Author Topic: Insurance Company vs direct stock exchange a good way of investing?  (Read 7348 times)

MTs

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Good day all,

Apologies... if this question was posted already on this forum.

I opened an investment account 2 years ago with one of the insurance companies in SA and the broker told me that they invest directly to the Stock Exchange. He also showed me the company (Top 40) he included in my portfolio. He also told me that in addition they observe the market and will move from one investment to another depending on how they are performing on the market.

I also had a chat with a bank consultant who then told me that it best to do with banks than insurance companies.

Question: is it the best way of investing through insurance companies? How do a novice investor like myself invest directly on Stock Market?

Regards,
Mokone

Moneypenny

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Re: Insurance Company vs direct stock exchange a good way of investing?
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2015, 11:15:28 am »
Best to leave main portion of your investment to pros (doesn't matter bank/ins/other) when you're still learning. 

The "Investor Challenge" on this forum is a good place to experiment with share trading without any risk to you. Once you feel comfortable with your results, invest a small amount directly yourself and grow it from there.

Your goal would be to do it all by yourself eventually.  It's not going to happen overnight but it would be the best financial decision you'll ever make imo.

Good Luck.
 

Patrick

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Re: Insurance Company vs direct stock exchange a good way of investing?
« Reply #2 on: March 27, 2015, 11:55:32 am »
Moneypenny is right, the quickest was to lose money is to try pick a share, especially as a beginner. BUT managers take fees, usually a lot of them. Depending on how much money you've got to invest, I'd recommend you speak to an adviser who charges a fee to see, but not an annual fee on your account.

Why you shouldn't pay annual fees: http://www.investorchallenge.co.za/those-fees-are-blatantly-robbing-you/
And why you probably shouldn't try pick shares: http://investorchallenge.co.za/how-to-lose-money-in-the-stock-market/


JDP

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Re: Insurance Company vs direct stock exchange a good way of investing?
« Reply #3 on: March 27, 2015, 12:25:55 pm »
Also have a look at http://www.justonelap.com/, lots of info for all levels.

I basically had all of my investments in funds, and after a prolonged period of crappy return, and them still taking there fees, I decided to take the plunge,
to start and manage my investments myself.

At this stage i'm about 50% self managed and 50% in funds. And even with the 50% i manage my self, there is a large portion that is blue chips, Indexes, and only about
3 stocks that i'm using as speculative trades. Im very novice at this, so my approach is very much cautious. ;)