Since its inception in 1945, Walmart has established itself as one of the largest companies in the world.
As of 2022, it has nearly 11,000 stores, serving over 240 million customers per week.
Despite the rise of companies like Amazon, Walmart’s stock has gradually risen, growing by nearly 100% over the last five years.
This type of upswing should have you ready to load up on Walmart Stock (WMT) and this article outlines everything that you need to know about purchasing WMT stock.
Steps To Buy WMT
1. Choose Between a Direct Stock Purchase Plan and a Brokerage Account
The fastest means of buying Walmart stock is by obtaining a brokerage account or, alternatively, an investment app.
If you do not already have one of these, then you should look for a relevant provider that comes with zero trading fees as well as low minimum investment requirements.
Walmart stock is also unique in the sense that it presents a direct stock purchase plan.
Prior to brokerages slashing trading fees, many people preferred to purchase their stocks via these direct stock purchase plans, as these allowed them to purchase their shares directly from the company itself.
This helped them to avoid commission fees by removing the requirement for a brokerage.
Plans like this have become increasingly less popular due to the use and dominance of fee-free trading platforms.
It may also be more expensive to purchase stock directly through the relevant company’s direct stock purchase plan.
For example, to purchase Walmart stock directly, you would need to pay a $20 setup fee and an additional $1 each time you want to make a new investment.
2. Select The Relevant Account Type
Once you have made your decision and chosen your relevant account, you will need to make a decision on which type of account you wish to hold your stocks in. Here are the two best options:
- Retirement accounts.
Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) present numerous tax advantages when they are used as a means of saving for retirement, and this inherently helps your investment to develop and grow over time.
However, in most cases, you should avoid drawing money from them before you are at least 59 ½, as you will automatically owe a 10% penalty as well as any applicable taxes.
- Taxable accounts.
Taxable accounts, otherwise known as taxable investment accounts, do not offer the same benefits as a retirement account in regard to tax.
However, they have far less limitations. You will be able to withdraw funds at any time. This inherently provides you with more flexibility when building your portfolio of wealth.
3. Calculate How Much to Invest
Prior to purchasing WMT, you’ll want to carefully assess how much you want to invest in the company.
In order to help you figure out your perfect amount, you should ask yourself the following questions:
- What Is Your Budget?
Realistically, you don’t want to stretch yourself beyond your means. Thus, you should make sure that you are able to cover any expenses while contributing to your retirement savings.
Once you have met these financial goals, you can then invest any additional funds that you have available into stocks, like Walmart.
- What Is Walmart’s Current Price?
Some brokerages will stipulate that you need to buy whole shares of stocks. This means that it’s helpful to bear stock prices in mind whenever you are investing.
Over the last year, Walmart’s stock has consistently run over $130 a share. If you are not willing to invest this amount of money into a single stock, you should opt to use a brokerage or investment app that will allow you to purchase fractional shares instead.
- What Other Investments Are There?
Walmart may not be your only investment, thus, you should consider how it’ll complement the other stock investments within your portfolio.
4. Place an Order
To purchase Walmart stock, you merely have to log into your investment account and type in Walmart’s ticker symbol—WMT—alongside the number of shares or dollar amount that you want to buy.
Depending on your choice of broker, you may also be able to specifically select how your order is filled.
Orders are most commonly filled as a market order or a limit order.
Market orders are normally processed immediately at the current market price and this is the easiest means of trading.
Limit orders will only go through when the stock has reached a price that is predetermined by you.
The latter is useful whenever you are trying to purchase a stock that is likely to experience drastic price changes or if you only want to purchase shares at a specific price.
5. Know When (and How) to Sell
Regardless of whether you are investing money for your retirement or not, the time will arrive when it is the right point to sell your Walmart shares.
In order to do so, you just need to reverse the process that you previously used to buy your shares.
You should log into your investment account and enter the relevant Walmart ticker symbol along with the dollar value that you wish to sell.
You may also be presented with the opportunity to process this sale as either a limit or market order.
If you have made profit, you may owe taxes, unless you have specifically invested in a tax-advantaged account.
If you expect that you will receive a significant amount of profit, you should meet with a tax advisor in order to discuss the best means of managing any additional tax.
Alternative Ways To Invest In Walmart
Although investing in individual shares directly from a company may be tempting, it can pose a financial risk as it centralizes your money within just a handful of companies.
This inherently exposes you to greater highs than you might otherwise receive, however it can also expose you to catastrophic losses.
Conclusion
To conclude, you can buy stocks in Walmart by purchasing individual shares directly from the company itself.
You can also download an investment app and make a purchase of fractional shares if you do not want to purchase whole shares.
The latter is also an easier means of selling your shares when the time arrives to do so,
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