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New to investing? Start here.

You do not need a finance degree. You need a way to think about companies, a place to practise and honest answers. Four steps, at your own pace, and all of them are free.

Begin with step 1 โ†“Get the free Excel template
4short steps
60companies to practise on
$0everything on this page is free
Aโ€“Zplain-English glossary
Four steps

From zero to your first valuation.

MoneyJourney is run by long-term investors who put their own money into the companies we analyse. We built this site to share how we do it. About MoneyJourney โ†’

  1. Step 1

    Learn how we think

    Read the Framework. It explains the four questions we ask about every company, in plain words: is it a great business, what is it worth, is the price right, and how much to own.

    Read the Framework โ†’
    THE FOUR QUESTIONSFRAMEWORK
    01 Is it a great business?โœ“
    02 What is it worth?โœ“
    03 Is the price right?โœ“
    04 How much to own?โœ“
  2. Step 2

    Look at real companies

    Open the Watchlist and the company pages and see how each business scores on quality and on price. Free readers see the signal and the Quality Score of every company except the top picks, which are for Pro members.

    Open the Watchlist โ†’
    Companies ยท real screenshot
    The Companies page: every company we follow, with its signal and Quality Score
  3. Step 3

    Read one deep dive

    Pick a company you already know and see how a full analysis fits together: the business, the moat, the numbers, the valuation and the risks.

    See a deep dive โ†’
    Company page ยท real screenshot
    A company page: Quality Score, moat, and dilution and stock-based pay
  4. Step 4

    Practise with the calculator

    Open any company page, go to Valuation and change the assumptions. The calculator shows how the past looks beside each one, and what one share is worth on your numbers. Free members can save 3 companies.

    Browse the companies โ†’
    Valuation calculator ยท real screenshot
    The valuation calculator with bear, base and bull cases and a sensitivity table
Keep these in mind

Three ideas to keep in your pocket.

01

Price is not value.

The price is what you pay. The value is what the business is worth. A good investor keeps asking how far apart they are.

02

A margin of safety forgives mistakes.

Every forecast is wrong sometimes. Buying below fair value leaves room to be wrong without a big loss.

03

Time does the heavy lifting.

Great businesses compound over years. Your job is to buy them sensibly and give them time.

Your next step

Which one sounds like you?

I am brand new.

Begin at step 1 and keep the glossary open in another tab.

Open the glossary โ†’

I have some experience.

Skip ahead to the MJ Score and the Watchlist, then try the calculator.

How the MJ Score works โ†’

I have little time.

Pro gives you our fair values, the top picks, our portfolio and daily alerts, with every assumption shown.

See what Pro includes โ†’

Keep learning by email.

One email a week with new deep dives and Watchlist updates, plus the free Excel template we use to analyse companies.

Get the newsletter and template โ†’

MoneyJourney is educational research, not personal financial advice. Investing involves risk, including the loss of capital.

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