If you think us younger folks have it so much harder today on buying houses, cars, school, or finding good jobs, it is easier than ever to invest! I would question whether it’s accurate that it’s harder to do any of those things, at least overall in our country, but there may be some merit to that thought. I’ll explain why it’s easier than ever to invest though.
When I was born, it wasn’t possible to log into a computer or swipe a smartphone, and buy a stock for zero dollars. Yes, it was much more difficult and not something that most people could do throughout the day like we have the luxury of today. Along with that, it took fees paid for trades and to people to make those trades on your behalf. You were able to put dollars into mutual funds, which also charged fees, unlike what folks like Mr. Bogle did with Vanguard for us little folks.
Even going back ten years, you could have gotten into a few platforms, but paid quite a bit to trade individual stocks. E-Trade was charging a cool $20 a trade, and Scottrade (now merged with TD Ameritrade) was charging $7. I thought it was pretty good to buy some stocks at that cost, but it definitely weighed into what I bought and how often I purchased stocks. It was just a fact of life to factor into what I thought a fair price for a stock was.
Now you can open accounts with nearly any brokerage and find an ETF or Index Fund that will cost you $0, yes $0 in fees. You don’t pay anything to get started, for transactions, and can do it with the press of a few buttons on some free internet with minimal to no requirements for account balances.
So while some things may be harder, investing is easier than ever! Just get started!