Trying to Make a Dollar Out of 15 Cents : Online Investing

When watching TV( which I tend to do more than I normally would admit) there are certain advertisements that tend to stick out. Whether its Apple's simple yet stunning commercials, to IBM's "I'm an IBMer" commercials, the technology companies are tearing up the cable marketplace. Even when it comes to finance.

Behold, The E-trade baby.

Everyone knows him, everyone loves him. The e-trade baby has kids who don't even know what an online brokerage is talking about e-trade. Brilliant

Online brokerages are a huge trend. Because of the capability of online brokerages, technology has once again changed the landscape of an entire industry; Investments. The eruption of online brokerages out there have reduced the need for stock brokers overall and also given less personal aspect to investing with a broker. Although all online trades are approved by a broker, there is no real contact between the client and broker.

The thought is great, I can manage my money myself through an online brokerage on my laptop, tablet, or phone, make millions, retire early, move to florida, and play golf everyday. This is just what they want you to think. E-trade, Scottrade, Charles Schwab, and TD Ameritrade are all broadcasting commercials telling you about how cheap their trades are, how accurate and recent their data is, and how easy it is to work for even the casual investor. They tend to leave a few things out.

People may spend their time reading Yahoo Finance, and watching CNBC to get their stock picks to type into their e-trade account, and in a perfect world, every investment grows. But that is hardly true, by the time that information get to CNBC, or Yahoo, it is public information. Large brokerages probably knew this hours if not days before you did. Because the market is so dominated by these large brokerage houses, it makes it tough for a small guy investor to make a dollar out of 15 cents, or even a dollar out of 99 cents.

Buy low sell high, basically the bare bones of any business. For one person to make money investing, another must lose money, and with about 60% of all market trades being done by computers in brokerage houses with no personal interaction, it is tough for a small person to make anything trading simple stocks on a e-trade account.

Technology has made it easier and more convenient to invest, but it also has made it a bit riskier.
The following link contains a real-life version of an e-trade commercial. Check it out, and invest wisely.
http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6477219/remix-e-trade-baby-loses-everything