Investing in companies you don't understand isn't really investing at all. That would be gambling at best -- throwing money at an unknown target and hoping for the best. Invest in what you know, as master investor Peter Lynch said. That's the best way to ensure that you're separating the truly promising wheat from the worthless chaff -- before putting real money into any of them.
With that in mind, here's a handful of companies that every investor should be able to understand in a hurry. If you don't have any particular field of expertise from which to launch your investing strategy, these super-simple business models would be a great place to start.
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