I WASN'T BORN RICH, BUT MY KIDS WILL BE: The Investing Section
1
How would you best describe your technology usage in regards to investing?
A) I mostly plan on investing on my desktop computer
B) I mostly plan on investing on my mobile phone
C) I want to utilize a blend of both my computer and my phone
2
Choose the option that most accurate describes your current comfort level with choosing investments:
A) Very comfortable selecting investments on my own.
B) Pretty new to selecting investments, but I think I can figure it out with a little guidance.
C) like I have no idea what I'm doing, and just wish someone would do this for me.
3
Choose the option that most accurate describes how involved you’d want to be in your investments:
A) Be super involved in my investing.
B) Be sort of involved in my investing.
C) Spend as little time as possible while still investing.
4
What do you mostly plan on investing in?
A) Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, and Mutual Funds
B) Stocks and ETFS
C) I don’t know what these words even mean
Mostly A’s— Traditional Brokerages:
You should consider a traditional brokerage!
You seem to be very confident in your own ability to select investments, and these options will give you the widest range of research and information to dive into. While all three of these platforms have apps, they are likely a bit clunkier, so you'll likely want to opt for buying/selling/researching your investments via a desktop computer. DIYing your investments means you will pay the fewest in fees, but likely spend the most time!
Mostly B’s— Modern Brokerages:
You should consider a more modern brokerage!
You have a decent understanding on how to select investments, but want to keep things simple and do most of your investing via your phone. These platforms can be great for beginners as they all offer mobile apps and fractional investing (aka you can get started for as little as $1). DIYing your investments means you will pay the fewest in fees, but likely spend more time! That said, one watch out is that often, these modern brokerages can make investing a little.... too fun. I encourage you to make sure you're still sticking to the investing fundamentals and not diving into risky behaviors like day trading.
You should consider a Roboadvisor!
You recognize that investing is an important part of your financial future, but the less time you can spend doing it, the better. You'll take a quick quiz about your money goals - things like how much you make, your age, when you want to retire, your plans for the future, etc and one of these little roboadvisors will put together an investment portfolio that suits your needs! These platforms all have strong websites for desktop, as well as apps for your mobile phone, and you likely won't have to spend a lot of time researching on your own. While you will pay a small management fee to avoid the trouble of DIYing your investments, it'll still be meaningfully less than investing your money with a human financial advisor, and you'll skip the analysis paralysis so you can get investing sooner rather than later!