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The Curious Case Of Rising Interest Rates

By Frugaling 5 Comments

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Watch your savings rate!

On Wednesday, December 16, the Federal Reserve opted to raise interest rates for the first time since 2006. The Fed pointed to healthy economic indicators – specifically, job growth – as the key motivator for action. Chairman Janet Yellen explained that rates would rise from 0 to 0.25 to 0.25 to 0.5 percent. Experts are suggesting this is just the beginning for rate hikes.

I’m not a Federal Reserve expert, fan boy, or aficionado. Nor have I spent years chastising its existence and advocating for a gold standard (I’m looking at you, Ron Paul). But I fundamentally understand the borrowing window. When the Fed keeps rates low, it makes borrowing cheaper. Vice versa, higher rates tend to make borrowing more expensive. Rates can also discourage or encourage greater savings rates.

The Federal Reserve seems to hold the reins on savers. As an advocate for frugality, I wondered how banks had changed their rates since last Wednesday’s decision. CNBC reported that Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, and U.S. Bancorp “almost immediately” changed their “prime rate” (for borrowing). With a higher prime rate, new borrowers would see more expensive car loans, credit card interest, and home mortgages. It should bring new revenue to the banks, too.

A couple days ago I received a notification regarding my American Express credit card. Despite perfect payments, a near-800 credit score, and constant monitoring, my interest rate was being changed. The credit card would now inflict a 22.49% interest rate for carried balances. In other words, if I purchased something and wanted to pay it off over time, I’d be taxed an extra 22.49%. The move corresponded perfectly with the Fed rates, as my interest rate was previously 22.24% (still astounding).

When it comes to credit and borrowing, the changes were swift. Curiously, my savings rate remains unchanged. I still receive 0.10% and 1.00% for my Ally checking and savings accounts, respectively. These sit stagnant. While I understand that banks have an interest in protecting and securing greater profits through higher borrowing rates, I’m struggling to see the same “immediate” benefits for savers. Where is this additional quarter-point interest rate to encourage more savings?

It seems banks play the best of both worlds. When rates lower, they advertise and sell huge amounts of loans. Suddenly, the economy becomes bloated with cheap money and people spend instead of saving. And then higher rates create reason and rationale for banks to raise loan rates, with little care for updating savings rates.

Unfortunately, as banks keep rates low, the average saver suffers. Many low income and vulnerable populations rely on strong savings rates, but haven’t received them for years. Heck, I remember a time when my savings account paid 2-3% interest. Those days seem to be long gone — even with higher rates on the horizon. Today, savings rates can’t even keep up with modest inflation. Maddeningly, putting more in savings simply means you’re losing money each month!

As we consider this double standard in the banking world, let’s consider what we can do and where there’s money to be made:

1. Stay on the capital side

There’s power in capital. Whether you’re lending cash through peer-to-peer lending programs or investing in rental properties, those who put their money to work are handsomely rewarded. The game doesn’t shift much when interest rates change moderately. However, if you don’t have much savings, it’s important to build a little egg before engaging in these tactics.

2. Invest your spare cash

If you’re unable to buy real estate or invest larger amounts in lending, make a simple portfolio to invest your spare cash. There are various platforms that can automatically invest spare change, but nothing is easier or cheaper than opening a Vanguard account and choosing their exchange traded funds (ETFs). I’d recommend Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) and Total Bond Market ETF (BND). Together, they afford rapid exposure to the markets with reduced risk due to diversity. Depending on your risk allowance or aversion, portfolios can be split 50/50, 60/40, 80/20, or even 90/10 between the VTI and BND. You’ll likely get a fantastic expected return no matter what you decide — in comparison to savings rates.

3. Advocate for higher savings rates

Unfortunately, the default — savings accounts — are too miniscule to help people who need it most. Despite the Fed’s decisions to raise interest rates, it seems that many interest bearing cash accounts aren’t receiving the benefits. As banks continue to hit record profits, there seems to be some wiggle room for better interest rates. Advocacy isn’t often talked about in personal finance, but speaking out and up is one of the most effective ways to change situations. Write your representatives in Congress and tell them you are waiting for banks to reward savings. Tell your bank that you’re looking for alternative locations for your money, and maybe even leave for a credit union (as they tend to pay better rates).

