The market for many unlisted stocks is thin, meaning simply that these stocks are not traded anywhere near as often as those on, say, the NYSE. An investment in a thinly traded stock would probably be easier to sell than to buy—it may well require a broker dealer's help to track down and acquire shares, or find out if they are even available. Sometimes the market for a particular stock is tightly controlled by the company's president or majority shareholder, making it extremely difficult to buy into. Despite these roadblocks (or maybe because of them?), many investors find golden opportunities from among this group.

But, they're not for everyone. Perhaps you're more interested in growth stocks. Maybe it's that dividend check you're after! There is no absolute right or wrong here, but it is important to determine what your personal investment goals and tolerance for financial risk are before you buy!

It may be helpful to you (it is to us) to decide on general traits that are of interest to you in a stock before you evaluate specific companies. For example, in Walker's Manual of Unlisted Stocks we actually classify each company's stock as belonging to one (oftentimes more than one) of the following general classes: Income, Value, Growth and Speculative:

• Income stocks generally have a reasonably high dividend yield.
• Value usually indicates a stock that is priced at a bargain level relative to its book value or a combination of other factors.
• Growth stocks usually have a high growth rate or are in a growth industry.
• Speculative stocks have a higher degree of risk, for any number of reasons. Maybe the company is a start-up with no history of revenues or profits—it's hard to predict the future with no track record to look at. But sometimes established firms fall into this category too, especially when they run into current financial difficulties. Having faltered, their future is more uncertain. Investors looking for very large returns sometimes cast their eye on stocks like these, and their reward can indeed be great. Our advice? Buyer Beware!

Once you've decided what kind of stock you want to buy, then you can look for a company you're actually interested in buying. But before you place that order, wait! First you have to check the company out.