It’s no surprise that when you mention investing in the stock market to a co-worker, friend, or even your significant other that you often see a look of dismay. Can you blame them? The last few years have been extremely tumultuous and there is a certain level of uncertainty looming around all who speak about putting your hard earned dollars into the stock market.

Here are some great examples of why you should invest in the stock market and hopefully they will put you at ease when it comes time to reach into your pocket book.

Exchange Traded Funds – Exchange Traded Funds, more commonly known as ETF’s are a great way to get into the stock market. The best features of ETF’s are the diversification they offer. By spreading your risk your portfolio is able to withstand ups and downs and overtime you have excellent potential for moderate growth. On my website I have a 2 part article explaining the detailed benefits of ETF trading and also a sample portfolio to get new investors started. If you are considering jumping into the world of stock market trading this article will give you an excellent head start.

Limitless Choices – With all of the online brokers competing with each other your choices are broad and the cost to you has drastically declined. You have the power to buy into a stock and leave whenever you want and not worry about exorbitant fees. You can buy into a stock and hold onto it for a couple weeks or less, then quickly sell and enter into another stock within minutes. You even have the power to transfer to an entirely different broker with ease.

A couple excellent examples are Sharebuilder by Ing Direct and Zecco trading. Sharebuilder offers an advantage plan that allows you to pay a monthly fee and receive 12 free trades per month. This is excellent for repeat investments. Let’s say you have 3 ETF’s or stocks you are wanting to invest in. With the advantage plan you can invest a pre-determined dollar amount weekly into each of the 3 ETF’s or stocks. At the end of the month that is 12 trades (3 weekly) for $12/mo. You can do additional trades for about $8/ea. Zecco is another great trading platform as well. This is aimed at the investor who wants to do a lot of trading and possibly only hold on to a trade for a day or two. All trades are only $4.50/ea. and if you make over 25 trades in a month you receive 10 trades free. Both are great options depending on the type of investing you are looking into.

Internet Support – There are a plethora of ways for people to learn about investing and how to maximize gains and minimize losses. Blog’s like my own are dedicated to free support and techniques throughout the entire investment process. Brokerage accounts are not only for buying and selling but they offer advice, news, reports, and software to help you a long the way. I highly recommend taking full advantage of everything your broker offers as well as outside resources as well.

Looking back historically we know that the market ever so often will have crashes. Being aware of this should not deter you from investing, but make you more inclined to invest. Especially if you take advantage of the help being offered. Whether you want to invest $100 a month into a couple of ETF’s or day trade with penny stocks you should know that today is as good of a time as ever to invest your money wisely. For daily articles and stock market tips check into my website www.karlkamen.com. Thanks for reading and good luck out there!