Success in financial industries requires an abundant wealth of current and background information, so get your hands on all the investment banking and brokerage publications you can and keep reading. As a small business owner, you need all the advantage you can get. Your competition will eat you alive unless you stay one step ahead by aggressively seeking out more information that you can use to help ensure your company's success and profitability.

Working in such a fluid and volatile industry necessitates reading a brokerage publication or investment banking publication whenever you get the chance, so you feel confident you've got the latest information with which to make sound business decisions. As you begin your research, consider the following sources of trade publications:

1. Deepen your knowledge of the industry through investment books.

2. Stay current on news and tends with brokerage and investment banking magazines.

3. Take advantage of other investment banking and brokerage publications.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Purchase investment books for your library collection

Books on investments make great reference tools you can pull off the shelf and thumb through any time.

I recommend: Order the Vault Guide to the Top 25 Investment Management Employers (2009 Edition). You can purchase either the print or PDF version of the book that rates 53 firms with significant operations in asset management or brokerage services. Purchase Profit from the Peak: The End of Oil and the Greatest Investment Event of the Century by Brian Hicks and Chris Nelder. The authors of this 2008 book operate from the premise that the U.S. faces the end of an oil-based economy, describes how such an event can turn into a positive for investors and then educates investors on the companies and industries best suited to benefit from the changing marketplace. For information and inspiration, read The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America.

Subscribe to investment magazines for current trends and reports

Look for abundant information, editorials and investment articles in magazines about investment.

I recommend: Register at the Bank Investment Consultant.com online magazine for regular sales and marketing strategies, tools, techniques and articles on investments to make smarter business decisions. Order a subscription to Investment Dealers' Digest for investment banking and capital markets news and information. You'll receive 48 issues per year in print or digital format. For securities brokerage magazines, start with Traders Magazine and bookmark the Brokerage Department for the latest industry news.

Explore other investment banking publications for quick answers and in-depth reports

To keep up with developments in a particular aspect of the industry or when you perform background research, read other sources like investment reports, online publications and newsletters.

I recommend: For an in-depth brokerage publication, order one of the reports from MarketResearch.com, the continuously updated collection of market research. Bookmark Money and Markets from Weiss Research, an online publication for investment bankers that offers timely articles about investments, and then sign up for the free daily E-newsletter. Order a copy of 9 Secrets to Pre-IPO Investing, a new Growthink report on early-stage investing. Growthink, an investment bank to emerging companies, produced the in-depth white paper that offers tips and advice for investing in private companies during their early stages.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Title a new folder Investment Banking Publications, and place it on your desktop for quick and easy access. Place the online sources you trust the most inside for immediate access.