I’m a huge fan of self-directed investing. Ever since I entered the stock market when I was 25, I’ve always managed my investment portfolio myself. Despite having no experience or education in finance at the time I entered the market, I’ve managed to grow a stock portfolio with patience, time, and self-directed learning. Truthfully, the best investment I made was in teaching myself the skills I needed to manage my money myself.
Why it’s worthwhile to take on your own portfolio
Investments such as mutual funds and robo-advisors are awesome if you want a totally hands-off approach to portfolio management. However, you do have to pay for it. Management fees might only be a few percent, but over your investing lifetime, they may eat up thousands, of dollars of returns on your portfolio.
Choosing to manage your own investment portfolio will let you have control over your financial assets. And that starts with choosing the right brokerage account.
Where to get started investing
Scotia iTRADE has recently re-designed their website to give investors a better experience – in financial management as well as financial literacy.
The objective of the new Scotia iTRADE website is to provide website visitors with easy access to investing information and educational resources that fit different kinds of investment styles and approaches, providing them with investing resources from novice to advance levels, while supporting different strategies, investment choices, and products. Whether you’re new to investing or an experienced trader, they have resources to guide you.
From articles to live events to webinars, you can get an investing education directly on the Scotia iTRADE website. Furthermore, Scotia iTRADE boasts one of the lowest commission structures in the industry, helping you minimize the costs of your portfolio.
Learn and trade on the go
If you’re like me, you use your smartphone for the majority of your web browsing. The Scotia iTRADE website will provide you with easy access wherever, however, and whenever you need it through an easily navigable and mobile responsive website. The website is optimized to provide an ideal experience on any device.
Practice makes perfect
One of the suggestions I always make to millennials wanting to get started in the stock market is to set up a “mockfolio.” A mockfolio is a mock investment portfolio or practice portfolio that lets you buy and sell securities without putting any of your money at risk. Scotia iTRADE lets you set up a practice portfolio with $100,000 CAD and $100,000 USD so you can try out their tools and practice making trades for free. Since learn-by-doing has always been my philosophy of personal finance, a mockfolio is the perfect way to put this into action.
Even now as an experienced investor, I still use my practice portfolio to plan and practice future investments I’m considering. This lets me watch stocks I’m interested in and see how they perform over time before I put my money in. This has saved me from making rash decisions with my investments and ultimately kept more money in my account.
You can get started by opening your practice account (and a real one!) with Scotia iTRADE here.
This post has been brought to you in partnership with Scotia iTRADE. All thoughts and opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Scotia iTRADE.
3 Comments. Leave new
Ahhh, I do like the idea of setting up a practice portfolio! So many people (cough me cough) are afraid of getting too much into investing because they don’t understand it or fear the risks. This is a great way to practice before you dunk your real money into it. 🙂
I remember I started a practice portfolio and managed it for a full year before I jumped into the real stock market.
When it was up 30% before I put any real money in, the only thing I wished was that I hadn’t waited so long!
Hi, just checked the Scotia iTrade site, and saw that it’s possible to open a practice account to learn and practice how to invest in stocks and grow your portfolio without using real money.
Do I have to be a Canadian citizen to open that kind of account or is it open for all people around the world?