Whether you’re just starting your investment journey, looking to brush up on your skills or broaden your investing knowledge, CommSec Learn will help you build and expand your knowledge for free.
Structured pathways to guide your understanding.
Bite-sized topics, so you can jump in and out.
Learn at your own pace, in your own time.
Investing Fundamentals covers key topics, providing a comprehensive overview of the ins and outs of investing.
 | Understand the basics |
The best place to begin your investing journey is to get a handle on the fundamentals. So that’s where we’ll start.
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The logic of investing How investing actually works and why we invest at all. |
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The fundamentals The key principles you should get to know before you jump into share investing. |
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Essential terminology ETFs, dividends, and settlement. You've heard the terms, now find out what they mean. |
 | Define your investment goals |
While all investors have the same fundamental reason for investing – to grow their wealth – your personal investing goals will be uniquely yours. In this topic, we’ll help you discover and define them.
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Your investment goals
Understand how your goals and aspirations affect the investment decisions you make. |
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Budgeting
Building your investment portfolio takes time. Here we’ll outline some common techniques for making it happen. |
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The bigger picture
In defining your fundamental investment goals, we’ll show you why it’s crucial to also consider your home, super, and any other assets. |
 | Build your investment strategy |
Having a strategy is the key to success in many areas of life. Investing is no different. In this topic, we introduce the fundamental concepts involved in building a strategy, helping you reduce risk and make informed decisions over the long term.
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The value of a strategy
We explore the benefits of getting your investment strategy into shape at the outset, while accepting that it will evolve over time. |
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Investment strategies and types
To help you determine your strategy, we cover – and compare – the main approaches to investing. |
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Consistency and compounding
We show why investing consistently and using the power of compounding are two hallmarks of an effective, long-term investment strategy. |
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Diversification
We explore the benefits of diversifying your portfolio: what it means, why it matters, and how to do it. |
 | Learn how to research and trade |
In our first three topics, we looked at the ‘why’ of investing. Now we show you the ‘how’. Having developed your goals, and the strategies to move towards them, we give you practical guidance on using CommSec – Australia’s number one online trading platform.
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Setting up your account
Before placing your first trade, you’ll need to set up your account and access the CommSec trading platform. Here’s how to do it. |
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How to research
CommSec is much more than a trading platform. Here we introduce the range of research tools available to help you identify potential investments that align with your strategy. |
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How to trade
You’ve done the hard work of defining your goals, developing a strategy, and building your knowledge. Now it’s time to learn how to place a trade. |
 | Manage and analyse your progress |
In this final topic, we cover why it’s important to regularly track and monitor your investments. We also introduce you to some of the common methods investors use to guide their decision making on future investments.
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Keeping track
Investing is just the start. Analysing your portfolio and the market regularly is an integral part of measuring your progress to see how you’re tracking. |
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Benchmarking your progress
We show you how to understand how your portfolio is performing, and what to compare it against, so you can plan your next move. |
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Rebalancing
As time passes and values fluctuate, your portfolio could become unbalanced. We discuss why it’s good to consider rebalancing it and what that involves. |
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Analysing and measuring risk
By its nature, investing entails risk. In this final topic, we help you understand risk and decide how much risk you’re comfortable with when it comes to your portfolio. |
In the Spotlight Series, we shine a light on a range of investment topics, including alternative investment opportunities.
Disclaimer
CommSec Learn is intended to provide general information of an educational nature only. It does not have regard to the financial situation or needs of any reader and must not be relied upon as financial product advice. Investors should consult a range of resources, and if necessary, seek professional advice, before making investment decisions in regard to their objectives, financial and taxation situations and needs because these have not been taken into account. Any securities or prices used in the examples given are for illustrative purposes only and should not be considered as a recommendation to buy, sell or hold. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Commonwealth Securities Limited ABN 60 067 254 399 AFSL 238814 (CommSec) is a wholly owned but non-guaranteed subsidiary of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia ABN 48 123 123 124 AFSL 234945 and a market participant of the ASX & Chi-X Australia, a clearing participant of ASX Clear Pty Limited and a settlement participant of ASX Settlement Pty Limited.
