opening your own Internet trading account. The beauty of managing and investing money online is that you can be your own "professional fund manager" (which gives you more power over your money--the author's primary goal here). Cotsakos explains how to research investment opportunities using the World Wide Web, and how to analyze and interpret what you've found in order to meet your own goals. He shows how to take advantage of such online perks as portfolio tracking and computer alerts for important changes in particular investments. And he introduces advanced topics for the braveheart investor--IPOs, day trading, and extended-hours trading. The Cotsakos approach is nevertheless a prudent one. The emphasis is on using the computer's analytical tools to create a well-conceived financial plan, rather than on simply learning how to ride the helter-skelter world of day trading, for example. As a primer for investing online, this book is a great resource. Be forewarned, however: Cotsakos does take every opportunity to mention his own financial-services company, E*Trade. There are others out there, so take a leaf out of his own book and do your research--online, of course--before you sign up. --Lesley Reed

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Initial Impression, 2008-03-25
I just received this book in the mail and opened it up. I am a little disappointed the book I received is a "First Edition" where the copyright is 2000. If I understand this correctly, the information in the book is "as of the 2000"; eight years ago.

I bought this intending to use it along with my recently opened E*Trade account. I now expect there to be significant differences between what the book is showing and what the current E*Trade website looks like. If the book is just sticking to the fundamentals this will probably turn out just fine; time will tell.

I wish I had been able to tell the year when the book was published before the decision was made to purchase but that is information that needs to be added to the Amazon website and not a criticism of this specific book.



7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

Nothing to gain by reading this, 2007-01-31
As others have stated the book is little more than a 200 page advertisement for e-trade.

I read the book because I know very little about investing in the stock market and I would like to learn.

Even as god awful new to the stock market I am, I learned almost nothing from the book. Many of his descriptions of the way things are "Why do companies go public?" were oversimplified to the point of being wrong.

I went into the book with a bunch of questions and left will all of the same questions.

At best the only thing the book does is convince you to invest money in the stock market through E-trade.

If you are going to trade online, the $13 per trade commission E-Trade charges you is much higher than the $7/trade rate offered by Scottrade, or the $10/trade Ameritrade offers but you won't find that in the book.

If you want to learn about the stock market, I would recommend instead Jim Cramer's 'Mad Money' or 'Sane Investing in an Insane World'.

If you managed to make it here to read this review then it is a fair bet you already know everything 'It's Your Money' has to say. The book is really that worthless.


5 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

An Advertisement for E*TRADE, 2002-02-19
This book was completely unfulfilling. It's hard to imagine a book that could be less useful for investors. Perhaps Costakos assumes that his potential customers are simpletons who don't know how the Internet works. Even so, his consistent proselytizing for his own online brokerage will annoy both neophytes and experienced traders alike.


3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Great for first time E*Trade investers, 2001-06-25
This book gives you the nuts and bolts about trading and investing on E*Trade. It also covers investment tips and references to use, such as margin trading. The book does not tell you what to invest in but how to manage your own money. Great starter book for E*Trade investers and investors who think they know what they are doing but do not.


10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

Excellent for most, 2001-01-20
I can't believe how people criticize Chritos Cotsakos. Sayingthat this book was just for publicity is ridiculous. I was surprisedwhile reading this great book how he did mention other competitors ofhis. This is a quote from his book, "At this point you probablythink I'm going to tell you to go directly to [Etrade] and sign up foran account with Etrade. Even though I am very, very proud of what wehave accomplished, I'm not going to do that. The whole point of thisbook is to empower you. The worst thing you can do when managing ourown money is to blindly follow someone else's advice-no matter whoseit is. If I thought that was a good idea, I wouldn't have bothered towrite this book. Managing your own money online is a way of takingcontrol of your actions, your research, your information, yourdecisions, and your own account. It's not a form of gambling. Makingfinancial decisions without knowing what you're doing is a form ofgambling. Instead of telling you what to do, I'm going to give yousome guidelines to help you select the best possible financial serviceprovider, and then set you loose on the Internet to make the rightdecision-for yourself. So, how do you evaluate and choose a goodfinancial service provider? Start with what I call 'the six Ss':security, speed, simplicity, service, sharing, and scalability. Thebest financial service providers do all of these very well." Nowof course he does mention how great Etrade is but if it was my book, Iwould to. Anyways, the book is great for almost anyone. The book ispretty simple in the beginning, but it helps later on in the book. Thechapters are as follow:

Welcome to the Revolution

Step I: GetReady Chapter 1: Your Financial Future Is Online

Step II: Get Set,Get Online Chapter 2: Turn On, Tune In Chapter 3: Get Your ModemRunning Chapter 4: Make It a Good One Chapter 5: Open Your AccountToday Chapter 6: Know Where You're Going

Step III: Meet the StreetChapter 7: Start with Stocks Chapter 8: Bonds. TreasuryBonds. Corporate Bonds. Municipal Bonds. Chapter 9: Funds, Funds,Funds Chapter 10: Where to Stash Some Cash Chapter 11: KnowThyself

Stop! (the stop just tells you to go back and make sure youunderstand everything said) Go! (just says go ahead and read)

StepIV: You've Got the Power Chapter 12: Online Stock Investing Chapter13: Online Bond Investing Chapter 14: Online Mutual FundInvesting

Chapter 15: Keeping Track

Step V: High Gear Chapter 16:Your Options Chapter 17: Stock Investing 2.0 Chapter 18: Let's TalkTrends Chapter 19: IPO's and More Advanced Stuff

Talking the Talk (auseful glossary of terms) Bibliography & e-contact sites Stay inTouch (contact information) Acknowledgements About the Author Index

This book is great for most people and he just explains how to readstock information and what everything means. It's not an equation ofhow to find the next Wal-Mart or Cisco. I don't know how people saythat this book won't help you at all.

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