Summarize the following:
The most common platform for trading investments is through a brokerage. You can sign up for a brokerage and use their web platform to buy and sell securities. Generally people use discount brokers, such as eTrade, Ameritrade, and Scottrade, which are either free or relatively cheap.Full-service brokers are the alternative, where you usually get an investment advisor who gives advice on your trading, and you pay significantly more per trade for the service. You can create an online account with the broker you choose, enter your bank account information, and specify the amount of money you want to bring over for trading. When choosing your broker, consider both the amount you want to pay and the level of involvement you plan to have in your investing activity. A full-service broker costs more, but some will even make trades on your behalf based on the strategy you specify. Most people who use full-service brokers are investing large amounts of money, generally over $100,000. This is because of the high cost of paying a full service broker, which is often not cost effective for casual investors. Once you have researched and determined which securities you want to buy, use your broker to purchase them! You will be able to see how much the security costs, and specify how many you want to buy of each. You may want to start small and build up to investing more money just to get the hang of trading. Consider spending one to two weeks trading before investing the rest of the money you have set aside. Once you have made your initial investments, you need to monitor them to watch how they perform. It is fun to watch your investments grow, and you should also watch for problems indicating you should sell. The kind of monitoring you do should be based on your investment strategy, and you should know this in advance. If you are investing in securities for retirement, for a child's education, or some other far-out withdrawal, you should check in on your portfolio at least every six months. If you are investing for mid to short term, check in at least once a month. Read the quarterly statements for the stocks you own, and evaluate whether they are likely to continue providing returns. For day-to-day or very short-term trading, you will likely monitor your investments every day or even every hour. You may learn about new, emerging markets that you want to invest in, or just decide you don't want to keep your investments in the securities you originally chose. Whatever the case, follow your investment strategy, and make changes to your portfolio to reflect that strategy. Resist the urge to sell a security the moment it's value drops below what you paid. Unless you are doing very short-term investing, you should expect to see changes, including drops, in the value of your securities.
Choose an investment platform. Purchase your selected securities. Monitor your investments. Make changes to your portfolio as necessary.