Investing for Total Newbies

[sunflower_yellow]

I will be spending a decent amount of time at home this winter (baby on the way!).  I'd like to learn something new and useful to keep my mind sharp and offer a distraction when I'm on my 6th hour of nursing for the day.

I am a total newbie when it comes to investing.  Right now, my husband and I just dump our investments into various Vanguard target retirement fund, but sometimes other funds.  We've got Roth IRAs, a rollover IRA (maybe two at this point?), we've each got regular brokerage accounts.  And some other accounts.  No rhyme or reason to anything, other than the general philosophy of "spend way less than you earn, save for a rainy day, and invest the rest."

We could probably be doing better.  I'd like to learn about investing.  What's a REIT?  What's a tax-efficient investment strategy?  Tax loss harvesting?  When a Roth IRA instead of a traditional IRA?  So many things to learn!

Can you suggest very basic, introductory resources (e.g. article series, videos, online courses, blogs to follow) for someone who knows very little about investing?  I've tried to learn here and there, but to be honest, not having a place to start is overwhelming.  (I tried to go through the Bogleheads wiki at one point, and found it assumed a baseline of knowledge that I did not yet have.)

Thank you!

[Financial.Velociraptor]

This might help: http://stansberryresearch.com/investor-education/

[MDM]

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/the-mmm-reading-list/ - Haven't read them all, but A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel and The Four Pillars of Investing by William Bernstein were good.

You might try http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Category:Getting_started again, if enough time has elapsed and you've acquired more lingo.

http://jlcollinsnh.com/stock-series/ is also often recommended.

Good luck, and let us know of any you find particularly helpful!