Filed Under: Loans, Save Money Tagged With: American Express, Banks, credit, Federal Reserve, Interest Rates, invest, lending, loans, savings

Everything We Learned About Investing Was Wrong. That’s Why We Need Betterment.

By Frugaling 11 Comments

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Wall Street Photo Wikipedia

What I learned about investing from my grandparents

As a young child, I loved pouring over the daily stock tables. Every day, I would scan over the newspaper to see how stocks moved up, down, and sideways. It was this fun dance of numbers.

Age-old wisdom about stocks was shared with me, too. Find some blue chip stocks and invest for the long-term, my grandparents said. They taught me about investing in great companies and pointed out stocks like GE, International Paper, IBM, and Wells Fargo. But living through the tech bubble and mortgage crisis tainted my perspective — it wasn’t easy to digest that buy-and-hold strategy.

My Millennial status seemed to set me up for some strong investments at a young age. I had a knack for picking winners. I purchased Apple in the double-digits before multiple splits. I eyed Google, but didn’t have any money to invest around $100 per share. More recently, there was Tesla Motors, where I invested around $30 per share. I don’t often take to optimism, but these companies embodied a positivity for the future. There was hope in these companies. It was easy to invest.

While the preceding investments paid off, plenty of others failed. There were embarrassing investments that went totally south. Additionally, trading fees ate up gains and increased losses. When you only have a couple thousand dollars to invest, losing $10 per trade can be painful.

Eventually, companies started marketing ETFs heavily. Some even incentivized the purchase of ETFs via free trades. But the investment fees were often expensive and I needed to buy whole shares. If I didn’t have enough liquid cash, I wasn’t going to be able to buy one. The money would sit in a paltry savings account and dwindle.

I spent years at Vanguard Group. They’re friendly, available, and supportive to smaller investors. They’re customer owned and tend to have lower transaction fees (about $7 per trade). The big bonus was low-fee ETFs that could be traded for free. It was perfect, except that income fluctuations and whole-share buying restricted diversification.

You’ve been investing wrong, here’s why

This summer, I decided to read A Random Walk Down Wall Street. I heard that this was the ultimate, research-based, investment strategy book. The author Burton Malkiel outlined the major investment theories that market makers, advisors, and average investors used.

The book blew my mind and set me on a race to change my investments. Malkiel introduced fundamental ideas such as, the more an individual trades (frequency), the worse they perform (usually). So if you trade nervously throughout the market’s swings, you’re likely performing worse than the broader market (compared to the S&P 500). The author also noted that male investors traded more often than women, too.

Fundamentally, the entire book wrapped psychology, economics, and politics into one perfectly assembled masterpiece about investing. I felt like I was sipping from the fountain of youth and could finally understand why — despite some good investments here and there — I was performing worse than the broader market averages.

Every time I thought I discovered a new pattern in the market or companies introducing breakthrough technologies, the entire market was too. I wasn’t the only one, and that screwed with my ability to profit from reason. And even more powerful, was this statement, “Even real technology revolutions do not guarantee benefits for investors.” That crushed my soul. How could I invest in life-changing technologies and companies, but not see profit and gain? The reason: companies are constantly growing and changing and falling from grace. It’s a constant cycle. To predict one company over every other competitor and up and comer is dangerous, potentially futile, and rarely as safe as investing in a broader average (a basket of stocks).

The book brilliantly analyzed humans’ use of heuristics and time-saving mental machinations that actually served to stifle our gains. Convinced that we are always right, we tend to reflect on our more positive investments and downplay the negative ones. We like to think we can “beat the market.” Being average is a bore, right?!

We grow up reading and watching articles and movies and novels that take us on an arc: introduction, rise, climax, decline, resolution. We grow accustomed to this style of story from a young age. And that can easily be applied (poorly) to the markets. We can look for climaxes and resolutions, where they might not be there. We can analyze past chart history to predict the future, but research shows that doesn’t give us an advantage over broad indexing. Despite searching for market patterns, rules to the market, etc., we overwhelmingly fail — time and time again — when compared to the averages. Our minds are tricking us.

