Financial Product Reviews

The $5,000 Brokerage Account Challenge – I’m going to build a Brokerage Account for free using Cash Back, and savings made from reducing costs when I got rid of Cable -my target, $5,000 in 12 months.  Will you join me?

In the past I have stated that firms like Fidelity and TD Ameritrade aren’t my favorite broker of choice, simply because there are budget brokers out there like OptionsHouse that will allow me to achieve the same goals from my trading, yet cost a lot less. I’m being picky here, since Fidelity is way better than a lot of the options available to many people who are using company sponsored firms such as Metlife for their investments.  Continue Reading

Motif Investing is fast becoming one of the most interesting and powerful tools for savvy investors in the market today.  Founded in 2010 by former Microsoft Executive Hardeep Walia and former Hedge Fund Analyst Tariq Hilaly and backed by serious venture capital they are rapidly becoming a player in Investing 2.0, a term I use to describe the services offered to consumers by firms like Motif, Betterment and Personal Capital.

Motif Investing is unique in that is allows you to build your own ETF, and actually hold the individual stock positions within it.  You pick up to 30 stocks with weightings that are suggested by Motif Investing, but customized by you and that package of stocks becomes a ‘Motif’.  What this means is that you have much more control over your asset allocations and are able to get much more hands on with your decision making.Continue Reading

I recently came across a company called Betterment that is seeking to offer an alternative structure for your investments.  On first glance I didn’t like what they were appearing to do, but when I said so in a post here on Saverocity their CEO and Founder Jon Stein reached out to me to clear a few things up.  Between the information he gave me, and the further research that I compiled I think that they are offering a very powerful solution for your investment needs.

In fairness I do still hold a few reservations with regard to this being a one stop shop for all your asset allocations, however I do think overall it is a very powerful and useful solution for your core holdings and long term investment strategy.  Fundamentally, your core holdings should be your largest and most important ones, so what is on offer here from Betterment is a very serious proposition indeed.Continue Reading

Discover it Card, the Game Changer!  This card is making a lot of buzz, mainly from Discover’s marketing team thus far, so lets dig into this to see if it really is as good as it gets.  As far as being a Game Changer, for a Travel Hacker that is a pretty tall order since the 5x Points my Chase Ink gets me at Office Supplies stores, and the Sapphire Preferred with its 2x Dining and Travel are pretty much what I am look for any new card to beat

Lets get the lowdown on this card, full terms are at the bottom of this post.

• No Annual Fee – great thing that means you can apply and keep this card in your wallet forever without having to worry about what it costs you.  Many cards will waive the fee in year one but in year two will sting you for it.
• No Foreign Transaction Fees – meh, from what I hear Discover is much less widely accepted than Amex, never mind Visa and Mastercard.  I would not recommend you take it with you on your travels.  Plus if you are travelling the most likely Credit Card charges will be food and Continue Reading