Your low-cost route to the stock market

Investing on the JSE has never been easier or more inexpensive, thanks to online trading platforms and the support they provide for new direct investors.

Although trading as an individual is not for everyone, the advantages are significant: convenience, access to real-time information, the ability to access your online account at any time and (usually) reduced costs.

In the latest issue of Personal Finance magazine (volume 56, third-quarter 2013), we explore the pros and cons of using online stockbrokers and compare the services, information and costefficiencies offered by 12 websites.

And if you, like many people, use online stockbrokers to invest in exchange traded products, don’t take for granted that the costs will be lower than they would be for passively managed unit trust funds. This is the common perception, but the reality is that there are different levels of costs, and tracking an index is not an exact science.

Also not to be missed in this issue of Personal Finance:

Debt counselling: 10 things you should know before you apply.

Medical schemes: new priorities for managed care programmes.

The art market: more mystery and perception than facts and figures?

Body corporate funds: could yours be better protected from fraud and theft?

Conveyancing: step by step through the legal process of registering property ownership ... plus our columnists, letters, books and our indispensable Databank.

Don’t miss the new issue, on sale now for R29.95 at bookshops and retail outlets nationwide.

Subscribe and save: Have the magazine delivered to your door for 20 percent less than the cover price if you subscribe for two years (R192 for eight issues) and 15 percent less than the cover price if you subscribe for one year (R102 for four issues).