How do I buy Walmart stock?
Since its launch in 1945, Walmart has become one of the largest and best-known companies in the world, today operating nearly 11,000 stores and serving more than 240 million customers each week. Even in the age of Amazon.com, Walmart shares have risen steadily, growing nearly 100% over the past five years. If this kind of rally makes you ready to invest in WMT, here’s everything you need to know how to buy Walmart stock.
How do I buy Walmart stock?
1- Decide between a direct stock purchase plan and a brokerage account
The easiest way to buy Walmart stock is with a brokerage account. If you don’t already have one, look for a platform with no trading fees and low investment requirements. Walmart is somewhat unique in that it offers a direct stock purchase plan that allows you to buy stock directly from the company, and allows you to avoid commission fees by eliminating the need for a middleman.
Such plans are becoming less common due to the proliferation of free trading platforms, and even buying shares through a company’s direct stock purchase plan can be more expensive these days. To buy Walmart stock outright for example, you’ll currently have to pay a one-time $26.09 setup fee plus $1.30 each time you make a subsequent investment.
2- Select the account type
Before you buy Walmart stock, you also need to decide what type of account you want to maintain. Here are the two best options available:
Retirement Accounts: RRSPs are tax-deferred savings accounts, so you don’t have to pay any taxes until you withdraw the money. You can do this at any time, provided you are about to turn 71.
Taxable Accounts: Taxable investment accounts do not offer the tax benefits that an RRSP does, but they are not subject to the same restrictions either. There are no annual contribution limits or withholding taxes on withdrawal. This means that they offer the ultimate flexibility when it comes to building general purpose wealth.
3- Determine the amount you want to invest
Before you buy WMT stock, you should think carefully about how much you can invest in the company. To help you determine the ideal amount, ask yourself the following questions:
What is your budget? Make sure that you are not overextending yourself financially, that you are able to cover your expenses and build an emergency fund before you start investing. Once you achieve these goals, invest any additional money in individual stocks such as Walmart.
What is Walmart’s current price? Some brokerages require you to buy whole shares, which means it’s helpful to consider share prices when investing. Over the past year, Walmart stock has regularly topped $169.63 a share. If you are not ready to spend that much on a single stock, you can look for a brokerage firm that will allow you to buy fractional shares, or parts of individual shares.
Have you done any research yet? Before investing money in Walmart, you should research the company’s financial statements. As a publicly traded company, Walmart is required to publish annual and quarterly reports on its finances. You can obtain these documents from the Investor Relations website or use the SEC database.
4- Place an order
You can buy stocks by logging into your brokerage account or investment app, then entering your Walmart Code (WMT) and the number of shares you want to buy or the dollar amount you want to invest. You may also have to choose the type of order you want to place, whether you prefer a market order, i.e. you buy shares at the current price, or a limit order, where you limit your purchase to a certain price limit. Limit orders can be particularly useful if you only want to buy shares when they reach a certain price point to avoid damage to your investment in the event of sharp price fluctuations.
Since Walmart is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), your trades will be executed Monday through Friday from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM.
5- See currency conversion fees
The currency conversion fees that trading platforms may charge you may range from 1% to 4%. But you can bypass these fees by keeping the money you use for US stocks in US dollars in a US dollar bank account at a bank.
6- Know when and how to sell
Whether you’re investing for your retirement or some other goal, the time will finally come to sell your Walmart stock.
All you have to do to do this is reverse the process you previously used to buy your stock: Log into your investment account and enter the Walmart ticker symbol and the dollar amount or value you want to sell. You may also have the opportunity to treat the sale as a market or limit order.
If you’ve made profits, you likely owe taxes, unless you’re investing in a tax-advantaged account. If you expect to earn a large income, it may be worth consulting with a tax professional to discuss the best ways to manage your capital gains taxes.
Alternative ways to buy Walmart stock
As tempting as investing in individual stocks of a company may be, it can be incredibly risky, as it centralizes your money in a few companies, leaving you vulnerable to huge losses.
That’s why experts usually recommend diversifying your investments by buying index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) consisting of hundreds or even thousands of stocks to avoid putting all your eggs in one basket.
Fortunately, Walmart stock is very easy to find in index funds and ETFs. As a member of the S&P 500, most S&P 500 funds allocate at least half a percent of their holdings to WMT.
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