As a species we love heuristics. Brain schemes allow us to save time and look for patterns. In nature, patterns help us stay safe — snakes are dangerous. TV shows follow traditional arcs: intro rise climax decline conclusion. An episode of Law and Order follows characters for one hour through a new problem. We expect a resolution. By 45-50 minutes in, we should find our culprit. When we apply these patterns and rules to the market, we tend to fail. Even if there are patterns, the markets quickly learn about them and destroy the potential use. When everyone knows the pattern, nobody needs it. The market smooths out the differences that the pattern once held. As much as our minds search for patterns and see them, they’re an evil chicanery. The market winners know this.

After reading all the books conclusions, it was like getting smacked over the head with a large frying pan. I felt dizzy and sick. Why hadn’t I been given this knowledge prior to this date? Why had I been allowed to invest on my own, without any research understanding of market behavior?

I was investing all wrong. It was costing me money (in fees, lack of diversification, and portfolio performance) and time (researching different investments, ETFs, and scanning for proper diversification). After reading the book, I couldn’t help but look for a better way.

How to easily, affordably diversify

Betterment allocation
Betterment allows investors to easily diversify and allocate.

Over the last five or so years, there’s been a torrential rise in robo-advisors. These are companies that invest the money for you, with little overhead and fees. Additionally, they use the market theories introduced by Burton Malkiel’s book and apply it to your investments. Instead of staking claims on individual stocks, which are prone to heavily volatility (read: risk), they broadly diversify across sectors and areas of the economy. The intention is to keep risk minimal, while maximizing performance.

The research is clear: low-fee diversification via ETFs is the best option for most investors. Moreover, when it’s managed and invested for you it cuts down on day trading and psychological biases. Numerous companies have sprouted up to take on the challenge. The most popular robo-advisors tend to be Betterment, FutureAdvisor, Schwab’s Intelligent Portfolios, and Wealthfront. Each provides different fee structures and diversification practices. It’s important that you select the best one for your financial needs.

Recently, I wrote about how it is hard to save when interest rates are this low. It’s pushed the stock market higher, but left savers in the lurch. The average interest rate on a savings account is 0.06%, while inflation rates generally stay around 1-2%. That means you’re losing money by keeping it in a savings account.

With little disposable income or money available to invest, I wanted a robo-advisor that would provide all the diversification I needed, with few fees, and the ability to invest immediately — without a minimum. That’s a tough bargain, right?

After considering all these factors, Betterment was the clear winner. Let me tell you why.

Betterment marries technology and market knowledge to provide a low-cost choice. They provide three brackets for users: 0.35% (below $10,000), 0.25% ($10,000-$99,999), and 0.15% ($100,000+). When you have less than $10,000 invested, like me (for now), that 0.35% management fee is assessed — regardless of returns. Thankfully, that’s comparable to all the current robo-advisors right now (note: Schwab’s Intelligent Portfolios don’t charge a direct fee, but they grab your interest in a forced cash quantity — 6% of the portfolio).

My prediction is that these fees will precipitously reduce over the next 5-10 years. The technology will clearly be very competitive and adaptive. Any company that continues to charge a lot will be priced out of the market. Competition will be extremely helpful in this area.

Here’s what I like about Betterment:

No minimums

There are no minimums for new accounts. Thankfully, simpletons like me can start with $100 and invest over time. This is especially helpful for irregular — month-to-month — incomes. Let’s say I make $2000 this month, which provides $1000 to invest with (rounding for simplicity), I can direct that $1000 into Betterment. But if I can’t rely on that amount, and I make $1100 the next month, I can manually transfer in $100 instead. The only minimum you need to meet is $100 invested per month until you reach $10,000. Once you reach that level, you reduce to 0.25% in management fees and $0 minimum deposits.

Fractional shares

This really sets Betterment apart from the rest of the pack. Normally when you invest, you need to buy whole shares. That means if there’s an ETF that costs $125, but you only invest $100, it won’t be purchased. Unfortunately, uninvested cash can hurt your potential gains. Betterment allows you to purchase fractional shares of every ETF they invest in. Your money is always working at full capacity!

Goal-based investing

Betterment accounts
Betterment allows you to have specific goals and accounts. Then, you just need to follow their advice!

