Quick Look
- For Lump Sum contributions, look for the ticker symbol of what you want to buy and click “Buy”
- For Recurring contributions, each site is different but look for words like “Automatic investing” or “Recurring investing” on your institution’s website
Contents
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Lump Sum Contributions
If you’re making a lump sum, one time purchase, on most sites you’ll simply search for the ticker symbol of the stock, mutual fund, index fund, or ETF you’re looking to purchase, click “Buy” and follow the prompts on the site.
Recurring Contributions
If you’re looking to make a regular contribution (say on a weekly, or monthly basis) you may need to find a separate section that indicates “Automatic” or “Recurring” investing. Also you may only be able to select certain kinds of mutual funds or index funds (or ETFs, which are a type of index fund) since these funds don’t have transaction fees associated with purchases (the last thing you would want would be to pay a $5 fee every time you bought $100 worth of stock…this would seriously eat into your returns).