One of the most common questions that investors ask is this: Should I manage my own money and invest it myself or use a financial advisor? Remember, there are good reasons for using financial advisors and millions of people use them on a daily basis. So why wouldn't you want to use them? Well, for starters, you may be better off managing your money if you understand the basic rules on financial markets and have time to focus on the market. On the other hand, if you're too busy with your own job and don't have time to research or follow financial markets, let someone else do it for you and that's where financial planner comes in play.Some people also don't like financial planners because they have had bad experiences in the past. Remember, some financial planners could be very pushy because they are try to sell you products they make commissions on. Some of them are least concerned about your financial health. But a goof financial planner is like a good doctor who cares about your financial well being and help you get healthy financially. Whatever is your reason to consider "Do it yourself" investing, here are some important thing to keep in mind before and after you start.

Once you've made a decision to go from a full service broker to an online broker,you have to find an online broker. Investing with an online broker should save you money as it reduces commission cost but there are online brokers out there who add on numerous hidden fees. You must avoid these brokers. While there are no hard and fast rules in selecting an online broker, here are couple of features that they MUST offer.
No account maintenance fees, no inactivity fees or any service fees
Low trading commission and preferably flat fee based. there are brokers out there who would charge you different commission depending upon your trading habits and number of shares. You want a broker that offers a flat commission without any additional fine print items.
Must have a good and easy to reach customer service. You don't want to be on hold for 30 minutes in a volatile market
Must offer a Pre-market and after market trading option. Should not charge extra for tools such as level II quotes.
Ability to trade on a wireless device. Most people have PDA phones that can connect to internet at a decent speed. Everyone is going mobile and your broker should too.
Ability to deposit and withdraw funds using ACH at no additional cost. But be careful here. There are online discount brokers who let you deposit funds using ACH but charge you $15 for withdrawing or make you wait two weeks for a check to arrive in mail. Don't we all hate tricks like that.

Once you have found yourself an online discount broker, next step is to figure out how you want to invest.

Focus on your goals. You should already have your financial goals before even thinking about investing. Your investment planning should focus on your goals. Also, make sure your goals are realistic. You just can't make up a goal like " I want to double my money in one week". You also need to figure out how much you can comfortably afford to invest now and remember that you can change that amount later if you choose to increase it. Never borrow money to invest, even if it is offered at a 0% interest rate. You should constantly remind yourself that all investments carry some degree of risk. You could lose part or all of your initial investment. It is important to understand what your risk tolerance is. The lower the risk of a particular security the lower the expected return, and the higher the risk the higher the expected return.

You probably have heard it hundreds of time that investment discipline is the key to your success. Now what is investing discipline and why does it matter so much? Before you can understand the importance of discipline in your financial planning, you need to understand the role of discipline in your overall fiscal life. Have you had urge to buy that big screen television and then replace it next year with bigger one? Some people have plenty of money and they can do that but most people can't and those who try without having enough resources, end up in huge debt. If you can fight the urge you can save yourself lot of headache later. Some people are capable of controlling their financial behaviors while others are not and those who are successful doing it are the one with good fiscal discipline. As you can see, fiscal discipline can keep you out of trouble and that's why it is important to use discipline in your investing, especially if you're in charge of your investment decisions. A professional portfolio planner will be able to tell you exactly how much you need to be investing on a monthly basis to meet your goals. The planner can also arrange for the funds to be automatically deducted from your paycheck so you are investing before impulses to spend the money elsewhere can derail your plan. In a way, your financial planner is enforcing some fiscal discipline on you. If you're investing yourself, there is no planner so you must use investment discipline to achieve your goals. One of the most difficult thing thing to do in investing is to fight your urge to trade on impulse. It's hard because if you think a stock is going to moon and you've fund in your account so why not get in. But there has to be lot more research instead of your perception before you can invest.

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Most of our behavior is driven by emotions. The irrational behaviors people display in relation to money and investments can fill volumes. You need to know your own trigger points intimately and be able to control or overcome them to make DIY investing work for you. Emotions such a fear, hope and greed can trigger a response that can destroy your financial future. Making bad investment decisions can be a result of fear of losing the investment, fear of making a faulty decision, or just second guessing the choices we have already made. Bad decisions also happen in the opposite extreme when you are flushed with excitement and thrilled by the success of rising values. If market continue to rise, some people start to get the feeling of invincibility that gamblers feel when the cards seem to be coming their way. If you cannot rationally stick to your investment strategy even when your emotions are running rampant then you probably should not try to manage your investments without professional management help. Stock market is driven by sophisticated trading programs that can trade without emotions. The market does not take your emotions into account. You're up against institutional investors who have size and financial strength on their side and they can risk it all without emotions but individuals can rarely do that.

So take a closer look at your emotions and evaluate how you respond to common emotions such a greed, fear and hope. You need to learn to separate your emotional behaviors from your investment behavior and that's one of the most difficult thing to accomplish. You mush show perseverance. It is important to be able to hold on to your portfolio when your stocks dips. However, you should also have a clearly defined exit strategy in case stocks in your portfolio continue to fall. The surge of fear investors feel when they see their securities beginning to slide often propels them into a premature trade out of the market. If you have done all your homework and your picks are good ones then hang on through the rough patches and in the long haul the market will reward you.

Remember, you're managing your hard earned money so make sure you have plenty of time to focus on your investment. Managing your investment portfolio is a full time job. Monitoring your own securities performances in relation to the market trends takes time and financial expertise. If you still work full time or have other full time commitments you will not have time to do justice to managing your investment accounts. If you can't commit a certain number of hours per week, you probably should stay with a professional financial planner.

DIY investing takes lot more than gut feeling and guess work. You must have a clear understanding that investments need time to work. Learn what financial analysis is and how to do it. Build a strategy and discipline yourself to work it without emotion. Increase your knowledge and bolster your perseverance to set you up for success.