Psychologically, humans suffer without clear goals. With retirement and other long-term goals (vacations, cars, homes, etc.), it’s tricky to understand how best to allocate funds. How much do you really need to invest in your Roth IRA to maintain your current standard of living? How much to improve it? How much if you cut back a bit? This is where Betterment shines. The company has designed beautiful graphs customized to your needs. For instance, I’m saving to move away from Iowa City right now. I estimate that I’ll need a couple thousand dollars when it comes to interviews for jobs and moving and finding a new place to rent. That all costs sizable sums, and I don’t dare consider debt. I estimate the time until completion, and Betterment provides an initial deposit and regular monthly contribution to meet the goal. Simple, as any financial advisor should be.

Smart rebalancing

The maintanence of a diverse portfolio is one of my least favorite activities. Let’s say I want to be invested in 90% stocks and 10% bonds, but the stock market has improved and bonds have lagged. Your stock position might represent more than you allocated. That requires you to sell a portion of the stock and reinvest elsewhere to regain balance. This can be time-consuming and tax-laden. Thankfully, Betterment handles it automatically. If your portfolio “drifts” 5% from its intended allocation, they’ll rebalance for proper diversification. Additionally, they’ll minimize any tax implications associated with the activity. That’s one of the hardest parts of managing your own portfolio.

Tax-loss harvesting

For those in the big leagues with lots more money than me, you also could benefit from tax-loss harvesting. Essentially, the portfolio will sell off your losses so that you can have a tax writeoff and invest in a comparable stock. Without getting into the weeds, that’s a really good thing as you want to prevent “wash sales.”

Behavioral change

This aspect has nothing to do directly with money. Since my shift to Betterment, I’ve noticed I’m calmer and clearer about my investments. I know how I’m invested and why. Likewise, I have confidence in the market principles that are used. Whereas individual stocks can make you go wild — needing to buy and sell all the time — this highly diversified portfolio provides comfort.

Next-day investments

Another essential aspect for any company managing your money is rapid investment of deposits. Betterment invests all your deposits the next day. With that turn around you don’t miss the market’s moves, and can quickly benefit. Numerous companies require cash to be held about 3-5 days before it’s invested, and then you need to find ways to diversify it. Betterment does all the work for you.

Here’s what I dislike:

No direct transfer from brokerage to IRAs

This is a pesky rule, but Betterment does not allow any cash positions. Therefore, to transfer money from a brokerage account in the company to an IRA, you need to withdraw the funds and redeposit them through your bank account. That takes a lot of time, in some cases. For instance, if I want to invest $500 from my brokerage to Roth IRA, it’ll take about 1 week or more even though Betterment already has all my funds.

No progressive fee structure favoring poorest

I’m disappointed that no robo-advisor’s fee structure is preferential for those with less. It’s a universal problem for the industry, not just Betterment. Still, I’d like to see the process of investing and taking charge of your future be easier for everyone involved. Those with $100 per month or less to invest shouldn’t have to pay more than those who invest $1000.

No manual cash positions

Sometimes, especially near retirement, it can be helpful to temporarily have cash or cash-equivalents in your account. Unfortunately, Betterment does not provide space for cash positions. They note that it goes against their entire premise and philosophy to allow pure cash positions. I understand their rationale, but it’s scary not being able to run for cover (you have to withdraw to your bank account to be in cash).

No expected returns presented

Instead of presenting expected returns from your portfolio allocation of stocks and bonds, Betterment provides predicted totals. As a novice, it would be helpful to see gains in a percentage form. That way I could compare portfolio allocations to other types of investments.

No real estate exposure

Lastly, Betterment doesn’t seem to provide real estate exposure through something like Vanguard’s REIT ETF (VNQ). Burton Malkiel suggested that some amount of nearly every retirement portfolio should have real estate exposure because they’re a safer place for higher yields. I would tend to agree, especially since the population growth rate is very strong in America.

After I read Malkiel’s A Random Walk Down Wall Street, I realized I needed to take action. But even before that book, I wanted something that would minimize my time spent researching ETFs and strategies and individual companies. Betterment has been the perfect solution, and a wonderful way to concentrate on what really matters: those around me.

