Big Brood

Are you starting a softball team?  Have you ever heard that question before?  I have, even though we’re nowhere close yet (just a basketball team, so far).

This family of 11 kids, however, can answer: yes!

I think this sounds like a lot of fun to see all those kids working and playing together, especially for a cause.

Have you ever had a family team like this?  Did you find it fun or frustrating to play with your siblings or kids?

While conducting my own research into investing, I found an article at RedOrbit on different investing communities on the Internet. Since I’m looking for as many different ways to learn as possible, this article is a real gem!

Here are some of the sites they discuss:

• Valueforum: Looks very promising. They require payment via Credit Card to get access to any of the member-only content. This should discourage “spammers” who are trying to bash a stock (or trick others into buying). They claim 101% growth in contest portfolio since 2004. I may try this one just to get a feeling for what sorts of things are debated in these communities. I found, when I wanted to understand a lot more about Catholicism that watching and participating in online debate really helped me to grow in knowledge.
• Wikinvest: I like the free access to this one and they seem to have some interesting features. The WikiData feature allows you to see data about companies by industry.You’ll notice the “Add” links here show the beauty and the frustration of working with a Wiki. The data is put in place by those who care, but there isn’t anyone paying to make sure the data is complete. You also need to watch out for “spam”. When you look at the site, it may say one thing and it will eventually be fixed but it would be best to crosscheck your data with other sources.

There are also several other sites available in the article that are pay sites. I’ll be looking at them more seriously when I feel I have a good grasp of the fundamentals.

What do you think? Are these sites worth anything? Have you tried any of them out?