The NAOI Study Courses. The market is rife with so-called investor "education". But an overview of these offerings often engenders more despair than hope. Many "educational" products are thinly disguised sales pitches. Others promise instant success with little or no work. Still others claim that their investing strategies can't fail. And then there are literally thousands of investment books that line the shelves of every bookstore. Where does the potential investor begin? 

The NAOI provides the answer. Our Study Courses stand alone in providing comprehensive, unbiased and academically rigorous education. They are further differentiated from the field by offering a multi-media format that allows us to keep the content refreshed in the dynamic environment of the investing world. NAOI courses are created for the realistic investor who instead of striving to "get rich quick", strives to "get smart quick". 

The NAOI Target Market. The primary audience of the NAOI is the individual investor (refer to the "Our Target Market" item in the submenu at the top of this page). However, the NAOI also offers specialized education products to such groups as Financial Advisors, Corporate HR Departments, Associations, Full Service Brokers, Online Brokers and Academia. All of these organizations will benefit tremendously by offering investing education to their customers, clients, employees, members and/or students. Refer to both the "Partnerships" and "Memberships" tabs at the top of each page.

The NAOI Approach. The NAOI is completely unbiased. Our only product is investor education. The NAOI does not recommend any specific investing products and we do not advocate any specific investing strategy. The NAOI has no hidden agendas and we owe no allegiance to any external organization. 

The NAOI as an agent for change. As stated above, the primary focus of the NAOI is consumer investing education. As a secondary mission the NAOI is also a strong advocate for the protection of individual investor rights. Today’s market is rife with false information, biased analysis, securities manipulation and scam artists. The government and various self regulating organizations must put in place laws, rules and regulations that provide the individual investor with a level playing field. They must then be prepared to enforce these measures with stiff penalties. The NAOI monitors the actions of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other agencies and provides input when we feel that the voice of the individual investor is not being heard.

But the NAOI is not an organization that spends huge amounts of time, effort and/or money lobbying for a broad range of investor protection laws and regulations. The NAOI does not believe that the solution to cleaning up the markets lies with the Government, the SEC or any self-regulatory organization. The only real solution to the problems that the markets currently face is the emergence of intelligent investors as a market force. Only when investors are empowered to recognize and avoid those who profit through deceit will these destructive elements be deprived of the money flow that keeps them alive.

It came to his attention that thousands of individuals were risking significant sums of money on impulse buys after hearing or reading about a can't miss stock in the media or on the Web. Dreams of getting rich quick through online trading were trumping all rational norms of intelligent consumerism. He watched as crooks bilked individuals of millions of dollars through fraudulent stock scams, as traders manipulated stock prices, and as investors spent millions on “no-brainer” trading systems. Mr. Hevner observed that many individual investors had essentially transformed their computers into “slot machines”. Instead of investing they were gambling. And he watched as people lost their life savings.

Finally, in 1997, Mr. Hevner had seen enough. Putting his own investing activities on hold and devoting significant resources to the effort, he created the National Association of Online Investors to make available to individuals the knowledge, structure and Web-based resources required to enable them to become confident and effective investors.

Since the inception of the NAOI Mr. Hevner has made numerous national and local TV and radio appearances representing the voice of the individual investor. He has been interviewed on CNBC, ABC, and CBS television and quoted numerous times in the national print press. His message not only stresses the importance of individuals assuming responsibility for their own investments but also the responsibility of suppliers of financial products and services to include a comprehensive educational component as a part of their offerings.

Mr. Hevner currently resides in the District of Columbia where he stays in contact with market regulatory organizations, teaches college courses in investing and guides the development of NAOI education programs.