Filed Under: Make Money, Save Money Tagged With: Advice, Betterment, ETFs, goals, Income, invest, investing, money, Random Walk, Robo-advisors, Stock Market, Wall Street, Wealth, Wealthfront

The Real Reason Poor People Can’t Save

By Frugaling 29 Comments

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The Real Reason Poor People Can’t Save. People in poverty will continue to sit back and watch as others’ lucrative capital increase until something changes.  #savingmoney #savemoney

The Great Recession was “solved” by a number of rapid fire actions by Congress and the Executive Branch. They came together to fund stimulus bills and negotiate with massive banks. They found a way to save most people’s retirements, despite the corruption and chicanery of companies that caused the mess.

We were in a horrible bind. Most people’s entire wealth was wrapped up in real estate and investments, which were tanking. The bubble had popped. Previously, people with little credit and, sometimes, no down payments were able to buy homes. It inflated everything, as people were buying more than they could ever afford.

After the collapse, a lengthy program called for zero-interest borrowing and quantitative easing. The Federal Reserve (U.S. central bank) doled out massive amounts of money to banks at zero and near-zero interest. Effectively, this would enable banks to give borrowers easier access to mortgages, small business loans, and more. The hope was that banks would generously loan out the money.

Then came quantitative easing. Because the interest rates were already at zero, the Federal Reserve (central bank) couldn’t prop up the banks this way any more. They made a last ditch effort and started buying bonds (or, debt) of financial institutions (i.e., Bank of America, Chase, and Wells Fargo).

Every time there was speculation that the discount window to interest-free loans or quantitative easing would come to an end, the stock market would hiccup. Investments would nose dive and a panicked market pleaded with Federal Reserve chairs to hold back – the economy was still “soft.”

Economic stimulation of this sort allowed people to spend more, too. By acquiring low-interest debt, people could buy more, bigger, and better. Everything seemed more affordable when loans were artificially depressed (heck, that’s why I bought a car I couldn’t afford).

Screenshot 2015-05-28 17.29.08People with money bought and bought. And they invested like mad. Those who invested post-Great Recession were rewarded handsomely. From the bottom of the crash to now, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) has returned approximately 173%. In other words, investors who got in mid-2009 and 2010 have nearly doubled their money!

One of the saving graces of today’s economy is that inflation has held constant. Throughout 2014, the inflation rate ranged from 0.8 to 2.1% every month. And inflation is an important variable in this conversation, because it’s essentially a measure of affordability. When inflation increases, the consumer price of all goods increases. Everything from bread to cars to homes is affected by this measure.

Thus, in 2014 the average inflation rate was 1.77%. Not too shabby! When you compare that to deflationary or atmospheric inflation, we are in a pleasant sweet spot. The price of goods are increasing at a controlled, moderate rate.

For most of us, the stimulus has worked. My investments are doing better than ever and I’m seeing some sizable gains. The future of my money looks brighter.

Additionally, I have fewer “savings” than ever, and that’s a good thing because I have more invested than ever. I followed the financial advice of the world and realized that cash is a drag. I don’t mean that tongue-in-cheek. Cash suffocates returns, because checking and savings accounts pay next to nothing (even if you choose an online bank). To let cash sit in those accounts means that we accept a pittance and suffer from inflation rates.

Let me put this together. We have benefited from the Federal Reserve’s decision to provide easy capital to banks, which then presumably went to consumers. Similarly, quantitative easing has further supported banks recovery and ability to loan. Investments are spectacular right now, too. But this combination of events has wreaked havoc on the most desperate among us.

The advice for someone like me (who has some – albeit small – amounts of money) is to invest. Don’t suffer the cash drag. Unfortunately, that financial advice doesn’t apply to the poorest among us. Those with irregular and/or unknown paychecks by amount and/or interval can’t invest the money. By investing their funds, they could put themselves at risk because they don’t have enough liquidity. Additionally, they might not be able to invest because they barely have enough at the end of every month to scrape by.

That’s where the advice between wealthy and poor individuals diverges. Our financial commentators tell wealthy people to invest, and the impoverished to save. If only the poor would save more, their lives might be better. Except, if you’ve been following along, “saving money” doesn’t mean protecting money. The average interest rate of savings accounts was 0.06% in 2014. At Bank of America, Chase, PNC Bank, and Wells Fargo – all the brick and mortar banks that those in poverty are more likely to use – the interest rate is a dormant 0.01%.

