Studies consistently show that the investing public today is woefully under-educated in the areas of investing and financial planning. As a result most individuals see little option but to entrust their financial futures to advisors who are also salespeople. And academia is strangely absent in this area. Where have any of us been offered an objective, comprehensive and effective course in personal investing in either high school or college? The answer is "nowhere." 

The NAOI was founded to fill this void and to provide the academically rigorous education that the public needs to become confident investors. This page provides an overview of just a few of the investor education products that we offer.

NAOI Education Advantages

It is not hard today to find all manner of "investor education" offerings in the form of books, seminars, trade shows, continuing education classes, etc. But it is hard to find such offerings that are not trying to sell you something. Objective investing education, having as its only purpose to improve the investing skills of the student, is virtually nonexistent. This is why the NAOI stands apart from other purveyors of so-called investing education today. Here are several additional reasons why NAOI education stands out in a crowded field:

• Objectivity - The NAOI is not controlled by any financial organization. We offer ONLY objective, comprehensive, high-quality investor education. Our books and courses are not biased toward any specific investment product or financial service. 

• Ongoing Market Studies and NAOI Student Feedback - The NAOI has been teaching the art and science of personal investing for close to two decades. Each year we evaluate our education content based on NAOI research related to changing market dynamics and changes in the wants and needs of the investing public.

• Dynamic and Innovative Education - Investing is not a static field of endeavor. It is always changing. NAOI education products are continuously updated to include new developments in the field and also to address major changes in how the market operates. The NAOI has a Research Division that is capable of creating new investment products and methods to improve how investing works in areas where we find current investing methods to be inadequate. The creation of Dynamic Investment Theory is an example.

• Actionable Education - Too many investor "education" books available today are read and then put on the shelf never to be picked up again. NAOI education products are a different type of resource - they are "actionable". In addition to education content, NAOI courses point to online resources such as calculators, worksheets, checklists and Web sites enable students to transform knowledge into action. As such, they are designed to be referenced regularly through an individual's investing career.

No other organization has the investing knowledge, the teaching experience, the student feedback channels and the education knowledge base (discussed next) that the NAOI owns. These factors and others enable the NAOI to stand alone as the nation's premier supplier of effective investor education.

The NAOI Investor Education Knowledge Base

The NAOI owns a proprietary Investor Education Knowledge Base that consists of thousands of pages of content covering virtually all areas of investing that our students will could encounter. From this knowledge base we are able to create targeted publications for any topic investing topic or purpose very rapidly. The book covers shown below are examples of publications that we have created for a courses taught by the NAOI at the college level. Each consists of approximately 150 pages in an easy to use, "lay-flat" format that our students have requested.

Thousands of individuals with money to invest have read these books. And virtually all have given them the highest rating for both content AND presentation format. Note that the image at bottom right is the Certificate of Individual Investor Certification program that is discussed just below.

The knowledge base content is constantly refreshed based on new developments in the market, new resources available on the Web and most importantly based on feedback from our students. This Knowledge Base also enables us to create customized education courses for our Education Partners. NAOI Partnerships are discussed at this link.

NAOI Education Products Categories

Investor education is a vast field of endeavor and investors come with all levels of experience and financial profiles. Therefore a comprehensive investor education solution must be equally vast and varied. That is why the NAOI doesn't simply offer "how to invest" books, rather we offer an entire product line of investor education solutions. Regardless of an investor's experience level or educational needs, the NAOI has an education product that works. An overview of the NAOI investor education product line "categories" is shown below.

The “NAOI Investor Certification Program”

The NAOI offers comprehensive education for a full spectrum of investing topics via the "NAOI Individual Investor Certification Program". This is the “gold-standard” for investor education today.

Consisting of 5 Courses as shown by their book covers at right, this program is the gold standard for comprehensive and academically rigorous investor education in the market today. And via this Program the NAOI sets the standards for individual investor education throughout the industry. Each Course book is approximately 150 pages in length resulting in a study course of close to 750 pages of material. Click the arrows on the cover image at right, or each book cover along the bottom, to view the Courses.

The Program is presented in a multi-media format. The investing public has told us that they want a hardcopy “book” for ease of reading and studying. But each Course also has links to online resources where students can transform knowledge into action. The NAOI has compiled a list of “NAOI Recommended Web Sites” for this purpose. The Program also requires students to pass an online test related to each course in order to attain the designation of “NAOI Certified Investor”.

The NAOI Investor Certification Program is the course in investing that should be offered in every institute of higher learning in America, but is not. It is only available from the NAOI.

Note that the Certification Program is periodically refreshed as the field of investing changes. Thus there will be times when it is not available in our online store. The NAOI will not teach outdated techniques. Currently we are in the process of integrating Dynamic Investment Theory and the use of Dynamic Investments into its content. We will make it available in The NAOI Store when it is released. Join our Email Alerts list at the bottom of any page on this Web site to be notified immediately when the new version is available.

