Key takeaways
- We surveyed our clients and realized that 75% of them use self-directed investing elsewhere, however many need it alongside their automated investing—so we constructed it the Betterment manner.
- With Betterment, you may make investments your manner, shopping for and promoting 1000’s of shares and ETFs with no commissions.
- Handle your automated portfolios, money accounts, and self-directed trades collectively on one platform for a fuller view of your funds.
- Not like different investing apps, Betterment’s tax influence preview permits you to see the influence of a sale earlier than you commerce, so there aren’t any tax surprises.
- Make investments smarter with these three suggestions: set clear objectives, plan for taxes, and hold feelings out of your investing.
Just lately, we surveyed our clients and realized that 75% of them use some type of self-directed investing.
That was eye-opening. Whereas our automated investing instruments are designed to take the work out of wealth constructing, many individuals nonetheless need the choice to select and handle sure investments on their very own.
So we requested ourselves: how can we carry self-directed investing to life—the Betterment manner?
Our reply: mix our award-winning platform with a customer-first expertise to allow you to purchase and promote 1000’s of shares and ETFs with no commissions.
With Betterment’s self-directed investing, you’ll get extra investing decisions, the flexibility to see your whole investments in a consolidated place, and tax insights you received’t discover anyplace else.
Investing your manner, multi function place
Not everybody invests for a similar cause. We all know this as a result of we regularly solicit suggestions from our clients. Some clients instructed us they need to spend money on firms they consider in. Others discover it intellectually rewarding to observe markets and make trades. And lots of merely like having extra management over their portfolio.
With Betterment’s self-directed investing, you will get that flexibility whereas holding all the things on one platform. Handle your automated portfolios, money accounts, and self-directed trades facet by facet, with know-how designed to present you a transparent view of your monetary life.
Tax insights you received’t get anyplace else
Right here’s the place we’re actually totally different than the everyday “inventory buying and selling” platforms. Self-directed buying and selling usually means extra frequent shopping for and promoting, which might carry a hefty and surprising tax invoice on the finish of the yr that catches individuals off guard.
The truth is, once we requested our clients about their greatest problem with self-directed investing on different apps, the highest reply was “managing tax implications.”
We solved that problem.
At Betterment, you’ll see a tax influence preview earlier than you promote a inventory or ETF.
That preview consists of how the sale might have an effect on your taxes, and even potential wash gross sales. A wash sale happens whenever you promote a safety at a loss after which repurchase the identical or a considerably equivalent safety inside 30 days earlier than or after the sale, disallowing the tax deduction for that loss.
With our tax influence preview, there aren’t any surprises or guesswork. Simply clear tax insights that will help you make smarter selections. (See how tax influence preview works.)
Three tricks to get began with self-directed investing
Self-directed investing offers you with the selection to speculate your manner. However you get to determine what “your manner” means. To assist, listed here are three steps to get began:
- Have a transparent purpose earlier than you commerce: Don’t simply purchase as a result of one thing appears to be like scorching or is within the information. Ask your self: Am I investing for long-term progress, short-term earnings, diversification, or another cause? Having a transparent objective will help you keep away from making impulsive trades.
- Take into consideration taxes earlier than you promote: Promoting a inventory or ETF can set off capital positive aspects taxes. Quick-term positive aspects (for investments held lower than a yr) are normally taxed at the next price than long-term positive aspects. Utilizing instruments that preview your tax influence earlier than you commerce—like Betterment’s—will help you keep away from surprises.
- Keep away from emotional buying and selling: Markets transfer quick. It’s simple to panic-sell when costs dip or chase a inventory that’s hovering. As a substitute, set guidelines for your self—like solely initiating a commerce at pre-set value targets or sticking to a dollar-cost averaging plan—so feelings don’t dictate your selections. Plus, at Betterment, your trades are queued for execution and never made instantly, however they’re made in a well timed method, limiting your capability to attempt to “time the market.”
