Interactive Brokers - Advice for a beginner investor?

[RadiatorMan]

Hi there, I've learned a lot reading through the forums, applied for my iDECO, and now I've made the leap into investing...I'm kind of stuck.

I have an account with Interactive Brokers (IBLLC for international trading) that I haven't funded yet because, to be honest, the interface is pretty difficult to navigate. I just want to start a basic invest-and-leave-it portfolio with index funds and bonds but I don't really know what to go for, and not exactly sure that I'm looking in the right place on IB.

Does anyone have index funds or bonds that they recommend, that are available on IB? Anything else I should be aware of? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

[StockBeard]

If you're completely new to investing I would recommend you read this:
https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Boglehe ... philosophy
(you don't have to click every single link on that page. The page in itself provides enough info)

Then if you feel you tend to agree with this philosophy, they have good proposals for funds or ETFs you might want to invest in, here: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Three-fund_portfolio . I would expect that most of those (or equivalents) can be purchased through Interactive Brokers (but not being a client of IB I cannot say for sure).


I would say that most people on this forum tend to more or less follow the philosophy outlined above, and that's generally the principles Ben also tries to convey on the blog. Then there might be differences in what funds we all get depending on what's available through our respective providers, but the general direction is always the same IMO.

[RadiatorMan]

Thanks for the links, they're very helpful. I'm definitely down with the philosophy of the blog, and the list of funds and ETFs is really what I was looking for. Thanks!