Let’s say you’re Joe Poverty, trying to save. Mr. Poverty has turned on CNBC, Fox News, and CNN to listen to all the financial advice he can get his hands on. He’s motivated and leans in. He wants to live better, eat healthier, and save for the future. He wants to pay his daughter’s student loans, and he feels guilty that he couldn’t support her. His first step is to open a checking and savings account at a local, popular bank. He needs to be able to pay bills and receive paychecks, but he also wants to begin saving. The checking and savings accounts will pay him 0% and 0.01%, respectively.

Now, here’s where things get really sad. Joe Poverty is going to stay in poverty using this method. Unless he can drastically increase his income and build a huge safety net, he won’t have enough to invest each month. Because he’ll be precluded from investing, his only hope is to save. So he does. And he does. And he does. He’s motivated, remember? He cares about his daughter and wants to succeed.

He drops money here and there into the savings account. But each month that money is worth less and less. Despite his attempts to save at 0.01%, the inflation rate hovers around 1.77%. Effectively, he loses 1.76% every month in spending power. The savings are hibernating, as the world around those dollars is ablaze. The market is benefiting nearly every day from free-flowing capital, but the poorest have had to sit by and watch it happen. Every month, having less.

At some point, Joe Poverty feels like “he’s failing.” He turns on the channels, rereads books, and looks at his savings account. Despite his efforts, he can’t afford to pay off his daughter’s loans. Her loans accelerate at 6.8% interest, as his savings lingers.

This economy disincentivized savings. It trumped up how easy it is to spend and invest, while ignoring those most in need. Savings rates used to 3%, 4%, and 5% only a few years ago. They could easily beat the inflation rate, and incentivize savings. People really added to their wealth when they saved.

Even worse, by disincentivizing savings, those who might need positive reinforcement didn’t receive it. In fact, they were punished for saving. They had less and less each month. The savings were an illusion, and the purposelessness was degrading. Who wants to continue trying to save and add to their income – following the advice of wizened “gurus” – only to find out they’re failing?

The Great Recession hurt nearly everyone. The actions that the government took are debatable. The necessity of those actions are questionable. But the result is undeniable. People have been encouraged to spend free cash and invest for the long term. Neither are bad options in a low-rate environment. Sickeningly, that advice doesn’t apply to everyone.

People in poverty will continue to sit back and watch as others’ lucrative capital increase until something changes. We need the Federal Reserve and the government to incentivize savings like mad. We need an economy and country that’s prosperous for a greater whole, not a select few. The discount window for loans must raise their interest. The quantitative easing must stop. And the world must compromise investment performance for a short while – adjusting to the new rates – to encourage everyone to save.

It’s no longer enough to verbally smack and accost the most destitute without understanding the systemic factors that prevent their success. It’s time we advocate for respect and change these financial practices. Then, and only then, will the advice to “save” make cents.

Filed Under: Save Money, Social Justice Tagged With: Account, Bank, Income, invest, Investments, money, poor, poverty, savings, Social Justice, Wealth

Finally, You Can Trade Stocks For Free!

By Frugaling 3 Comments

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Wall Street Free Stock Trading
Get ready world! Wall Street is about to get a lot more friendly.
Photo: Michael Daddino/Flickr

Back then, free stock trades weren’t possible

Free stock trading isn’t exactly new. In fact, plenty of companies have tried and failed in the process. Any number of problems have beset these pioneering companies. From beginning to charge commissions and fees to questionable management to poor corporate reputations, they haven’t stood the test of time.

When I first started investing and researching individual stocks, I was a wee middle schooler. As I tried to understand the markets, my burgeoning interest was dampened by trading fees. With only a couple hundred dollars to my name, stock trading fees of about $50 made it financially oppressive. I couldn’t invest in Apple (ticker: AAPL) right after the iPod was released, but I wanted to.

Fees destroy profits and wreak long-term havoc on investment returns — especially for those getting started. Thankfully, fees have been on a precipitous decline in recent years. From that abominable $50-fee time to now, you can see great change. Most online brokerage companies are around $10 or less per trade.

Unfortunately, if you’re an average investor — or even a day trader — you’ll spend money every year rebalancing your portfolio to better diversify. Whether you choose individual stocks (more risky) or exchange traded index funds (more diversified), you’ll be spending about $20 per stock to get in and out. And that should be frightening to anyone. Heck, that’s 10% of my monthly food budget!

