How to kick the stock market in the teeth when it's down on it's knees!

How to kick the stock market in the teeth when it's down on it's knees begging for mercy. Those having the courage to step up to the plate during these times of market turmoil are often capable of racking up stock purchases of top flight companies at a generous discount to their fair value

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Purchase an ETF without paying a commission? Yup commission free!

Finally! A painless way to make regular recurring investments in an Exchange Traded Fund. What is an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)some might ask? ETF's are similar to mutual funds in that they offer a group or basket of stocks that can be traded like like stocks. They offer the safety in numbers a mutual fund would, but, this is a big but, they can also be bought, sold, and shorted just like an individual stock. However, unlike a mutual fund with each purchase or trade of an EFT investors are forced to pay a brokerage fee. ETF's can be traded anytime the stock markets are open, unlike mutual funds which can typically only be purchased once daily.

Most investors who make small to medium investments ($50 - $500) on a recurring basis, monthly, weekly, or quarterly have traditionally utilized mutual funds based upon the fact that there is no brokerage commission for purchasing a mutual fund directly from the funds company. Thus, investors could buy funds from mutual fund company's such as Vanguard, T. Rowe Price, Wells Fargo, Dodge & Cox, Legg Mason, etc. without the cost of brokerage fees. Mutual fund usually charge some type of "fee" for administering the fund such as 12b-1, front end sales fees, redemption fees etc. Most ETF's Carry lower "fees" than typical mutual funds which adds to their attractiveness for investors.

For individuals investing large sums of money, say over $1000 per month or quarter, ETF's are typically purchased in one order. For example if an investor wanted to purchase the S&P 500 Spider (SPY) ETF it would be more cost efficient to purchase $4000 at one time, than to spread that amount over months. With a single purchase they may incur a $20 brokerage fee, if they invested the $4000 over 4 seperate investments they would total $80 in brokerage fees. Over time recurring commission fees can be a significant detriment to your return on investment.

However, there is some good news regarding ETF's and brokerage fees. Last year the NASDAQ 100 ETF known as by it's fund symbol QQQQ (Cubes) introduced a no commission fee opportunity for any investor to invest in QQQQ. In conjunction with the online brokerage mystockfund.com, the NASDAQ launced QQQQDirect. Similar to a direct purchase fund, any investor can establish an account with mystockfund.com, no minimum amount is required to open the account. Each investor is allowed one commission free purchase of QQQQ per month.

I have utilized this investment opportunity for nearly one year now and have found the web site easy to navigate, and I have never had a purchase dropped or not placed. The only requirement to invest in QQQQ commission free is that you must purchase a minimum of $10 worth of the ETF with your monthly purchase. Fractional shares are purchased when you do not buy an amount equal to the stocks price on the day of the purchase. Which is fine, fractions add up to whole shares over time! If you prefer to make 1,2,or 12 purchases that is fine too, there is no yearly minimum number of investments.

For new investors just becoming familiar with ETF's this may be an excellent opportunity to begin buying shares in an exchange traded fund. Additionally, mystockfund.com offers low cost investment services for as low as $4.00 per purchase. They also offer a monthly plan for $5.98 per month, which includes 2 ETF or stock purchases per month, and $2.99 for each additional purchase. Their brokerage fee for selling stock is quite a bit more $12, but for individuals who consider themselves long term investors, buying and selling stocks like a day trader is typically not their cup of tea, so sales expenses should be minimal over time.

Take a moment to look into ETF investments, specifically the QQQQ ETF. This ETF tracks the NASDAQ 100 Index which contains the largest (based on capitalization) non-financial company's in the NASDAQ 100. As always it is incumbent upon individual investors to perform due diligence when exploring new investments! If you find QQQQ to your liking you could do worse than purchasing it without commission fees!