3 Tools That Can Make Your Investing Simpler and Cheaper

April 23, 2015

Last week, we discussed the three keys to successful investing being properly diversified, minimizing costs, and re-balancing periodically. Over the last few years, we’ve seen the emergence of online automated investment services (often called “robo-advisors”) that aim to make these steps even easier. After reviewing the various options, there are three in particular that I really like. Here’s a comparison of how each of them can help you with the three steps and what type of person they might each be best suited for: Continue reading “3 Tools That Can Make Your Investing Simpler and Cheaper”

Stock Investing Made Easy

May 08, 2014

Last week, I wrote about some of the benefits of investing directly in individual stocks. However, it can be challenging to decide which stocks to invest in. Here are some tools that can help simplify that process. Continue reading “Stock Investing Made Easy”

Should You Invest in a “Motif?”

September 12, 2013

A friend of mine recently asked me what I thought of a site called Motif Investing. The idea of the site is that it allows you to buy a basket of up to 30 stocks or ETFs based on an idea or “motif.” Some popular examples are stocks benefiting from things like the rise of 3D printing or biotechnology, stocks that have recently suffered a sharp decline, or stocks with good dividend payouts. The weighting of each motif can be customized and individual stocks or ETFs can even be removed. It costs $9.95 to purchase, sell, or re-balance each motif. So is this a good way to invest in stocks? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons: Continue reading “Should You Invest in a “Motif?””