NAOI Investor Education - What Makes It Unique?
Years of teaching
individuals to invest and measuring the results have shown us, at the NAOI, what works and what doesn't in the area of investor education. Our observations have helped us to
create the most effective learning content and presentation format in the
investor education field. Below is a summary of the elements that make NAOI
education unique and multiple examples to illustrate each. They apply to each course. We are convinced that you will not find a
more effective and easy-to-use investor education resource anywhere.
Here are the major
elements that make NAOI Study Courses unique:
The Membership Model. When
you place an order with the NAOI you are ordering an NAOI Membership.
Your Membership type is related to the Study Course you select. As a
part of the ordering process you will create your Member Record along
with a unique User ID and Password. Upon completion of the order process
the NAOI will be notified to ship your Study Course book and you will
immediately be able to access the Members Only area of this site by
clicking the "Sign-In" button at the top of this and all pages
of the public Web site. Your Membership is valid for one year and you
can renew for additional years at a very economical rate. Click the
"Join / Order"
tab in the above menu for ordering details.
For Advanced Courses: The Multi-Media
Format.
Effective investor training of any length requires the advantages of both
a hardcopy component and an online component. The benefits of including
a hardcopy book are fairly obvious. Courses consisting of hundreds of
pages are just too difficult to read online and printing out the text
locally can seriously strain most home printers. Plus, a book allows students
to study anywhere (not just in front of a computer), make notes on
pages,
highlight areas of text, bookmark pages, etc. Students have told us that
they want a hardcopy book to study. We agreed.
(Note that the "Smart
Investing in 8 Easy Lessons" course is approximately half the length of
the advanced courses and compact enough to be easily studied in online
format. Therefore a workbook is not included. The course does, however, provide all of the advantages of the online
format as described below.)
Investor education provided in a hardcopy book, alone, cannot
provide the comprehensive education experience that we know to be
essential for learning how to invest. Thus, the NAOI has incorporated an online component
into each course that
provides the following benefits:
- Student
Interaction and Participation. The Web-based component
enables us to seamlessly integrate into the course material such resources as
online calculators, worksheets, checklists and more. These online
resources allow students
to actively participate in the learning process. Click
here for an example of an NAOI interactive calculator that
illustrates this unique benefit.
- Web Links.
The online component enables us to seamlessly integrate external Web-links into the
course material. These links point students to the most effective investing sites on the
Web. Almost all areas of investing are enhanced by referencing at
least one Web site that enables you to transform knowledge into
action. Any hardcopy book that references a Web site is outdated
in months. The NAOI multi-media format allows us to refresh our Web
links as needed. Click here for an example
of the Web categories listed in the courses.
- Testing and
Learning Reinforcement. The Web-based component enables
us to present students with an online test after each lesson.
Testing is essential to effective learning retention. After you complete a lesson
you are prompted take an online test to ensure that you have
grasped the material presented. The NAOI Testing Servers score each
test immediately upon submission and provide instant feedback. You
do not "pass" a test until all questions are
answered correctly. A personalized "Scorecard" tracks your
progress through the course material. Obviously this is a
capability that is not possible with a hardcopy book. Click
here for an illustration of the NAOI testing functionality.
The Course Content.
The content of NAOI investor education courses is comprehensive and unbiased. Most investor
education books are narrowly focused on a specific investing
product, strategy or philosophy. NAOI courses take a more comprehensive
approach. The goal of NAOI courses is to
enable you to build a broad foundation of investing knowledge and
resources that you can use for a lifetime of confident investing. This
foundation is built from the following components that you will find in
each NAOI course:
- Basic
Investing Knowledge. Each course explains the basic
principles of investing in a clear and concise manner. You are then
tested extensively to ensure that you have mastered these concepts.
Click
here for an excerpt from the "NAOI Individual Investor Certification Program" that illustrates
the clear and concise manner in which the material is presented and
knowledge conveyed.
- Structured
Planning. NAOI courses provide structure to your investing activities. You will use worksheets,
calculators, checklists and other resources to transform each of
your goals into an Investing Plan and a detailed portfolio. The
structure provided will give purpose to each of your investing
decisions. Random trades will be a thing of the past. Click
here for an illustration of the NAOI Planning Process.
- Web
Resources. As mentioned above, NAOI courses are
uniquely formatted to include links to the most effective investing sites on
the Web. Each area of discussion incorporates Web links that either
expand on the topic being discussed or that enable you to transform your
knowledge into action. The NAOI is free to reference any site on the
Web and we select only those that are legitimate, effective and, for
the most part, free of charge.
- Human
Resources. Nowhere in any NAOI course do we suggest that
you "go it alone" in the investing world even though you
will be equipped to do so. Almost all
investors will benefit from working with a full service broker or a
financial advisor. In each advanced NAOI course we show you how to find and
evaluate support resources that best fit your needs. We also teach you how to work with an advisor as an active participant in the decision
making process. Graduates of NAOI courses need never again passively
accept recommendations from third parties without question.
Motivation and
Reward. How
many investing books line your shelves that you started with eager
anticipation but ran out of gas at about Chapter 3? Probably more than a
few. The problem is that they offer little that motivates you to
continue. The NAOI recognizes the fact that students need reinforcement
and motivation as part of an effective study program. For this purpose
each student is provided with an online "Scorecard" that
tracks their progress through the material. Students are rewarded for each lesson test that is successfully
completed. Click here to see how testing
works. And upon graduation from a course students are awarded with
a graduation diploma and, for the Certification Program, the NAOI Individual Investor Certification
designation. (Refer the the "Certification" tab at the top of this
page for more information).
The NAOI
Approach to Education. The NAOI approach to individual
investor education influences all of our offerings and it is important
that you understand the following points. First we do not assume you are
an idiot or a moron like some
books do. We assume that you are fully capable of grasping the basic
concepts of investing when presented in a clear and concise manner.
Investing is not rocket science but it does take a commitment of time
and effort on your part. Second, we make no claims that what you learn
in an NAOI Course will enable you to "get rich quick". Our
goal is to provide you with the knowledge, tools and resources that will
enable you to become a
confident and effective investor. It is up to you to translate this power into
results. Third, we are
completely unbiased, making no specific investment recommendations and
advocating no strategy other than intelligent investing. We empower you
to make these decisions on your own.
These are the basic components of each
NAOI Investor Education Course. Your next step is to determine which course
fits your unique needs and circumstances.
Choosing the Right
Course For You
One size definitely does not fit all when
it comes to investing. That is why we currently offer three courses as
follows:
The
NAOI Individual Investor Certification Program
Confident
Investing in 30 Days
Smart Investing
in 8 Easy Lessons
The Choosing
Section of this area provides a side-by-side comparison.
We
suggest that you go to the page dedicated to each course for more
details. The final page of this section offers a side-by-side comparison
to assist your selection.
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