Basic Investor Education

The NAOI knows that there is a tremendous demand for a clear, concise and simple book on the basics of investing. We provide one each year with the cover shown at right so that it is constantly up to date. 

"Beginners" books contain not only basic information such as definitions of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, etc but also action items such as calculators, worksheets, checklists, forms for evaluating investment advisor recommendations. We also provide an online list of the most valuable sites on the Web for transforming knowledge into action. 

Since a portion of this information will change on a yearly basis we will publish a new Beginners book each year.

Customized Education Programs

The investing public has told us that the one benefit that a financial organization can offer that would give it a massive competitive edge in the field is an objective course in investing education.

They have also told us that they would like to be able to study this course using a hardcopy book with a companion online component. They told us that they were not attracted by education "sound bites" presented online or via Webinars. They wanted to be able to study the material at their leisure using a good old-fashion book. Some organizations may find this surprising and perhaps millennials will disagree, but investors of Gen-X and Baby Boomer eras want a book! 

The NAOI is ready and able to work with any financial organization who wants to meet this need. We will work with you to create a customized education course that will include both basic investing knowledge as well as how to transform this knowledge into action using YOUR specific investing tools and services. We would closely tie the hardcopy book to your site where students can either get more information on a specific topic or actually access your tools.

The customized course can be branded with your organization's name only or labeled "Created In Cooperation with the NAOI" as shown in the example cover at right. The NAOI is recognized in the market as an objective supplier of quality education and a link with us can add credibility to the offering.

Education Partnerships are discussed at this link. Contact us to discuss how we can work together to provide you with this offering that will help your organization stand-out in a crowded field.

New NAOI Development Education

One department of the NAOI is devoted to Research and Innovation. We cannot meet our goal of empowering investors by using traditional investing methods, many of which cannot cope with modern markets. When we develop a new investment type or methodology such as Dynamic Investment Theory the Education department of the NAOI communicates it to the world not via marketing brochures but via a first-class education offering.

At right is the cover of the NAOI book / study course that describes Dynamic Investments and teaches both the public and the financial services industry what they are and how to use them. In the NAOI corporate structure our Research and Education Departments work closely together to meet our mission of providing the public with comprehensive investing solutions.

This book is available for purchase NOW in the NAOI Store.

Dynamic Investment Application Reports

The Introducing Dynamic Investment Theory book, shown just above above, teaches the basics of Dynamic Investing Theory and the use of a new investment type it creates called Dynamic Investments. There are an unlimited number of applications of this new approach in the real world. So, there is a need for what the NAOI calls Dynamic Investing Application Reports that focus on how this new investing approach can be used in specific areas of investing.

For example, the use of Dynamic Investments has the power to completely revolutionize the world of 401(k) Plans. And while this application is introduced in The Amazing Future of Investing book, a more detailed discussion is warranted. To provide this additional material the NAOI has created an Application Report on this topic as illustrated at right. 

Such Application Reports are available by request from the NAOI to individuals who have purchased The Amazing Future of Investing book. Application Reports will typically be less than 20-pages in length and offered in downloadable PDF format. with a hardcopy format available at a minimal charge.

Customized Education Courses for Financial Advisors

Surveys of NAOI members and students show that when choosing an advisor or financial firm with whom to work the number one benefit that will attract them is the offering of objective investing education courses. Yet such offerings are rare in the industry. Herein lies a tremendous opportunity for a financial organization or advisor to gain a massive competitive advantage by working with the NAOI. Contact us. You can have a customized course to offer your clients, or prospective clients, in weeks!

Academic Partnerships

Academia is strangely absent when it comes to providing investor education courses. The NAOI has been teaching personal investing courses at the college level for close to two decades. These are comprehensive and objective courses with no sales bias. Via an NAOI Academic Partnership we can work with any institution of higher learning to share/license the course content that we know to be effective for empowering individuals of all experience levels to become confident and effective investors. Or we can work with an institution to design customized course material. We can assure you that these are classes that will be significantly over-enrolled each time they are presented. NAOI Partnerships are discussed at this link.

Content Licensing

The content of the NAOI knowledge base is available for licensing as are our financial calculators found at this link. Contact NAOI President Leland Hevner to discuss details at LHevner@naoi.org.

The Nation's One-Stop-Shop for Investor Education

You can see from the information on this page why the National Association of Online Investors (NAOI) is the market's primary source for comprehensive, objective and academically rigorous education. We create investing education courses based on the wants and needs of the public - and we are constantly asking for input from the thousands of individuals who are NAOI students. No other organization even comes close to the variety and quality of investing education products we create and offer. Please feel free to contact us with any questions and comments or to start a conversation of how we can work together.

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