Chances are good that you are going to come across stocks, mutual funds and ETFs that look like they are going to be great investments, just not yet. They may have promising fundamentals and look like they are going to turn around any day now, but they just aren't quite ready. Well, after you have spent hours and hours looking for these stocks, mutual funds and ETFs that look like they may be potential investments, you need to find some way to collect and organize them so you can monitor their progress. You need a watchlist.

Some investors like to keep their stock watchlists on paper in a notebook. Some investors like to keep their watchlists in their head. But most investors nowadays like to keep their watchlists online. Stock brokers, financial news portals and financial management companies all seem to offer virtual watchlists on their Web sites that allow you to create, track and manage your own watchlist.

Virtual watchlists are fabulous tools because they allow you to see how all of the stocks, mutual funds and ETFs your are interested are doing at any moment in time. These watchlists offer price data, charts, news feeds and oftentimes even fundamental data for each of the stocks you are watching.

To create a watchlist, you will typically need to know the ticker symbol for each investment your are interested in tracking. Once you have all of the ticker symbols, it is as simple as typing them into the watchlist program you have chosen to use. After that, the software takes care of all of the rest.

Taking Your Next Step

Once you're comfortable with creating a watchlist, it's time to move on and learn about How to Buy and Sell Stocks, Mutual Funds and ETFs.