Personal Finance 101 – Starting an Investment Account

Picking A Broker

This is a quick tutorial on how to get started with opening your personal investment account.  While there are a number of choices, the average investor just getting started should only consider discount brokers. That’s because if you are no bringing a 100K or more to the table to begin with, the banks are that considered with giving you a break on fees and charges.  I am personally sending you two of the biggest players in the industry:

TD Ameritrade - https://www.tdameritrade.com/

eTrade - https://us.etrade.com/home

These two are brokers have been around since the beginning of online investing and the Dot.Com era and are still around.  There are many brokers to consider but these two do just about everything you will need them to do when just starting out. Go to TD Ameritrade or ETrade and trust me you will see a link to “OPEN AN ACCOUNT”. Click on that link and fill in the following:

Account Minimums – In today’s world the minimum amounts are going to be roughly $1,000 to $2,000 to open an account. Have this amount stocked away in your checking account before you begin your application.

Opening an Account

Personal Details:

-          Have your Social Security Number and Employer Name/Address ready

-          Name/Phone/Email

Citizenship

-          Select your status

Account Type

-          Choose “Individual” for traders looking to establish their first account

-          Choose “Buy & Hold” for investors starting off with the basics. You can always upgrade to complex trading in the later years

-          Confirm you are a “first-time” investors

Account Owner Details

-          You will be required to fill out unique account details that prove you are who you say you are and not trying to open an account through some type of illegal enterprise.

o   Employment Information

o   Financial Information (Be honest about your net worth, its likely 0 – $15K)

o   Personal Affiliations ( Select No, if you are new to investing and have no family members that work for Wall Street)

They will have you review and edit your details, agree to their terms, and eventually choose an “Account Login and Password” and “Funding Type” (how you want to fund your account). 

Funding Your account - Think “Direct Deposit” when getting a tax refund.

-          You will enter the “Routing” and “Account Number” of say your checking account into your newly established broker account.

-          Your broker will deposit a small amount of change into your checking account.

-          You will identify that amount deposited and login to your new brokerage account and CONFIRM that the two accounts have been setup to sends funds between each other.

-          Once confirmed, you will be asked to initiate an electronic withdrawal for minimum deposit amount over to your new brokerage account.

-          Remember starting off with $2,000 as a minimum is just that to these guys so be ready because the key is to meet that amount so no fees will be taken out against your account.

Happy Trading