Top Reasons To Open A Personal Stock Trading Account
Retirement accounts can be an easy way to save up for the future. Some plans like 401ks offer a number of benefits such as tax free growth, but they also have some disadvantages.
401k plans for instance drastically limit your ability to decide what happens to your investment dollars or they let you invest your money, but only allow you to invest in certain types of mutual funds.
Of course that is to protect the common person who may take too many gambles. In fact some people should not manage their own money because they will not take the time to actually learn how the market works and use proper risk management. I have seen many different people create their own account and bet it all on just 1 or 2 “sure bets”, that is not investing it is gambling.
But some of us can make a higher returns then mutual funds most mutual funds will and some of us enjoying learning how to pick the best investments out there for ourselves. So while only having a retirement account is good for some people it may hold others back.
The other disadvantage of simply having a retirement plan is that there are certain 401k withdrawal rules which severely limit your ability to retire early. If you are relying 100% on a retirement account such as a 401k or an IRA then you will have to wait until you get to retirement age before you can use that money, penalty free.
Retirement plans do work very well for most people, but for those of us who do not want to be working until we are 60 they may not be such a tempting offer. My goal is to retire at a very young age, so the only way to do that through the stock market is to have your own investment account.
Even though with a personal trading account you miss out on many opportunities such as a tax free growth you are able to use your money however you want without restrictions and without penalties, it is your money after all you should be able to use it however you want.
I believe everyone can learn to trade stocks and make a great return on their money and I also believe that anyone can retire at a very early age if they take the time to plan. It does take a lot of work and a lot of time to get the hang of the stock market, but for those of us who will take the time to learn and improve opening up a private account in addition to a 401k can be very profitable and well worthwhile.
