With the invention of online trading platforms, to invest individually, a person only needs
to go to the websites of the stock brokerage firms through which they want to invest and
purchase the amount of shares as they wish. This method is usually quick and easy, only with
some low fees for the transactions, such as the commission fee will be automatically applied
when a trade is made. The online trading platforms enable individuals to seemingly trade on their
own without the need to communicate with a stock broker. While this method allows individuals
to make investment decisions more independently, the downside of it that there is no access to
the knowledge and experience of a stock broker either. Although services such as free research
reports are available at and vary from one online brokerage to another, all decisions must be
made and based on the research by individual investor, who may have very limited experienced
with the stock market, and doing such research may be very time-consuming.