To demonstrate how truly simple and speedy the process can be, I’ve posted the six steps I might take to select, purchase, and manage the stocks in my portfolio.

There are some who think there’s a lot more to it than this. There’s not! This process simply relies on easily accessible tools that do the essential work that fundamental investors would normally devote to the task. The rest is frosting on the cake and of little added value.

Start at the beginning and go through them in sequence, or pick any one you want and have at it. (Ain’t self-guided tutorials great!)

Buying a Stock: Step 1 – Finding the Best Companies Say I just received a $10,000 windfall from my Uncle Harry’s estate. And I want to take advantage of the fire sale . . . more

Buying a Stock: Step 2 – Confirm the Quality We now can identify all of the stocks that would meet our criteria, sorted in order of quality . . . more

Buying a Stock: Step 3 – Evaluating the Price As a result of Step 2, I’ve found that Factset Systems (FDS) is the clear front-runner for consideration as my next stock to buy . . . more

Buying a Stock: Step 4 – Buying It We now want to purchase the stock we selected. And, if we were populating a new portfolio, we could . . . more

Buying a Stock: Step 5 – Monitoring Your Stock Portfolio Management consists of two simple tasks: Offense and Defense . . . more

Buying a Stock: Step 6 – When to Sell There are only three reasons for selling a stock. Hint: the first is when you want or need the money . . . more