Financial spread betting is commission-free. All the cost associated with spread betting is built into the bid-offer spread. If you go through a traditional broker, you will need to pay the broker to make the deal of buying and selling shares for you. Spread betting is much more efficient for those who are looking into buying or selling stocks more than three times a day.

It can make trades even outside market hours. Most of the spread betting company is open for 24 hrs a day, from Sunday night up to Friday night. It is possible to deal bets even when traditional markets are closed, unlike normal market trading hours which only run from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.

Dealing of bets can be immediate. The executions of bets are completed within 1 minute. Because spread betting companies are not brokers, all the trades done are between the spreading company and the client. Less paperwork is involved compared to the conventional share dealing. Most of the time only a signed application and utility bill are needed to setup a spread betting account. You can trade to different markets from just one account. It can provide people with the ability to trade to different markets with just one account to British shares, American shares, European shares, stock market indices exchange rates and of course sports and politics.

Using spread bets rather than the actual share purchases gives a big advantage. This is why one can make phased exits without additional broker fees. This can give tremendous physiological value. You can make money even if the market rise or falls. Shorting will allow you to make money not only in rising markets but also falling markets. These past years it has been difficult to make profits as a trader without the ability to go short. Diversification is the only thing that is free in investment. This is not exactly true but is quite close. You can gain instant balance to the market by betting on an index rather than just a share.

Another major advantage of spread betting is its innovation and flexibility. Not like the traditional markets spread betting companies can offer new product or variations on established products very quickly. Because the products that they offer are so call Over-The-Counter, they don’t need to go through regular process that other major exchange markets do. However these financial spread betting companies are fully regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

A Financial Advisor is a person who helps people invest their money for long and short term goals. One of the main duties of a Financial Advisor is to determine the clients’ goals and risk tolerance and then recommend appropriate investments.

Goal Setting: While most of us have a broad idea of what we want to spend our money on (a new house, a new car, college education for the kids etc.), many of us may not actually get down to hard numbers and calculate how much “college education for the kids” actually comes down to. Here is where a good Financial Advisor comes in. He is your “human calculator”, the one who actually does the calculations and tells you in hard figures how much of your money you have to keep aside for various activities.

Planning: Financial planning is something we all need to do at some point or the other, whether we like it or not. It can be something simple or something complex. While most of us may be able to deal with simple financial planning, a Financial Advisor would help with the complex part. This is simply because, as a qualified person, he would possess the knowledge and experience to understand our financial goals and draft them into a proper financial plan.

Professional Help: Lets face it – it isn’t easy for us to understand investment, tax-saving and the numerous other schemes being thrown into our face thanks to advertising. It’s pretty complex, and here is where the financial advisor can help us. By explaining and analyzing the numerous schemes available to us, he can help us make better, more informed choices.

Personal Attention: Everyone has unique financial needs and goals, and hence, everyone needs a financial advisor of their own, who can actually take time to study and decipher the different schemes that would suit one’s investment plans the best.

Choosing a financial advisor is a laborious process. It is important for us to have some knowledge of how things work financially, as that will help us decide. Equally important is to ‘shop around’ – check with professionals close to us like a lawyer or a bank manager, business associates, or even other family members. Interviewing potential candidates face to face, gauging their potential would be a good idea – after all you will reap the benefits of your hard work at the initial stages forever.

Dan Goldie is the President and Founder of Dan Goldie Financial Services. For nearly two decades he has devoted his professional career to helping individual investors and their families realize their investment and financial goals. He has been recognized by the San Francisco Business Times as one of the top 25 Bay Area independent advisors, and by Barron’s Magazine as one of the top 100 independent financial advisors and 1000 financial advisors in the United States.

At Dan Goldie Financial Services, they are an independent financial advisor, financial planner, and wealth manager. They can help you simplify your financial life, optimize your investments, and organize your personal financial planning. They work closely with you to help grow and protect your wealth and achieve your most important financial goals. They help their clients make smart financial and investment decisions, and gain confidence with a secure financial future.