How to Build a Sector-Aware Research Checklist Library

After a few years of research, most DIY investors end up with a pile of notes, half-finished templates and bookmarks. A checklist library fixes that. It is a small, organized set of checklists: one core checklist you use for every stock, plus one sector overlay for each industry where the default tools break.

This post is a hub. It does not add new checklists. It shows how to organize the sector checklists already on this site so you can pick the right one in seconds. It is educational and is not a recommendation of any stock or sector.

Direct answer

Build the library in three layers: (1) a core checklist (business model, filings, balance sheet, valuation, risks) that never changes; (2) a sector overlay for each industry that lists which default metrics to switch off and which to use instead; and (3) company notes (thesis, kill criteria, quarterly scorecard). Store them in one place, name them consistently, and review the overlays once a year.

The core checklist

Start with one process for every stock. The site’s starting points are how to research a TSX stock from scratch, the stock brief template and the business model map. For quarter-to-quarter work, use the pre-earnings checklist and the one-hour earnings debrief.

Sector overlays on this site

Sector	Checklist	Background explainer
Banks	Banks vs operating companies	How banks make money
Insurers	Insurers vs banks	How insurers make money
REITs	REITs vs ordinary equities	How REITs make money
Pipelines and utilities	Bond proxies (and when not)	How utilities make money
Energy	Producers vs midstream vs services	How producers make money
Gold miners	Beyond the spot price	How gold miners make money
Railroads	Volumes, pricing, operating ratio	How railroads make money
Telecoms	ARPU, churn, capex cycles	How telecoms make money
Industrials	Cycle and backlog clues	Order backlog and book-to-bill
Software	Software business models	How tech companies make money
Retail and consumer	Canadian retail footprints	Same-store sales and volume
Small caps and juniors	TSX Venture research	Junior filing red flags

How to organize the library

Rule	Why
One file per checklist, same headings in each	Easy to compare and update
Name files by sector, not by company	Overlays are reused across companies
Link each company note to its sector overlay	You always know which metrics apply
Date every change	You can see how your process evolved
Review overlays once a year	Accounting rules and regulation change
Keep a “not applicable” line	Shows you considered a metric and chose to skip it

For note-keeping habits that support this, see how to keep stock research notes that compound over years and how to build a watchlist process that is not noise.

Checklist

Step	Done when
Core checklist written	One page, used for every stock
Sector overlays saved	One per sector you own or watch
Company notes linked	Each note names its overlay
Kill criteria in place	See thesis, catalyst and kill criteria
Annual review scheduled	Date set on your calendar

Go deeper

Some companies do not fit one sector, such as conglomerates or companies in transition. For them, read segment reporting and apply one overlay per segment. For deeper data than filings provide, see how to use library tools for free deep data.

Related reading

• How to research a TSX stock from scratch
• How to avoid analysis paralysis when picking stocks
• Documenting sell criteria before you buy
• How to build a one-page competitive moat checklist

Sources

• Gawande, A. The Checklist Manifesto (2009), on why short, specific checklists reduce errors.
• Sector checklist sources are listed on each linked post.

Media credits

• Hero: “Card catalog John Rylands Library 02.jpg” by Alicia Fagerving, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized to 1280x720. Real photograph of a card catalogue at the John Rylands Library, Manchester, not AI-generated.

By Andrew · stocksummarizer.com