If you’re investing online for the first time, you need to know what’s involved. Here, we outline the basics.
Opening an account
The process for opening an online investment account varies between brokerages, but usually involves providing personal details such as your name, date of birth and address, before funding the account via bank transfer.
Once open, you can log into the account to view your investments and buy or sell assets at any time.
Fees are usually taken from your uninvested cash balance automatically each month. If your balance does not cover the cost, the provider may raise funds by selling off some of your investments.
Some providers pay interest on cash balances – more on this below.
Buying and selling investments
Once your account is open and funded, you can buy and sell investments. Depending on your provider, you can do this online via a computer, through an app, or both.
Generally, you can search…
