Getting started with investing
Ready to start investing yourself? Discover the key questions to ask, from your goals to your budget, to find the platform that's right for you.
Now that you know the basics of investing, you might want to take your first steps as an investor. But how do you actually do that? In this lesson, you'll learn how to get access to the stock market, and what choices you'll need to make to find a platform that suits you.
Online investment platforms have made investing more accessible
In the past, investing as a private individual was fairly complicated: there were no online platforms that let you access the stock market yourself.
Instead, you usually needed an advisor to pass your requests along. The advisor would call in your order to the bank, and the bank would then contact the exchange. As a result, it could take quite a while before your order was actually executed. And you paid for it too, since your advisor obviously wasn't working for free.
The long processing times for orders, plus the cost of intermediaries like advisors, meant investing had a fairly high barrier to entry. It wasn't something you could just casually start doing as a private individual, especially if you didn’t have a good amount of money to use as starting capital.
These days, things work very differently: there are all kinds of online platforms (apps and/or websites) that let you invest on the stock market yourself: without an advisor, although advisors still exist too. If your financial situation is quite complex, it's definitely worth still considering one.
Which investment platform suits you?
If you feel ready to invest in the stock market, then it's time to choose an investment platform that fits your needs. Here are some guiding questions to help you decide:
Why do you want to invest?
General wealth | Do you want to invest toward a goal you'd like to reach in a few years, or even because it feels like a waste to leave your money idle? Then a standard investment account will probably suit you. |
Retirement | If you'd like to invest with the aim of putting aside money for your later years, you can open a pension investment account. This comes with tax benefits: you can deduct your contributions from your income on your annual tax return, which lowers your taxable income and (often) means you pay less tax. The trade-off is that you can't simply withdraw money from a pension investment account whenever you like. |
Do you want to invest actively or passively?
Active investing | Do you enjoy tracking prices yourself, following company results, and watching how the economy develops? Is your aim to try to outsmart the market by timing your buys and sells? Then you'll probably feel most at home with a trading app: an app built for fast trading. Just remember: with active investing, you need to time things very well to achieve a positive return, and there's a good chance you'll get it wrong. |
Passive investing | If you're investing passively, a trading app probably isn't the best fit, and you're more likely looking for a clear, straightforward platform geared toward the long term. For example, a platform that makes it easy to invest in ETFs. Investing through this kind of platform takes less time and doesn't require specialist knowledge. Peaks is a platform that falls into the "passive investing" category. |
What do you want to invest in?
Specific investments | Do you already know exactly what you want, such as one particular cryptocurrency or a single company's stock? Then look for a platform that specialises in it. A crypto coin, for example, needs a crypto platform: you won't find it on a stock or ETF platform. |
A broad mix | If you'd rather spread your money across many companies or markets at once, then a platform that offers ETFs is the more logical choice. With one ETF you invest in a whole basket of stocks or bonds, so you don't have to pick them one by one. |
How will you be charged?
You learned about different cost types earlier in this course. Now that you understand what they are, let’s take a closer look at how they’ll affect you in practice. How much you end up paying in order to invest can be dependent on things like how much money you’ve invested, or how often you make deposits and withdrawals.
To make things even more confusing, different investment platforms charge for different things, making a simple cost comparison difficult. Use the information below to help you understand which cost types are the best fit for your (intended) investing approach and which are best to avoid if possible. You can then know what to look out for when comparing platforms.
Transaction costs | If you’re planning to buy or sell regularly, then a platform that charges transaction fees could incur a good deal of extra charges over time. |
Variable costs | Some platforms charge a percentage of your investment as part of their service fee. In some cases, these variable fees decrease as your investment becomes larger. |
Fixed costs | Another common service cost is a monthly fixed fee. Some platforms offer a discount on this fee if you opt for a yearly package instead. |
Fund costs | Investing in funds like ETFs require a fee paid towards the organisations that manage the funds. |
Spread costs | If a spread cost seems high to you, check whether a platform executes your orders on a regulated exchange, such as Euronext, or if they internalise their executions. The latter can come with costs that affect the final execution price. |
What’s important to you in a platform?
Lots of detail | Are you a real numbers person who can handle plenty of figures, charts and percentages? Then look for a platform that gives you in-depth data. |
A clear overview | Would you rather see at a glance how your investments are doing? Then a platform with a cleaner, simpler layout may suit you better. |
Do it yourself | Do you want to research everything yourself and choose your own investments? Then pick a platform that gives you that freedom. |
Ready-made | Would you rather get started quickly without making every choice yourself? Then look for a platform that offers ready-made portfolios. |
Automation | Do you want to automate things like regular deposits? Check whether the platform offers this, or decide whether it matters to you at all. |
Key takeaways
- Online platforms have made investing more accessible to a broader audience
- First decide what matters most to you in a platform: does it offer the right type of investment account, investment strategy (active or passive), investment categories (like stocks, ETFs, or crypto), and user experience?
- Research what a platform would actually cost you, and whether it offers a service that matches your needs