With the IRA contributions maxed out for 2015 I had some additional capital I wanted to start deploying into a taxable account.
Looks like four options you have are:
1. A regular broker -- Numerous
2. Sharebuilder -- https://www.sharebuilder.com/
3. Loyal3 -- https://www.loyal3.com/
4. Motif -- https://www.motifinvesting.com/
Things to consider
Variety -- 1,2,4 have full variety. Loyal3 have limited stocks to choose from.
Cost -- Obviously brokers cost various prices. My current broker is one of the more expensive for stock trades (I stick with them for platform and options prices). Sharebuilder is 6.95 per trade or 3.95 for automatic/reoccurring investments, Motif is 9.95 for up to 30 stock motif and 4.95 to make an additional trade or 9.95 to rebalance the whole portfolio. Loyal3 no cost for trades.
Partial shares -- Sharebuilder and Loyal3 offer the ability to buy partial shares. Edit 3/22 Motif also allows you to buy partial shares inside of your motif.
From the title you can see that I went with Loyal3, mostly due to cost and the ability to buy partial shares. Variety is lacking but there are enough dividend stock to purchase to keep my capital busy for awhile.
Things I don't like about about Loyal3.
1. It focuses solely on the companies and their logos/tickers. Nowhere on the site can you see company fundamentals or charts to conduct technical analysis.
2. When they say its going to take a few days to make the trade. They are telling you the truth. It takes multiple days to officially buy the stock and multiple days when you want to sell one. It took about a week to sell a position and put the money into another one.
3. Its not clear to see your cost basis as you add shares.
4. No control over the price you purchase the stock. You get what you get once the transaction takes place. If you are dollar cost averaging then you don't care as much but still in the no fun zone.
5. No options, thus no ability to sell covered calls on stocks you own. Not an issue for now but will be later once larger positions have been accumulated.
6. No Dividend Reinvestment (DRIP) you get the cash and can do what you want with it.
I updated the portfolio tracker with the Loyal3 stocks I purchased.
I agree with everything you say about Loyal3. I opened an account a last month and started with two monthly stock purchases of $100 each. I was not aware that Loyal3 did not offer DRIPs. That is too bad, the same is true of Robinhood. With Robinhood at least you can buy any stock. I have a few extra pre-launch invitation to Robinhood. If you want one, send me an email.
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