Debt Free

Well, we all know they can ding you every April for a healthy percentage of your income. Yes, I know the Army, Social Security, keeping up 8 lane ribbons to everywhere, and finding the cure for various infectious diseases cost a bundle. Do they also do something that can help you boost your investment and retirement portfolio? You bet they do. One thing the U.S. government excels at is producing information, and copious quantities of it.

Contrary to what some in the media and on the tin foil hat blogs would have you believe, the U.S. government isn't always the super secretive bunch with an emphasis on the obfuscatory. In fact, they are responsible for some pretty useful publications when it comes to your money. If you're into picking your own stocks, here's a U.S. government website that can really help, courtesy of those hard working folks over at the SEC.
http://sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?company=&CIK=&type=4&owner=include&count=40&action=getcurrent

It's a list of the most current SEC Form-4 and forms 424B 1-7 that have been filed with the agency. Why should you care about another of the 4.5 million forms printed and demanded by the Federal Government? Because these specific forms are required by the Feds (pursuant to the SEC Act of 1934) when a company insider, that owns over 10% of a company's specific class of stock, purchases their own company's stock. It's also required to be filed if they sell it.

You know if those actually an integral part of the company's inner workings, ostensibly with access to the best information are going to risk their hard earned dollars on their company, it may be a good bet for you too. Other sites, such as Yahoo Finance, also publish a list of insider trades. This list however is the most complete (to the point of being confusing) and timely. The filings are listed the same day they're filed.

At last, here are some insider trades you can profit from legally. In many cases, but not all there's a coorllation between insider stock purchases and the stock rising. Do some research, but this behavior cuts accross all different sectors, fro high tech and communications, to biotech, to food service.

Here's the SEC website where you can get all forms filed with the SEC, according to their EDGAR database. EDGAR (Electronic Data-Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval) is a handy little tool for investors that's been with us for the last decade. See, those tax dollars you pay every year do provide something besides roads, regulations, and F-16's.

http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcurrent