Retirees and Online Stock Trading

By Owen Jones

Retirement comes with a benefit and a drawback: more time and less money. The invention of the Internet has changed the way we conduct our lives. We can pay our bills online, go shopping online, do our banking online, and even make a date online!

People can even buy and participate in online stock investing. This activity could fit in very nicely with the extra time and may even make up the shortfall in income. Online stock investors like to have the facility of looking at their stock investment accounts whenever they want to, and online stock brokers like having the ability to take stock orders over the Internet, as opposed to using the phone.

You can start by reading the newspapers and watching the news with a view to gleaning information that could benefit a company. Any news items that suggest good news for a company can be followed up by greater research into the company concerned. Most stock brokers and brokerage houses now offer online company research to their clients as well as online stock trading. One other great thing about online stock trading is that fees and commissions are usually lower. While online stock trading is great, there are a few negative aspects too.

If you are brand new to trading, having the ability to actually speak with a stock broker can be quite beneficial. If you aren't experienced in the stock market, online stock trading may be a rather dangerous thing for you to do. If this is the case, make sure that you learn as much as you can about trading stocks before you start 'live'online stock trading.

You could run a dummy portfolio. For example, most online stock brokers offer the facility to run a 'watch list' or dummy portfolio, where you can 'buy and sell' without using real money.

You should also be aware that not everyone has a computer with Internet access with them, although many mobile phones can get online. So you might not always have the ability to get online to make a trade when you want to. You will need to be sure that you can speak with your broker if you use an online stock broker. This is true whether you are an advanced stock market trader or a beginner.

It is also a good idea for the retiree to sign up with an online stock broker that has been in business for quite a while. You won't find one that has been in business online for fifty years of course, but you will be able to find a company that has been in business that long and that now offers online stock trading.

Again, online stock trading is a wonderful thing for retired people - but be sure that it isn't for everyone. Think carefully before you decide to opt for online stock trading, and make sure that you really know what you are letting yourself in for!

And so, in summary, pensioners can use their extra free time to investigate the stock market for nothing by getting leads from newspapers, magazines and news items. These leads can then be further investigated by doing online research with the help of a free online stock investing account.

These hunches can then be tracked using a dummy or trial portfolio, sometimes called a 'watch list'. After you have gained sufficient experience, you can go 'live' by opening an active online stock investing account. - 23196

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If you want to know further about online stock investing, just go to our web-based resource Online Stock Investing for Retirees for further information.