New to Investing?
If you are new to investing and are confused by Crowdfunding – or investing in general – you are not alone. Crowdfunding is a new industry, so one of the many responsibilities of all the new Crowdfunding platforms will be to educate potential investors like you about the ins and outs of Crowdfunding. I will release some more posts soon about risks and other factors you should know about before investing in Crowdfunding, but we will start with the easy stuff first. Since you will have to wait until late 2013 (and possibly 2014) before any platforms launch, there will be plenty of time to touch on the other subjects later.
So why invest in Crowdfunding? For one thing, Crowdfunding will be very simple – find a company you love and invest in it! While you should do some outside research on your own, you will be able to find most of the information you will need about these businesses on Crowdfunding platforms, like InCrowd Capital, where you will be able to determine which companies you like enough to make an investment. On most platforms, you can invest as little as $50-$100 in a company. The businesses will be smaller, growing or startup companies that have higher risk, which I will touch on in more detail in future posts.
To invest in Crowdfunded businesses, you do not need to be familiar with stock market investing, bonds, mutual funds or ETFs. That is why I love Crowdfunding. Trading stocks is complex, with an overwhelming amount of statistics, data and different investment vehicles. I also hated that I was trading with huge banks, hedge funds and trading firms that got information two weeks before I was able to; by then, the markets had moved and it was too late to do anything with my money.
I know some of this will raise some more questions, so in my next few posts, I will be touching on some other Crowdfunding basics you will need to know before getting started. Here is what you can expect to see soon:
- Why have I not heard of equity Crowdfunding before now?
- How much can I invest in total in Crowdfunding investments?
- Is investing in Crowdfunded companies risky?
- What strategies will increase my chances of success?
- When will I get my money back or earn a return on my investment?
- After I invest, how do I know how my investment is doing?
- Where do the businesses looking for Crowdfunding capital come from?
- What are the differences between all of the platforms out there?
Also keep an eye out for industry news, if you are interested, and some comments on what else is going on across this new and exciting industry!
