• What is an investment 
• Return on investment 
• Questions to ask when investing 
• The stock market (including the major stock markets of the world) 
• Bonds and their yields 
• Mutual funds and their variety 
• Options and how they are used to help manage risk 
• Commodities 
• Futures 
• Precious metals 
• Real estate 
• How to do homework and research on an investment 
• Diversification 
• Timing 
• Financial planning 
• Barriers to investing 
• Factors affecting price and yields 
• Corporate credit ratings, etc.

It includes a full coverage of inflation and how inflation affects the general economy and the value of investments. It contains a comprehensive yet very simple on-line dictionary for hundreds of investment terms.

In his published "Legislative Update" covering the need for investment education of employees, Mr. Benna, acknowledged "father" of the 401 (k) plan, states:

"For example, many participants have virtually no investment knowledge. Members of this group need Investment Basics (former name for Investment Competence) an easy to use software program."

It is the best selling and best-reviewed product of its kind. It is widely used by major financial service companies, banks and brokerages for their non-broker employees.

Investment education of employees is at last becoming very topical as a subject. Along with the ability to read and understand financial statements, a thorough education in the basics of finance and education are factually vital to success in business. They may soon become mandatory in the wake of the financial reporting confidence crisis of currently in progress.

Many educational solutions available are weak on education and long on planning (spread-sheeting the types of returns one may get in certain investments). Investment Competence handles the educational needs while providing also for financial planning. It is unique in truly being able to do this successfully.
 

1. Large and small companies use Investment Competence to help handle investment educational requirements for their employees or otherwise to help their employees with their financial planning. In this category are companies like Bank of America, Weyerhaeuser Company, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Great West Life, Paradyne, Liberty Bank, Annuity Board Southern Baptist Council, University Federal Credit Union, DuPont, Dun & Bradstreet, Thompson Learning, T.Rowe Price, Barclays Investment Funds, McDonald & Company Investments, Towers Perrin, etc. Citibank has had this product translated into several languages for use around the world.
2. Companies who want their employees to understand this subject so that they may better interact with their own customers. In this category are companies like Citibank, T Rowe Price, Charles Schwab, J. P. Morgan, Scudder Kemper Investments, State Street Bank & Trust, USAA Brokerage, Disclosure, Royal Bank of Canada, CIGNA Investments, AAL Capital Management, McDonald and Company, HD Vest, Federal Reserve Bank of NY, Richmond Savings, Interstate- Johnson Lane, Stifel, Nicolaus and Co., Norwest Investment Services, Sun America Securities, E-trade, US Bancorp, Wells Fargo Financial, Towers-Perrin, Dun & Bradstreet, etc.
3. Established companies who provide investment education to the type of publics they typically service. In this category are Dun & Bradstreet, Education Direct, Connect4Training, Skills Plus, Click2Learn.com, training specialists, etc.
4. Numerous individual investors who constantly see press reviews, listings and other recommendations about the product from groups like the American Association of Individual Investors or IEEE.

• The student will learn the definition of investing, capital, return on investment and capital gain.
• The student will learn how to calculate rate of return.
• The student will learn and drill the relationships between future value, present value, return, rate of return and time.
• The student will review the components of return including periodic cash received from investments and capital gain and understand what makes up total return and future value.
• The student will learn to use the "Rule of 72" to estimate how long it will take to double an initial investment.
• The student will understand the concept of stock and securities and the basic purpose of investing in stock in a company.
• The student will understand the basic concepts of an initial public offering including prospectus, primary market, underwriters and more.
• The student will understand various ways a company may use its earnings (profit) including the payment of dividends and reinvesting in the company.
• The student will understand the concept of the secondary market, how the secondary differs from the primary market and how the stock market works.
• The student will become familiar with the three key stock exchanges of the United States - New York Stock Exchange, American Stock Exchange, and NASDAQ - as well as other stock markets in the world.
• The student will understand the concept of supply and demand and how this impacts the price of a stock.
• The student will understand key items that influence experienced investors to buy or sell stock including financial performance, price to earnings (P/E) ratio, volume and per market share, economic climate, the "story", yield and more.
• The student will drill the relationship between stock price, taxes, earnings and quantity of investment.
• The student will understand how the bond market works and the three key pieces of information related to a bond - face or par value, term or maturity, and interest or coupon rate.
• The student will understand how to determine future value and return on investment for a bond.
• The student will understand the three main categories of bonds - corporate, federal, and state and local.
• The student will understand the concept of and how to calculate coupon yield, current yield and yield to maturity.
• The student will drill the relationships between interest rates, bond ratings, market price, current yield and coupon yield.
• The student will understand the basic concept of mutual funds, and how to calculate net asset value and return on investment.
• The student will gain knowledge of a wide variety of categories of mutual funds and understand the basic costs that may be associated with a fund.
• The student will drill and gain a thorough understanding of the relationship between value of holdings, net asset value, new cash, number of shares and redemptions of open-end and closed-end mutual funds.
• The student will understand the use of bank accounts, real estate, collectibles and precious metals as investments.
• The student will understand the basic concepts of "put" and "call" options and futures.
• The student will see demonstrations of options "out of the money," "in the money," and "at the money" and the impact this has on the value of an option.
• The student will understand how the phases of the business cycle impact investments.
• The student will learn the basic definitions and concepts of "bull market," "bear market," "being long," "selling short," and "buy and hold," etc. · The student will understand the concept of hedging your investments.
• The student will explore risk, the risk factor in various types of investments and the impact of risk on return.
• The student will understand how to use asset allocation to manage risk.
• The student will understand volatility and how constructing a portfolio with investments that have different betas can help control volatility and risk of the overall portfolio.
• The student will see how withdrawing or selling an investment early can have a major impact on future value.
• The student will understand the need for investing with non-vital funds.
• The student will understand the basic concepts of an economic system based on money and drill the relationship between money supply, production, general prices and interest rates.
• The student will understand how inflation and deflation in an economy impact the investment market as well as basic actions to help handle the negative effects of inflation and deflation.
• The student will understand how taxes affect investment returns and the formula for determining equivalent yield of a taxable bond as compared to a tax exempt bond.
• The student will learn about various tax-deferred savings plans and their benefits.
• The student will understand potential gains and losses from investing with borrowed capital (using leverage).
• The student will understand "dollar cost averaging."
• The student will drill setting objectives and using "lump sum," "periodic additions," and "periodic withdrawals" investment plans.
• The student will drill the essential elements of a financial plan and develop a summary table of objectives that they can bring to an investment professional for assistance.
• The student will drill asset allocation and managing risk and rate of return.
• The student will review and understand the basic concepts of a variety of investment strategies.
• The student will understand how to read a ticker tape, stock quote, bond quote, mutual fund and other investment quotes.
• The student will understand key indexes and averages and what they measure.

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