As with everything in life, the more we do something, the more we learn. Some things are really useful, others not so much, and then there are those things that make you a better person, partner, employee, manager, leader, or, most importantly here on Captain Finance, a better investor.
So here are the ten things I have learned over the last 25 years of investing.
A dividend is a percentage of the profit the company you have invested in has earned over the last financial quarter, six months, or year. When and how often a company pays a dividend depends on their dividend policy. Some companies only pay once a year, while others pay every 3 or 6 months. In order to find out, all you need to do is go on a company’s investor relations site that is accessible for free and to everyone through the corporate website.
Some brokers will charge you a flat fee for each trade, regardless of the trading size. In other words, you can trade as little as €/$/£ 5 or as much as €/$/£ 1,000,000, the trading costs remain the same.
Other brokers might charge you a percentage of your trade, for instance, 2.5% of the trading sum. You need to think about what works best for you, but in general if your trading value is a couple of €/$/£1,000s, a flat fee is likely to be the cheapest option.
Friends and colleagues frequently ask me about shares; primarily about how and what to buy. Particularly now in times of low interest when the search for good investments resembles finding the famous needle in a haystack. The question is indeed a pressing one; who would not prefer higher returns than those minuscule interest rate for most savings accounts?
