Investing involves setting aside a particular asset or cash for a time so that it can accumulate gains that you can reap later on. When you invest, you get to not just save your money, but you also send it to work, and then it gets to accumulate with time.
To adequately get the returns of investing, you need to gather as much knowledge as possible about the investment you are getting involved with. If you have ever heard of investors underground, then you will agree with us that people can turn into self-sufficient investors by learning.
This is why, we have chosen some basic yet important topics on investment, simplified them, and curate them to create this ultimate guide for every investment beginner. Below, we will be discussing how you can maximize returns as someone new to the game while ensuring costs are fairly minimized. You can also check out Greenery Financial for more ideas and tips on alternative investments.
Investment Goals
There are two sets of people when it comes to investments, and they are classified by their investment needs and goals. The first set of people wants to actively manage their investments and their growth. Whereas, the second set would rather set their money and even forget about it until it is time to withdraw it.
Therefore, the first thing you need to ask yourself before you even start this journey is what category you fall under. This will help you decide on how you will handle this business. Once you have carefully analyzed your goals, you will be able to make the right decisions as you walk further down the path.
Diversification
Diversification put simply means investing in more than one asset to mitigate the chances of the performance of one investment hurting your general investment portfolio. Do you remember that saying about not putting all your eggs in a basket? Well, diversification is the financial way of saying it.
Financial advisors usually advise investors to do this, and this is with good reason. If you do not diversify, then you will be badly affected if your asset of choice performs badly. Watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT80Hf4eemc to learn more about diversification.
Brokers
When investing, you most likely will need a broker. The broker may either be discount or full-service.
Full-Service
As you can guess by the name, this includes full brokerage services. The service ranges from financial guidance for healthcare to retirement, and generally every money-related thing. Full-service brokers often take only clients whose net worth is quite high. They also charge substantially, this usually includes a percent of the transaction and asset being managed. They may also charge an annual membership fee sometimes.
Discount
These were less common but have become the norm these days. With this kind of broker, the investor is offered tools that can help them to choose and even place their transactions themselves.
With the progress in technology and financial services, most online brokers now have mobile sites and have included additional features like educational materials and the likes on their websites.
Robo-Advisors
At the end of the financial crisis of 2007-2008, another investment advisor came into existence. Click here to learn more about this crisis. This new advisor is known as the Robo-advisor.
If you do not want to bother yourself with making investment choices, then you can get a Robo-advisor. The algorithm will make investment choices like rebalancing for you. Choosing this advisor may likely be the best choice if your investment goal is to build wealth over a long time.
Making Investments via Your Employer
Being on a small budget doesn’t mean you can’t invest. You most likely will just need to invest a little percent like 1 percent of your monthly earnings. A perfect way to do this is with your retirement plan provided for you at your workplace. Since the contribution is so little, the chances of missing the contribution are equally small.
Also, if you choose to use your work retirement plan to invest, the contribution will be deducted from your payment even before your taxes get calculated. This way, you most likely won’t even notice the contribution has been made.
Once you get used to the 1 percent contribution, you can then choose to increase it.
Minimum Deposits
Financial institutions often have minimum deposits. So, if you do not pay the minimum deposit (a given amount of cash, often varies from one institution to the other), your application for an account won’t be accepted.
So, before you decide on a broker, we advise that you shop around and find out their minimum deposits. Ensure the minimum deposit fits your budget. You may even be lucky to find one without this requirement. Hence, always ensure you do your findings before you make your final choice.
Fees and Commissions
Brokers are business people as well, so they need to make some profits from their clients. This is where commissions come in. Whenever a stock is traded (whether you are selling or buying) the broker charges a commission. The commission percentage varies from one broker to the other.
Some brokers do not take any commission at all; however, they will also charge some fees for their services. Since the commissions are charged per trade, if you trade often, they may end up affecting your overall returns.
Mutual Fund Fees
When buying mutual funds, you will need to pay a trading fee. You will also be charged some other fees when making this kind of investment.
One fee you will be charged is the expense ratio, this fee is usually charged annually. The management often charges this fee depending on the assets the investor has in their fund. This fee can range from anywhere between 0.05 percent and 0.7 percent. Usually, when the MER is higher, the more it’ll affect the overall returns of the fund.
When buying mutual funds, you may also come across some sales charges, these are known as loads. The loads you will see are front-end and back-end loads. You most likely will come across no-load as well. Hence, before you buy any fund, ensure to find out if it has any sales load.
Investors who are just starting can benefit better from mutual funds than they would from stocks. The reason for this is that the fees/loads with the former stay the same no matter how much is invested; unlike with stocks where a commission is charged per trade.
Conclusion
Becoming a seasoned investor doesn’t just happen in a day. You will need to read educational materials and learn as much as you can. Learning will help you maximize returns while ensuring costs are fairly minimized.
