Clever Girl Finance

CHAPTER 7Where and How to Purchase Your Investments

Be mindful of those investment fees. They may seem small, but they can cost you.

#CLEVERGIRLSKNOW

By this point you have a pretty good foundation of how investing works, so now is a good time to talk about where and how you can purchase your stock market investments to get the ball rolling. The foundational aspect of understanding how investing works is extremely important, but the next most important piece is to actually start investing so that everything you've been learning in theory can be put to work in real life and you can start to earn some real money over time.

Other than choosing investments for a workplace plan like a 401(k), which we'll get to later, the most popular ways to purchase your investments are by:

• Opening up an investment account with a brokerage firm. With this route you can start investing on your own or with the help of a robo-advisor, which is an online investment service that provides automated, algorithm-based investment portfolio management advice without the use of human financial planners or advisors.
• Working with a licensed and reputable financial advisor. This will allow you to get professional guidance on how to invest your money with the option to have them manage your investments on your behalf.

In the following sections, we'll go over what you need to know about each one of these avenues.

BROKERAGE FIRMS AND ROBO-ADVISORS

When it comes to buying or selling stock market investments, ...