Category: How to invest FAQ’s

How you invest is as important as why you invest. Morgan Stanley Access Investing lets you choose from a variety of investing strategies that align with the things you care about. 

We offer portfolio choices based on your objectives and preferences – you can align your investments with your values, opt for a research-driven strategy that seeks to maximize returns, or focus on minimizing fees.

You can also choose to set aside a portion of your overall portfolio toward a theme that focuses on a particular market trend or investment idea, like investing in gender diversity or next-wave technology.   

So, for example, if you’ve chosen the Defense & Cybersecurity theme, we won’t invest 100% of your portfolio in those industries, because that wouldn’t be balanced or diversified. Instead, we’ll invest a certain proportion in our core diversified strategy, and then invest an added percentage in Defense & Cybersecurity .

We recommend and manage a portfolio for you based on a number of different factors, including:

Your risk tolerance: How comfortable are you with taking on financial risk? We’ll ask you questions to help gauge your risk appetite, and use that information to suggest one of five risk levels for your portfolio.

Your goal: Are you saving for retirement? For a major purchase like a new home? We’ll base our investment strategy and dynamically adjust your levels of risk based on the kind of goal you’re working toward.

Your time horizon: How long do you have before you’ll need your money back? Generally speaking, the more time you have, the longer you’ll have to potentially earn back any market losses; the less time you have, the more conservative you’ll likely want to be, to protect against losing your capital. We’ll use this information to recommend and manage a portfolio fitted to your timelines. 

We offer portfolio choices based on your objectives and preferences – you can align your investments with your values, opt for a research-driven strategy that seeks to maximize returns, or focus on minimizing fees.

You can also choose to set aside a portion of your overall portfolio toward a theme that focuses on a particular market trend or investment idea, like investing in gender diversity or next-wave technology.

Risk tolerance is personal. When you tell us how much risk you think you can handle, remember to consider how comfortable you are with short-term fluctuations in the value of your investments, as well as your longer-term investment goals.

 A conservative approach means that you’d rather err on the side of safety, even if that means accepting the potential for lower returns. If you choose an “aggressive” risk tolerance, you’re telling us you’re willing to risk the possibility of greater losses in exchange for potentially greater returns in the long run.

Morgan Stanley Financial Advisors may not provide advice relating to Morgan Stanley Access Investing accounts. If you’re looking for professional guidance, you can open a separate full-service Morgan Stanley account with a Financial Advisor.

Morgan Stanley Access Investing is designed for people who are looking for a simple, easy way to invest online with Morgan Stanley.  

It is a discretionary investment advisory account—which means we make financial decisions for you. Unlike a brokerage account where you authorize each trade, this account enables us to make trades on your behalf when we believe that doing so is in your best interest.

Access Investing is a digital platform, so all of your interactions with Morgan Stanley will be entirely online and through electronic communications. Your Morgan Stanley Access Investing account won’t be assigned an individual Financial Advisor or Financial Advisor team. If your financial situation is more complex, you might require a broader range of investment options, which are available through a full-service Morgan Stanley account, which includes the assistance of a Financial Advisor.

Morgan Stanley Access Investing (“Access Investing”) is a digital investment platform that helps you identify and invest in your financial goals, whether that means investing for retirement, building wealth, or saving for a major purchase.

For clients who want a fully digital means of pursuing their goals, Access Investing is simple to use and backed by the intellectual capital and investment expertise of Morgan Stanley.

Yes, you can open a new individual retirement account (IRA) through Morgan Stanley Access Investing. To do so, create a Retirement goal, and select “Traditional IRA” or “Roth IRA” as your account type.  However, keep your IRA annual contribution limits in mind. 

We offer a few different kinds of Morgan Stanley Access Investing accounts*:

o   Personal

This is a Morgan Stanley Access Investing account owned by a single person. The main benefit of this type of account is flexibility: you can withdraw your cash when you choose. You’ll pay taxes on any investment earnings.

o   Traditional IRA

Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) are specifically designed for retirement savings. With a traditional IRA, your contributions are tax deductible–so you’ll pay less in income taxes the year you make your contributions–and you won’t pay taxes on your earnings until you retire. (If you make withdrawals from an IRA earlier than your retirement age, you’ll pay taxes and penalties.)

o   Roth IRA

In a Roth IRA, your contributions are taxed upfront–so you don’t get a tax break the year you contribute–but you won’t pay taxes on your earnings when you retire. This could be a good option if you expect to pay a higher tax rate in the future than you do now (for example, if you expect your income to go up).

Note: You may not be eligible to open a Roth IRA if your income is above a certain threshold.

Investing has risks. The goal is to manage them. We believe the best way to do this is to have a plan, know when you’ll need the money, and diversify your portfolio.
 
Diversification spreads your money around different types of investments, so you’re not putting all your eggs in one basket. You want to divide your money among stocks, bonds, and cash investments based on your risk tolerance and timeline. Dividing even further, you could include different types of stocks, such as large-cap Tooltip , small-cap Tooltip and international. And within those divisions, you could have stocks representing different sectors (for example, technology and health care). The ultimate goal is to own investments that don’t historically move in tandem. 

It depends on how much you have, as well as your goals and timeline (also called your time horizon). But a good rule of thumb is to invest the maximum you can comfortably afford, after setting aside an emergency fund, paying off high-cost debt, funding daily living expenses, and saving for any short-term goals. By investing on a regular basis, over time you can potentially achieve greater returns through compounding