Investing Basics

Get familiar with the fundamentals of investing, including risk vs. reward, diversification, and asset allocation.

What is diversification and asset allocation?

Every investor should begin with these two key ideas.

Diversification can be summed up with the familiar phrase: "Don't put all your eggs in one basket." Including different types of investments in your portfolio may help reduce your losses if one type—stocks, for example—take a hit when other investments like bonds remain steady or go up.

Investors achieve diversification through a process called asset allocation, which simply means figuring out how your funds will be spread among different types of investments, such as stocks, bonds, and cash. Diversification may reduce risk, but investors also want to earn a return, and so they need to strike a balance between risk and reward. Lower risk investments carry less chance of a loss but typically provide lower returns. Investors seeking higher returns typically must take on greater risk.

The key to choosing how conservative or aggressive you should be is to gauge your risk tolerance, next up...

Understanding your risk tolerance

This tool illustrates the tradeoff between risk and reward that lies at the heart of investing.
Pay close attention to the "Worst 12 months" figure in the lower right. Would you be comfortable if your investments lost that much in a year? Would you change your investments or stay the course?

Select your investment style:
Asset Class
Allocation
Large Cap Blend
0%
Large Cap Value
0%
Small-Mid Cap Blend
0%
International Equity
0%
Fixed Income
0%
Cash
0%
Historical 20 year returns
Best 12 months (2002-2021)
+37.01%
Worst 12 months (2002-2021)
-27.62%
Average 12 months (2002-2021)
+7.44%
This is what investment advisers mean by risk tolerance: it's about how much risk is appropriate and comfortable for you. Keep in mind, your risk tolerance will likely change over time as your age, life circumstances, and financial situation change.

Are you a do-it-yourselfer? Want some help?

No problem, we've got the accounts, tools, and help you need to invest on your terms.

A standard account

With a standard brokerage or retirement account you make all the investment decisions and execute all the trades. You pay no commissions, so your overall cost of investing will typically be the lowest.

No minimums to get started.

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Prebuilt portfolios

Select your risk tolerance and easily invest in diversified, professionally selected portfolios of mutual funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs). And you pay no trading commissions.

Get started with as little as $500 (mutual funds) or $2,500 (ETFs).

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Automated investment management

Core Portfolios uses advanced digital technology to build and manage your portfolio, based on your timeline and risk tolerance. It's a simple, low-cost way to get professional portfolio management.

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Where can I find even more investing ideas?

Potential opportunities can be found almost anywhere. These easily accessible sources give new investors
a variety of different ways to find ideas.

How do I place a stock trade?

 

1. Locate the ticker symbol
Enter a company name and get the ticker symbol

2. Check the price
Once you've found the ticker symbol of the company you're interested in, check the price and gauge the historical graph for volatility or growth.

3. Select order type
From the drop-down, choose Buy.

4. Execute
Select Preview to review your order and place your trade.

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Looking to expand your financial knowledge?