What’s the point of taking your money out of the broker’s hands and take control of it yourself by investing online if it’s not worth it! It may not be the entire point, but a very important one nonetheless; it is that investing online must be worth the fuss it’s making! I mean, wherever you look on your smartphone or the computer, you come across people or articles talking about online investment.
This article is a great example! So, it better be worth your time and efforts – both this article and online investing. Then again, where to start? Do you need to understand the concept behind it? What about its many revolutionary factors people can’t stop talking about? Ultimately, does it give you the chance to make more money with the money you already have? Let’s start with the definition of investing online before diving deep into the matter below.
What is Online Investing?
In its most general sense, online investing or the act of investing online refers to the method of trading and investing in different financial markets with the help of the internet and a connected media device like a computer. Whereas, trading in the financial markets refers to the act of buying and selling securities or financial instruments with a view to make profits in the short, near, or long term.
There is no shortage of online brokers looking to have you as their client by opening a trading account. Many of these brokers offer a range of assets and securities such as stocks, bonds, commodities, currencies, indices, and so on. There are also ways to hire a financial manager online or copy someone else’s portfolio if you don’t want to take all the burden onto yourself. Then again, it may miss one of the key points behind the rise of the online investing phenomenon.
What’s So Appealing About It?
You see, back in the days when the idea of financial markets was established, investing money in return for the portioned ownership of a business organization was a privilege for a few elites. It slowly became more open and democratized as more and more businesses needed to raise capital.
Modern stock exchanges were established in different parts of the world, with a plethora of licensed brokers enabling more people to invest and trade on financial instruments. It still wasn’t accessible to everyone and cost a lot of money on fees and commissions. Not to mention the unknown risks that came with relying on a broker.
While it was relatively easy – you ask your friends for recommendations and you hire a particular broker or a professional fund manager to look after your money. You could also do without not hiring anyone, but then, it would mean that you would have to present physically at the exchanges to make your trades.
No system is perfect, let alone this broker-reliant traditional investing method. It is pretty expensive to hire a broker. It also usually comes with hefty minimum amounts required to open a trading account with them. There are many communications issues too – waiting in line, losing time and opportunities while on hold on the phone, getting defrauded or worse, losing it all for the mistakes of someone else. Hence, with a promise and real-life proof of mitigating some or most of these issues, the act of investing online is rising in popularity every passing day.
Thanks to the digitalization of most major stock exchanges, it is now possible to conduct all the trading activities through the internet. The development of many web-based trading platforms also helped its cause. What it means is that you can now perform investment activities from anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection, a compatible device, and access to a legitimate online broker. You can take control of your money and put it to work yourself, without needing to be present in any exchanges. You don’t need to hire any broker either, as everything required for trading is a fingertip away.
Okay! So is it worth it?
Now, that it’s you who would be in charge of your money, you would profit or lose based on your decisions and trading activities. Not only would you have to get familiarized with the investment terms and the platform’s interface, but also put a little time to look after it.
Well, you may be that one person who likes to work a lot in money matters but most people won’t find that too appealing. So, if you are one of the latter, you would be happy to know that there are plenty of other benefits including keeping a larger share of your money to yourself. We discuss them in detail below:
Online Investing is More Accessible: No matter wherever you are at a given moment if you are connected to the internet and can access web-based software, you can access the activities happening in the financial markets.
The platforms are usually open 24/7, 365 days a year barring any occasional technical difficulties. Most online brokers also come with little to no minimum deposit. So, as long as your country of residence allows investing online and you have got some money lying around, you can invest online. Oh! You must be an adult first.
Online Investing Costs Less Money: While all the trading activities come with their fair share of risk profiles, the process of online investing costs less money in general compared to any methods of traditional trading. Some brokers offer free-of-charge trading costing only the spreads, while some others offer commission-free deposits and withdrawals. More money to you perhaps means more money to reinvest, and thus, make a greater profit.
You see, even after all these, we didn’t manage to mention the availability of numerous assets and the increased control associated with investing online yet. No worries though, if you want to get more information, please visit finecobank.co.uk.
