Featured article by Jay Riley, Independent Technology Author
We all know just how important technology is to our lives. From catching up with friends on social media to using Alexa to check the news, or watching a sports game online, it plays a central role in our daily lives. Of course, tech has also changed the ways we do business and look after our finances. One area that has seen a lot of recent change through technological advances is the world of investing.
If you go back to the days before modern tech, investing could be something of a closed shop. Stock trading is a great example of this in action. To trade on a market like the $10 trillion value NASDAQ, you would have to be an experienced professional trader who had access to personally work on the exchange floor. The only other way would be to use an investment bank to invest money into companies for you – this was not only time-consuming but could also be costly in terms of fees.
The rapid rise of online trading solutions has changed things though. Now anyone with a PC and an internet connection can register with an online broker to start handling their own stock market investments. This is just as true across other sectors like the $5 trillion per day currency market where technology has allowed access for those with money to invest..
Where next for investing?
The one constancy with tech is the way it keeps pushing forward. This is as true for investing where next-generation algorithms and services help to shape its future. Here are some cool ways that tech could impact how you invest money in the future.
– AI to help find new investment opportunities – artificial intelligence is perhaps THE biggest tech news right now in society. Many think that responsive AI will also make its presence felt in investment. Next-gen machine learning techniques will help computers or platforms suggest investment strategies that you could then choose to follow. Responsive AI is also expected to pick up on your past investments and suggest new investment opportunities to consider. The core method behind this will be using information from sources like your social media accounts to model long and short-term investment advice that is personal to you.
– Robo advisors – as well as AI that gives us information to act on or think about, greater automation is expected when it comes to future investments. This could see more sophisticated robo-advisors handling your investment portfolio independent of your own intervention. Naturally, this saves you the time and hassle of doing it yourself while also making sure you do not miss out on any great investment opportunities. This is a very good solution for many modern investors who do not know lots about the financial markets but simply want a reliable source of advice about where to put their money.
– Blockchain – when it comes to next-generation tech that will use complex algorithms to influence investing, Blockchain must be mentioned. Initially developed as the base code to make cryptocurrencies run, it has since been picked up for use in other sectors – investment could be one of these in the future. Its potential lies in the way it could act as the financial middleman for making financial transactions when investing. This would see faster speeds and lower commissions for investors compared to using banks as we do now.
– More sophisticated broker features – another way that many expect tech to impact investing in the future is the features that are offered by online brokers. Many expect new software to power next-gen charting tools to help make market analysis simpler. Powerful new tech is also expected to be used to make analysis of your online portfolio easier and help you to keep a better eye on how your investments are performing.
Using new tech effectively will be essential
Of course, the one thing that you must do as new tech comes into the investment sector is be able to use it to your advantage. This will help you to make it work for you effectively and harness its power to manage your investment activities properly.
Kansas-based Creative Planning knows the importance of keeping up with the latest tech to manage wealth and invest wisely. Ranked as the #1 independent wealth management firm by Barron’s in 2017, their expert staff understand how key emerging technology is to managing their client’s investments successfully. Although new tech like AI is great, the human touch is still needed in conjunction with it, so that you can manage your investment portfolio to your best advantage.
Investing in the future could be a tech dream
When we look into the future, it is of course impossible to say for certain what will happen. As tech is such a fluid sector, things can often develop overnight that many did not see coming. What is certain is that technology will definitely continue to shape how we invest and how we manage our investments.
 About the Author
Jay Riley is a FinTech graduate turned freelance writer. He lives on the outskirts of Cheshire, UK, with his fiancée Gabby. He spends most of his free time rambling the country paths near his home, and toying around with ways to make his homemade ramen ever more delicious.
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