Tuesday 20 April 2010

Do we really need stock brokers we have the internet?

http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-buy-stocks-without-a-broker got me thinking, do we really need to use a broker anymore? There are lots of alternatives out there.
In this blog post I am going to look at some of the options and consider a route forward.
I have been following Apple Stock recently, the NYSE code for this is AAPL. I have been really interested in information about this stock because of the release of the iPad. http://images.intomobile.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/ipad-536x648.png
I have found [[Yahoo Finance]] an invaluable aid. All the information for AAPL is available at http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=AAPL This includes stats such as last trade, price up/down today, market value, price/earnings ratio, earnings per share, dividend yield, etc What I like about Yahoo Finance is that all the financial information is all presented to me in one view.
I also like the New York Times – here is the Apple page - http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/apple_computer_inc/inde... – This page provides a wealth of information, more than a mere mortal like me could want!
Once I have collected all the financial information, I then like to get a general company overview. For me, I head to Wikipedia. For Apple the address is - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc. (N.B. Wikipedia separates from the fruit by calling this page Apple Inc. All the sort of information I could want about Apple is on this page including company history, current products, timeline of apple products, culture, corporate affairs, environmental record, labor practices and more... http://newtonpoetry.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/apple_logo_640x480.jpg
I am now getting a really clear picture of what buying shares in Apple would be getting me into. I have a good financial understanding and a good general knowledge of Apple, the company. What is more there has been no broker advice at all.
So what is left to do? I guess I had best understand the fundamentals of investing. This page provides me with a lot of the fundamentals required before you invest - http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-invest
Advice here includes making sure I can afford the investment. Also to do my research, well I seem to be doing plenty of research with the various sources I have looked into. It recommends a diversified portfolio, so I definitely should not be investing all of my hard earned cash into Apple.
The fact is with stocks, it is a gamble, do the Brokers really know much more than we do sometimes. On some occasions no doubt they do but many times you are paying without really getting especially educated/informed advice.
Well I am going to dabble and get some AAPL stock. I know they are on a high at the moment but I think with the success of the iPad they could go higher.
Wish me luck, I might just need it!

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