Investment Series

Posted on Saturday, July 2, 2011
Filed under Fundamentals, Investment Series

Series #1

First step in stock investment

On several occasions, friends have asked me about how to invest, particularly in stock investment.
Often rather than not, I’d launch a long-winded “lesson” that most can hardly digest.

For the benefit of most, I've decided to mint it down in a series of entries, which i will call Investment Series.
I promise to try and keep it really short. (:

Let's start this investment series by knowing how to start investing.

Step 1. Open an investment account.
You have to open an investment account to buy stocks/shares.

You can open the account with one of the following Broker firms:
Singapore:
1. DBS Vickers (http://www.dbsvonline.com)
2. OCBC Securities (http://www.iocbc.com)
3. UOB Kay Hian (http://www.uobkayhian.com)

Indonesia:
1. E-trading Securities (http://www.etrading.co.id)
2. CIMB Sekuritas (http://www.itradecimb.co.id)

That's just to name a few, of course there are a lot more.

I personally use DBS Vickers to buy Singapore stock (due to low commission rate when you pay in cash) and E-trading Securities for Indonesia stock (merely for convenience’s sake).

Things you should take note of:
1. Deposit
You may be required to deposit a certain amount of money to open the investment account, which you can use to buy stocks subsequently.
For instance, DBS Vickers requires a deposit of S$ 1,000 and Rp 10 Million for CIMB Sekuritas.

2. Commission rate
You'll be charged a commision rate when you buy/sell stocks.
It varies across brokers, although it averages at S$ 25-30 in Singapore and Rp 20,000-30,000 in Indonesia.

I could end this entry with an impractical statement:
"Happy trading and you will soon be rich and happily ever after"
But that is something that I don't agree with.

I’d rather remind you cautiously that:
”When you are not sure of what you are doing, do NOTHING until you find out”

If you are still with me till this point, you should congratulate yourself. (:
Stay tuned for next entry in which I'll be writing about Investing versus Speculation (gambling), which i reckon is a far more important topic.