Learn everything you can in your studies, and by reading other material to get a more rounded feel for investing. When you are ready to start trading in a real trading account, you have many choices to pick from.
One choice is a full service broker. a full service broker does all the thinking and picking for you, but is required to talk to you first before making changes to your account (Trading). This is a great way to go for the person that doesn't want to take control of his or her money account. Be advised that for the full service offered, you will be charged a fee of about $50.00 per trade. Each office has its own fee schedule for the services offered.
Your second option is an online broker. You will need a broker to allow you to do the trading you plan to do. Your online broker is the middle man needed to be able to do electronic traking. The services offered vary, so we are going to cover a few things to look for.
There are many brokerage firms to choose from. The first thing to do, is for us to decide what it is we need from our new broker. I'll provide some ideas for you, but you may think of other needs you would like.
Experience in the Industry; Check to see how long a broker has been doing business. Some have been around 25-30 years.
Brick and Mortar; A building in your area is not required for your broker to be top notch, but some people feel better having an office to walk into if needed. Seeing the faces of the people that are on the other side of the computer your looking at is nice. Some brokers have as many as 455 branches to help you.
Customer Service; There are times when you need some help to your questions. I suggest you call the customer service number of the broker you're considering. See how long you wait for someone to answer, and if there is a email, send in a question to time the response.
Account Protection; I would look for a broker that is a member of (SIPC) Securities Investor Protection Corporation. SIPC's focus is restoring funds to investors with assets in the hands of bankrupt and otherwise financially troubled brokerage firms. The other protection I look for is (FINRA) Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. FINRA is the largest independent regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States. These are the minimums for the protection of your money. Some brokers offer their own money to correct a loss to the customer, due to theft of the accounts funds.
Instruction / Training area; Does the broker's site provide tutorials on using all the tools the site provides, this is very helpful.
Trading Tools; What research tools are available? You need to have several different tools to do your research so that you don't need to leave the broker's site because it doesn't offer much and is very limited. After completing our course at http://www.youcontrolinvesting.com/ you will know what to look for. The charts (Tools) you need as a minimum; Slow Stochastic, (MACD) Moving Average Convergence and Divergence, (RSI) Relative Strength Index, Bollinger Bands, and Volume.
Fees; Look for no inactivity charges because you will not be trading everyday. Normally you will buy a stock, and wait anywhere from a few days to several months before selling. Lets not be charged at a higher rate because we are doing the right thing by waiting for our stock to rise in price.
Commissions; This is the fee you pay for your trading. Look for a broker that charges only one fee no matter how much or how little your trade. Some brokers charge a lower fee for frequent traders an a higher fee for light infrequent traders Depending on the broker's services, you could pay as little as $4.00 a trade to as much as $50.00. You need to look and compare trade fees with services offered.
Brokers; There are many brokers to choose from, this is only a short list. More can be found by goint to investment sites and looking at the brokerage advertisements. You can also use google or bing to find a broker. Decide on you requirements and check carefully to be sure the broker meets your needs.
Etrade.com, Ameriprise.com, Scottrade.com, Optionhouse.com, Forex.com, Thinkorswim.com
If you would like more information on this or other investment questions please see our other site http://www.youcontrolinvesting.com/ for information, or to contact us for instruction.
Bruce Cortez
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Excellent tip
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