The Methodology for Trading
It is a simple proposition. Since there are a multitude of stock market investing methods ranging from robo advisors to full service estate planning services, Simplyalpha.ca does just one thing, which is trade stocks and options listed on the North American Exchanges. What we trade with is your money held in the discount broker of your choice. A discount broker because of the low fees, and connected to your bank to facilitate the movement of your money. Once the account is set up, you provide trading authorization to conduct trades to whatever degree is appropriate. The most flexible trading is in stocks and options with margin. What level of flexibility is up to you, from long stocks only to a percentage of the account balance, to full margin of stocks held which is usually an additional 70%.
The Parameters
The ante, as the say in poker, is around $100,000. That would provide the ability to trade four or five stocks. More through the use of margin if agreed to beforehand. The 100K target allows greater opportunity. Anything under that would be best divided among several ETF's replicating major indices. As the value approaches twenty million or so, it might be better with a major bank that would provide advice and guidence not only on investing, but also estate planning, trust set up, wills and other ancilliary services that would be provided at nil or low cost. Simplyalpha.ca could provide an opinion of course, but cannot provide the ancilliary services, customer appreciation and attention that a bank or investment company could and should.
The Result
The expected return on average is about 6-8% per annum. That is about what most commentators see in the stock market over time. That includes the dividend stream from stocks in the portfolio. What simplyalpha.ca does is to try and get that, and a little extra. The alpha part of simplyalpha.
The Risk in All This
This is a market with inummerable players, playing for a multitude of reasons. Some of those reasons do not necessarily coincide with what is beneficial for an investor. In other words, money can be lost, and lots of it. Be aware of that danger prior to making the investment, understand it and incorporate it into the position that you take in the stock market. Decisions are made everyday weighing risk and reward in life. This is another one that can be dealt with.