The Three Platforms You Need for Successful Investing

Now that we have learned how to buy your first stock, we now have to learn to manage our trading or investment accounts to ensure we are making sound decisions. Here are the three types of tools that will enable you to be more knowledgeable, as well as take better control of the process. With the tools, you will be able to automate your investing, get accurate news about the market, follow your favorite stocks tickers in real-time and have access to tons of resources that you can use to educate yourself. Without further ado let’s dive in. To make it easier, I’ve split the resources into:

1. 1. Your trading platform;
2. 2. Your tracker (real-time data); and
3. 3. Your information(data, research, news).

I. Platforms

New investor? Robinhood may be the place to start.

Robinhood is a retail stock investment platform that caters primarily to millennials, and claims to have over 6 million people on its platform, including myself :). It’s greatest selling point is it’s commission-free to invest in stocks, options, ETF, and other digital assets. I really like the sign-up process, it is really straightforward. Just download the app from your app store and sign up. Once you’re in, you can link your preferred bank account and deposit cash into your Robinhood trading account (bonus: there are no minimum limits). If you qualify for Robinhood Gold, which requires a $1000 minimum deposit and gives you margin (when you buy and sell stocks or other types of investments with borrowed money from your broker — in this case, Robinhood). Its interface is very simple for investing, and also offers real-time market data for the stocks you invest in. It also provides ideal information on your investment portfolio. As I mentioned earlier, if you’re new to stock trading and investing, this is the perfect platform to get your feet wet with a minimal investment commitment. Essentially, it’s for beginners and it’s a great way to learn how to manage your portfolio.

Intermediate to advanced investor? Try TD Ameritrade.

According to what’s written on their website, TD Ameritrade considers themselves to be the best online broker for online stock trading, long-term investing, and retirement planning. I might agree to a certain extent, as it is one of the most highly recommended online trading brokers by most people who trade and invest online by themselves. There are more options as your trading skills improve your approach to the day trading arena; but for the purpose of graduating from the beginners level to intermediate and up, this is a perfect platform to learn and grow your investment portfolio. It’s also a great educational resource, and good for mutual funds and ETFs (groups of bundled up stocks based on industries), and are typically less of a hassle as it pertains to investing in them compared to trading individual stocks. Apps like Acorns and Betterment offer their customers trading funds and ETFs so they can have a long-term mindset and approach for investing. TD Ameritrade charges $6.95 per trade (i.e., every time you buy and sell). If you need more advanced options and tools, TD Ameritrade has a platform called thinkorswim that offers powerful streaming real-time data and analytics to help you succeed. If you are ready to grow your investment portfolio and set it up for future success, I highly recommend this option.

II. Track Your Investments with Stocks Tracker

Stocks Tracker is a vital tool primarily for day traders, however, it can be used by retail investors (i.e., you) to study and analyze stock charts and access real-time streaming quotes from the watch lists you create. You can also track pre- and post-market quotes, so if you are someone who likes to follow market quotes daily, you can create a watch list, add the widget to your home screen on your phone or iPad, and monitor a set of stock picks easily. If you’re a beginner, you can set up a paper trade account and practice trading until you develop the discipline and know-how. If you are a more advanced trader or investor, you can access the charts to get both analytical and technical data.

III. Gather your Details with Yahoo Finance

Yahoo has been around forever. As the company has evolved over the years, one of its strongest tools or platforms has been Yahoo Finance. It has taken on a whole life of its own and is used by everyone from amateurs to Wall Street professionals and new anchors to provide free, reliable information. Like Stocks Tracker, you can find stock quotes and create watch lists. importantly, it has become known as a place one can access up to the minute news about companies globally that participate in the different stock exchanges. It’s a very comprehensive tool, as it has found a way to be the leader in simplifying and presenting a complete picture about a stock with vital information such as its price, 52-week range, dividend and earning date, quarterly and annual financials, etc. This information is critical and vital when doing research about a stock you intend to purchase, regardless if it were a trading pick or a long-term investment. It’s a neat and impressive tool and the information is very well presented for even a novice to understand.

Hopefully, you find this information useful as you aim to get your investment life underway. There is a lot more I can present and cover, however, it’s baby steps and as you follow my journey their goal is to provide you with as much useful information as possible and to expose you to as many experts in the game that can help all of us succeed in becoming wealthy Investors. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask in the comment section or shoot me an email.