What you'll need to get started investing & trading

January 2, 2018

Now that you've learned how the stock market works and what makes a good stock, you're ready to get started towards being able to invest or trade on your own.

While you can take these steps at any time, we recommend getting started on them earlier in the process.  The approval and setup process for some of this can take a few days, and it's free to get started so there really is no risk if you decide later that this isn't going to be for you.

Here are the things you'll need to get started:

  1.  Money -- It takes money to make money, it's true.  In trading and investing you will need to risk money in order to have a chance at profits.  The exact amount is up to you -- we recommend $4,000 but have seen people be successful with as little as $500.  In any event, you need to only put money in that you're willing to lose.
  2. A brokerage account --  you can think of this like a bank account that allows you to buy and sell stocks (and options).  You'll deposit money into the brokerage account, and use that money to buy a stock.  When you sell the stock later, you'll get the value of the stock at that point... any increase or decrease in the value of the stock will then be reflected in your cash balance in the brokerage account.  Very simple.
  3. An advantage over everyone else -- That's where LikeFolio comes in... we'll get into that in a while.  For now, let's make sure you're all setup with an account to trade in.

Action Items:

  1.  Determine how much money you're willing to get started with.  You can always deposit or withdraw from your brokerage account, so don't think of this as a permanent decision... just something to get started.

  2. Open a brokerage account.  We strongly recommend TD Ameritrade.  That's the company that our founders have been using for decades, along with almost every successful trader and investor that they know.  Phenomenal technology, security and customer service!

    BONUS:  USE THIS LINK TO OPEN A TD AMERITRADE ACCOUNT and you will get bonus cash deposited to your account, free trades for 90 days, and major discounts on all of your LikeFolio memberships into the future.  

  3. Once your account is open and ready, make your deposit and get ready to start investing.  If you used the link above in #2, make sure you contact us as soon as your deposit is complete in order to claim your bonuses!

That's it.  It should take about 15 minutes to open the brokerage account online, and a couple of days for your deposit to go through.  In the meantime, we are going to dive into developing a trading and investing strategy.

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