Buying Stocks For Beginners

The process of buying and selling stocks has come a long way in just the past decade. It really is the equivalent of going from the steam engine to the jet age. Before the advent of the internet, anyone who wanted to buy or sell stocks had to have a subscription to the Wall Street Journal (for market research) and diligently watch the evening news to see if there was anything happening in the world to cause a stock's price to move. Needless to say, market research was a continuous effort that was very time consuming.

Market research was not the only thing that didn't move fast. Just setting up a brokerage account was an ordeal in itself. You would have to call a brokerage up (by phone) and give them all of your information to establish the account. Then, you would have to mail a certified check to them to fund your account. In some instances it could take up to two weeks just to get your new account to the point where you're ready to start trading. After you completed all the hard work necessary to start your account and you finally found a stock you wanted to buy, you would have to call your broker by phone to place the order (and be charged an outrageous fee in the process). We often wax nostalgic about “the good old days” but really, when it comes to buying stocks, they way we do it now is much, much better.

Things are much different now, thankfully.  With the commonality of the internet anyone can quickly sign up with an online brokerage account and even fund it electronically in minutes.  You can literally go from no trading account to buying and selling stocks in just a few minutes.  And because there are so many online brokerage firms that are vying for your business, commissions have dropped dramatically.  Now, most online brokerage firms charge no more than $10 per transaction.  This is much more affordable than just a decade ago.

The simplicity of buying and selling stocks online can't be overstated.  When you have identified a transaction you'd like to make, simply log onto your online brokerage account and place the order.  Just as simple as that.  As long as your account is properly funded and there is sufficient market liquidity for your trade, your transaction should be completed in just a few seconds.

Buying and selling stocks online are not the only great benefit of online stock brokers. You can also do all of your market research online as well. There is no need to be constantly monitoring the news or worrying about missing the Wall Street Journal for a few days if you have to be out of town. You can simply check the news online or get market highlights from Yahoo Finance. Also, most of the online stock brokers now have power market research tools built in to their web sites that you can use to quickly sort through the thousands of stocks that are out there to find the ones that are about to make the major moves.

Fortunately, buying and selling stocks is no longer the odious, complex affair it was just a few short years ago. Today, anyone can buy and sell stocks quickly and easily without even leaving their homes.