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A note before we begin: This is the sixth lesson in a four-week experiment. I am doing every lesson alongside you, on the same tools, with the same constraints. Some days will land cleanly. Some will lead to dead ends and need rework. We’ll figure out what works, together.
If you are catching up, here’s what came before today’s lesson:
Intro: Build Your Own Investment Idea Engine
Lesson 1: How LLMs Work, and How to Defend Against Hallucinations
Lesson 2: Prompt Patterns That Outperform Casual Prompting
Lesson 3: Tools, Agents, and Structured Output
Lesson 4: SEC EDGAR, the Primary Source
Lesson 5: Free Access to FRED Macro/Sector Data
EDGAR is the primary source. FRED is the macro backbone. Financial Modeling Prep (FMP), is the practical fundamentals layer that sits in between. The point of today is not to learn an API. The point is to give our idea engine a single, predictable way to ask for income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements, ratios, ownership, and screening results, and to verify a number we get back.
Why This Matters for Investors
Fundamentals, ratios, ownership, screens, ETF holdings, and analyst estimates all live somewhere. If we leave the choice to whichever website happens to surface in a chat, we end up with inconsistent numbers across companies and across days. Using one fundamentals API gives us a stable schema, a stable vendor, and a single place to check when something looks off. FMP’s free tier is sufficient for the bootcamp. Whether a paid tier earns its keep is a decision we defer until the engine is running and we can see how often we hit the limit.
Let’s launch into today’s lesson.