The hope for fee-free stock trades

The lingering question: Is there actually a non-scammy, reputable way to trade for free? Until very recently the answer was still no. Unless you had gobs of wealth ready to trade, investment and brokerage companies had no interest in providing for the little guy or gal. Free didn’t really exist; the handful that tried, failed.

Today, there’s good news for everyone — at every income level — because data and tech companies have solved this wretched problem. Today, I’m making a rather lofty prediction: nobody in the United States will pay to trade at average investor levels within 7-10 years. Today, there’s hope on the horizon for a more affordable, accessible investing world.

The cost of everything tech-related has fallen. We can store more and get data faster than ever before. It makes all of our consumer products less expensive to purchase, and has the added benefit of making cloud applications cheaper, too.

We are just beginning to benefit from these reduced costs, as many cloud-based providers have opted to slash costs for services. For instance, Google Drive offers 15GB free and for $2.00 per month, you can receive 100GB. Think about it, only a few years ago we were working with floppy disks that stored about 1.5MB!

As technology prices decline, the consumer has benefited appreciably. And it’s leaving room for innovators to save us even more when trading stocks. If a company can utilize the latest technology, reduce brick and mortar costs by only having an online presence, make money off of user data, and turn cash-on-hand into interest for them, then you could have a success story.

Robinhood saves money for everyone

The other day I was reading up on a new tech startup that’s aiming to do everything I mentioned. They have an office — not hundreds or thousands of offices. They have a staff of coders, developers, graphic designers, and technical support to make something for the 21st century.

The company’s called Robinhood. I don’t know if they could come up with a better name than that! They aim to “democratize” stock trades by removing the “$10 [fees] for every trade.” Now, the wealthy and the hopefully-soon-to-be wealthy can participate in the market without being eaten alive by trading fees.

Instead of porting over old ways about investing, Robinhood revolutionizes everything about trading. All you need is a smartphone (iOS only, Android coming soon). With a few taps, anyone can invest for free.

Here’s where I want you to ask, What’s the catch, Sam? Nothing in life is free, right?

True. Nothing in life is completely free. There’s always some trade off. The fees that used to be captured by older brokerage houses are eliminated; instead, the company profits off of unused cash balances in portfolios. For instance, say you deposit $1,000 in a Robinhood account. Until you formally invest in a stock, that money is borrowed by the company and put in an interest-bearing bank account for them. As you research and decide on a stock to buy, they scoop up a little interest in the process.

Additionally, Robinhood uses advanced technical features that will likely be able to track user data far better than stodgy companies. I’m always cautious about data-based companies, but the potential gain is worth the information loss.

Robinhood Investors Google Ventures

Robinhood is backed by some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley, including Andreessen Horowitz and Google Ventures. That has provided them with some much needed funding to get off the ground and running. With Google behind them, I trust their platform and user-focused future. This isn’t a company that will crash and burn like Zecco did.

First impressions on this new app and trading platform

Robinhood iOS App

I deposited my first funds into Robinhood’s iOS app a few days ago. Trading stocks and ETFs were easy. As if conditioned to wince over the costs like before, I clicked and beared for some strange $7-10 trading fee. It never came.

Robinhood is an honest platform with some exciting energy. When I reached out for support via their FAQ forums and Twitter account, responses were delivered within 24 hours — usually in a couple hours. That’s impressive for a small staff with plenty of new accounts. The company seems to understand that if it’s to appeal to younger, more tech savvy generations, they’ll need to meet them where they are — Twitter included.

Reducing these trading is a wonderful first step towards a more accessible, affordable stock market for all. The dangers of stock market manipulation are still ever present, but being able to enter the market without these fees is amazing. And having a terrific platform on top of it is a wonderful thing!

Want to try it out? Unfortunately, it’s invite-only at this stage, but I have 3 invite codes up for grabs! Comment below and share this article on Twitter. I’ll email the codes to 3 people within 7 days of this article.

Filed Under: Save Money Tagged With: Free, invest, investing, market, money, review, risk, Robin Hood, Robinhood, stock, trades, trading, Wall Street

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