Hey guys! Let me start off by apologising for the missing article last week. A few of you have told me were looking for an article then and didn’t see one. So, I’m making an extra effort to ensure that this week doesn’t become two weeks in a row.

Today, I’m giving you guys a quick guide to getting started with investing on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE).

A lot of people might think this might be a very long, complicated process but it really isn’t. In fact, it’s about as easy as opening a bank account, and much shorter, in my humble opinion. I’ve spent an entire day trying to get a bank account open, I still don’t understand why this hasn’t been simplified by the banks as yet…but I digress. Let’s get started.

So, you’ve heard the good news about investing on the local stock market and want to join in, or maybe you just have some extra cash you want to earn some money on but don’t want to get the microscopic interest rates on savings accounts. And they really are microscopic, as of April 2019 the average interest rate given to consumers on a regular savings account in a commercial bank in Jamaica was 0.65 per cent per annum.

This means that if you left $10,000 in one of those accounts for one year you would get $65 back in interest on top of your money…then the fees and taxes would come out.

So, you see that a savings account is definitely not the way to grow your money.

Before we begin though, it’s important that you know that this is just the start. Opening the account won’t magically turn you into a stock whiz, but after that first step is out of the way, everything gets a little bit easier. I’ve simplified the process for getting started down to 3 steps. Here they are:

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sunday-finance/a-quick-guide-to-investing-on-the-jamaica-stock-exchange_170961