Then, a few years ago,Robinhoodburst on the scene.
This revolutionary fintech app, which launched in 2013, allows people to buy stocks and shares commission-free.
After less than a year, Robinhood hadalmost 500,000 users.
By 2017, it had executedover $30 billion in trades.
Evidently, there was an appetite for products that democratize access to the stock market.
Other companies quickly followed suit, hoping to carve a slice out of this nascent industry.
In the US, upstarts likeWiseBanyanandAcornsstarted offering free, or nearly-free, trading for shares and ETFs.
The concept took off overseas, too.
EvenRevolutis in the market.
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
Becoming Gordon Gecko
For the past month, Ive used Freetrade to start investing.
Im not sat in a chauffeur-driven limo prepping a speech about how greed is good.
Signing up was painless.
This process took less than two minutes and was primarily a box-ticking process.
Then I had to top-up my Freetrade account.
To do this, you have to nominate a bank account.
The company also lets users top-up their accounts via Google Pay and Apple Pay.
I havent used this feature personally, so well skip over it.
Once youve got money to invest, its time to put it to work.
Freetrade has a relatively small, but growing, universe of shares and ETFs.
These all have their distinct advantages and disadvantages.
Once youve found something, its time to buy it.
Trades are free, provided you dont mind waiting until 4 PM for them to execute.
Thats because Freetrade batches trades together to lower costs.
It has a simple graph that shows the growth and decline of your holdings.
you’re free to also drill-down into individual holdings.
Tapping on a share shows their performance, and how much youve lost and gained since you purchased them.
If youve purchased a stock that issues dividends, Freetrade will handle these for you.
If a company youve invested in issues cash payments, the app will automatically credit them to your account.
And if a company issues shares as dividends, these will show up in your portfolio.
There are no paper checks or certificates to deal with.
Power to the people
Freetrade is a great app, but this article isnt about it.
Its about how technology is allowing people to invest their own money independently.
Im unmistakably a minnow in a vast pond.
My investments are so small they barely count as a rounding error within the enormous financial markets.
And yet, Freetrade has radically changed my approach to money.
Ive been treating Freetrade almost as a savings account albeit one with a particular element of risk.
More to the point, Im buying companies that only fail if the economy goes thermonuclear.
That means banks, phone companies, utilities, and the postal service.
Other people have different strategies to my own, and its genuinely exciting to compare notes with others.
Overall though, its clear that Freetrade wants its users to follow a more conservative investment strategy.
And heres the thing its fun.
And this excitement means Im more inclined to invest more.
Nothing crazy, mind you.
And Im saving more.
And I should add that it hasnt replaced my everyday savings account.
Its crazy to say, but its true: Freetrade has radically changed how I manage my money.
Im socking more away, and Ive also quickly become a consummate reader of financial news.
Ive waxed lyrically about fintech in the past.
I genuinely believe technology has the power to improve how people manage their finances.
It can open opportunities that were previously closed off, like the ability to plan for the future.
Its one area of the technology thats hard to be cynical about.
