Edit: this post was originally posted on my old blog. I have since migrated to Robinhood and M1 Finance for stock investing purposes. However, these companies build on Loyal3’s innovative freemium business design. Long love Loyal3, one of The Freemium Fellow’s favorite Freemium companies to ever have existed.
Whereas big name stock brokers such as Charles Schwab, E-Trade, and Scotttrade charge upwards of $5 for every trade executed, Loyal3 charges $0. And you know what’s even better than not having to pay per trade?
$10 is all it takes to start learning about the stock market and establishing a free-fee dividend portfolio.
For the past 3 years, I have utilized Loyal3 to develop a deeper understanding of how stocks function as well as build a completely free dividend growth portfolio that beats the highest dividend yield saving accounts, as well as robo-advisers like Betterment.
Investing for the Average Joe
Investing can be a daunting task, but you don’t need to be rich to give it a try.
That’s not coming from a certified day trader, but it’s coming from somebody who did just that. Here is a quick breakdown what’s good, and what’s bad, about Loyal3.
Pros +
- $0 trading fees
- Buy fractional shares of companies for as little as $10
- Website is easy to navigate and transfer money
- IPO access
Cons –
- Delayed trading (trades are executed at 2:00 pm ET)
- Limited number of stocks
- $5,000/month trade limit
Apart from ample finances, when it comes to accumulating wealth, the most important tool at your disposal is time. Both time and money feed off of each other; time is nothing without money that is invested.
The great thing about Loyal3 is that investing has never been easier. Is is still a risk? Yes, they are still stocks. But it doesn’t take away from the fact that buying (some) stocks is now as easy as ordering something off of Amazon.
My Experience with Loyal3
I just have to say that, for the 3 years I have been with Loyal3, I can only say good things about the company. I have only ever needed to contact the company a couple of times, which is a good thing, and when I did, customer service has always been responsive and extremely helpful.
You can probably already gather that I am a huge fan of this company.
That isn’t to say there aren’t any caveats, but overall I love the business model and it seems to be tailored for the Freemium Lifestyle.
And these are a couple reasons why:
- It is the perfect place to put money that would otherwise be sitting in low dividend yield savings account.
As I mentioned before, the turnback which I am seeing from my portoflio has been
I have only contacted the company a couple of times, but when I did, customer service was responsive and extremely helpful. Luckily, I never really had any major issues to complain about. That’s pretty awesome, considering they offer a freemium service (not all all companies that offer free stuff are nice on the phone).
As I mentioned before, my portfolio beats the S&P 500.
Now, I realize that is dependent on a lot of variables, but I just want to show that by effectively using Loyal3 as a high-vitality saving account, I got a passive income, from dividends alone, that is far better than robo-advisors such as Betterment (another great subject for another time).
Now, these are by no means big numbers, but throughout the years, I have tried to put money into the account at least quarterly, while also reinvesting dividends.
Here is a breakdown of statistics from the past 3 years as well as my current Loyal3 portfolio.
2014 –
- Initial investment: $110
- Final proceeds: $127.58
$17.58 + $0.87 in dividends = $18.45 net gain
Year-end Q4 2014 total portfolio value: $127.58
+ 15.98%
2015 –
- Initial investment: $423
- Final proceeds: $429.10
$6.10 + $13.27 in dividends = $19.37 net gain
Year-end Q4 2015 total portfolio value:
+ 4.58%
2016 –
- Initial investment: $150
- Final proceeds: $190.88
$40.88 + $18.12 in dividends = $59 net gain
+ 39.33%
At the end of the day, $683 grew into $779.82.
3 year Gross profit: $96.82
+ 14.18%
Current portfolio value (2016, I made a deposit of more than $1,000, which is why the number is more than doubled): $1,868.63
Now, it is important to note that my experience with investing is entirely subjective. But, I ultimately took a risk a gained a lot from it.
First, I learned what my risk tolerance is and developed a stomach for the stock market. Time is your friend when it comes to growing wealth and you have to be willing to take a hit every now and again.
Second, which is almost a more important lesson, was that Loyal3 set me on a path to actually saving money. That is, yes, my portfolio did not do excellent all the time (lthough I was quite pleased with the results), but by using the free service I was able to save more money than I would have otherwise saved. It’s one thing to know what you should be doing with your paycheck and another to actually do it.
Buying stocks is risky. So is life. If you are flexible and willing to learn some life lessons, it can be a rewarding, productive experience. I have Loyal3 to thank for introducing me to the world of freemium based financial services and the art of saving money.
Leave a Reply