A stock broker has control over your fortunes, after all investment is not an emotional game. The stock broker helps you earn substantial returns by carefully devising an investment strategy. There are certain professions where word of mouth publicity would suffice, but a detailed analysis will showcase the fact that there is a definite shortage of high leverage stock brokers in the market.
It is not that you should end up choosing any stock broker. Market being speculative, the capital of an investor is at risk and some stocks that might be underperforming might spring up all of a sudden. There are a couple of options, either you can do it yourself or you can avail the services of a stock broker. If your portfolio size is small then you can always manage it at your own end. At the same time you need to be aware of the tricks of the trade before you are taking a plunge on to the stock market. Mostly the brokers are really interested to manage portfolio of a bigger size. Ideally try to look for one who are trying to establish in the market and are comfortable in managing a small portfolio size.
The process to select a stock broker
If you find that you need professional help then you need to follow the below steps
- The number of clients- You would feel a bit awkward to be asking this question but this is important. The reason being that you are handing over your hard earned money to someone. A suggestion would be to take feedback from the already existing clients and you need to pay for the services if you go on to cover up the market index. In certain cases people might be impressed with a particular performance.
- Investment strategy- it is really important to ask the stock broker the kind of investment strategy they are going to follow. A particular investment strategy does not fit at a macro level and the stock broker needs to be in sync
- Portfolio size- it is not necessary that a stock broker who is sitting in a plush office has to be a top notch broker. Just check out the average portfolio size that is undertaken by the broker. If the discount offered by a broker is higher than for sure it promises to be an exaggerated figure. The reason could be that the broker is not serious to your portfolio. Your cards should not be opened till you are clear with all your points.t
- The stock tips- for long term investment you need to have 7 to 8 stock points and for daily day to day trading around 10 stocks. It would be really important to check out the stock tips and the focus has to be on quality and not quantity.
Finally before you choose a stock broker have an eye on the customer service. There are plenty of stock brokers in the market who offer a free trial for a month. After that you can subscribe to their services.