Savings & Investments

Stocks, savings and investments

Probably the MOST important factor into securing your financial future is building your savings, investments; and understanding the difference between assets and liabilities.

Savings: Money put aside for emergency purposes or a particular goal.

Investments Acquired assets that generate income or have expectances of worthwhile results.

Examples of investments: Stocks, Bonds Income generating Real Estate, Cryptocurrencies

Asset: Something of value or use

1. Tangible Assets with a physical form that you can see and touch that holds value. (rental properties, land, cash, inventory)
2.  Intangible Assets: Intellectual property lacking physical form that holds value (licenses, patents, copyrights, trademarks)

Liability: A debt or financial obligation

Examples of Liabilities: Mortgage, Deferred Taxes, Utilities, Supplies

Its important to understand these things to set yourself up for financial freedom and determine your equity.

Grab a balance sheet and jot down all of your expenses.

Are these assets or liabilities? Find the difference, and you will, in turn, find your equity.

Assets – Liabilities = Owner’s Equity

Also, after you have determined your equity amount it’s time to dig a little deeper.

Ask yourself; Is it possible to turn some of these liabilities into assets?

Additionally, how can I cut down on my expenses and save more money?

Furthermore, am I spending money on some  liabilities that would be better put towards an asset or investment?

Likely, your answer will be yes.

Thankfully, there are plenty of options when it comes to saving and investing.

Some are just simply better than others.

First, lets go over Savings.

Savings

Do you know how much you’re earning in interest with your current savings account?

Moreover, are you paying a monthly fee?

As of April of 2021, the national average annual percentage yield (“APY”) is was 0.06% as reported by the FDIC.

However, many online banks offer much higher interest rates than the national average.

Still, some banks will require a hefty deposit to get started with a savings account.

In contrast, some will not.

Depending on how much you can put into savings will ultimately depend on which option is right for you.

Of course, you will want to watch out for banks that offer high APY but also charge a monthly deposit.

For example, if the bank is requiring a $5 fee every month to have the savings account that your interest rate doesn’t even cover, having the account will actually be COSTING you money instead of growing your savings.

 Lets look at some of examples.

Citi Accelerate Savings

Citi offers an online savings account with no minimum deposit and .50% APY with 24/7 customer support and no minimum deposit to start earning APY. It sounds like a great option!

However, they charge $4.50/month to actually hold the savings account.

That’s $54/year you’re paying just to have the account open.

In summary, if you want to make this account worthwhile, you’ll have to make sure you have enough to cover the monthly fees AND still be earning interest.

Therefore, there are better options.

Citbank

Citbank also offers an online savings account with .50% APY and 24/7 customer support.

Unlike Citi, however, there is no monthly fee.

On the other hand, a minimum deposit amount of $200 is required.

Nonetheless, if you have the $200, this could be a great option for you.

Discover Online Savings

Discover also offers an online savings account with high APY at .40% and no monthly fees

Beyond that, there is no minimum deposit required.

Another great aspect is the savings auto-pilot feature.

This feature allows you to set up your initial savings goals and put them to work for you by transferring money from your checking account directly to your savings.

And finally, our top pick for savings accounts..

Aspiration

Aspiration is an excellent option, especially if you want to be partnered with a bank that gives back.

With Aspirations, “Dimes Worth of Difference” commitment, they commit to donating ten cents of every dollar of their company’s earnings.

Donations will go to charitable activities that expand economic opportunity.

Their goal is to help their customers get ahead while also making it possible for Americans to climb the ladder to a better life.

Additionally, you can use your Aspiration account to easily donate to a charitable cause of your choice.

Aspiration has what they call the “plant your change” service.

This service rounds up the amount of your transaction to the next dollar and in turn, transfers the change to the”Plant your Change” service account.

If you want to learn more about Aspiration, check out their blog.

If you can earn some interest and make a difference with your savings why not, but the most important thing is to just start.

After all, time is a valuable thing, and you don’t want to be close to retirement age and realize you should’ve started saving in your 20’s, for example.

Investing

Investing is essential to good money management because it ensures both present and future financial security.

Not only do you end up with more money in the bank, but you also end up with another income stream.

Additionally, investing is the only way to achieve both growing wealth and passive income.

Stocks are among the primary investment options for people looking to achieve a variety of financial goals.

Common reasons people invest in the stock market include wealth building, passive income and of course, diverse equity choices.

Accordingly, the biggest difference between saving and investing is the risk versus the reward.

Saving typically allows you to earn a lower return but with virtually no risk.

In contrast, investing allows you to earn a higher return, but you take on the risk of loss in order to do so.

So where do you start?

Of course, you’ll want to start off by understanding what investing looks like.

Meanwhile, deciding which options are best for you.

Understanding Stocks and Trading Platforms

Investing.com

Investing.com is a financial markets platform providing real-time data, quotes, charts, financial tools, breaking news and analysis across 250 exchanges around the world in 44 language editions.

And has

Founded in 2007, Investing.com now has over 250 employees in Tel Aviv, Madrid, Milan, Tokyo, Mumbai, Seoul and Shenzhen.

Trading View

TradingView is one of the largest and most active trading communities on the web.

In fact, over 8,000,000 traders worldwide come together to analyze, discuss & trade the markets.

Active traders and investors have free access to top-notch charting and analysis, publish trading ideas and discuss markets in real-time.

The free platform is in HTML5, which means no installation or setup. It works equally well across different platforms – such as iPads, or Android-based tablets and phones.

Under Value Stock

Under Value Stock is a stock advisory service that uses conservative trading strategies for steady and consistent gains and limited risks.

They provide a comprehensive trading plans and teach members how to make money in any market.

Scanning hundreds of potential trades daily, they are able to only suggest trades they feel have the best risk/reward ratio to work in your favor.

Their goal is to beat the S&P 500 and to invest conservatively in order to control and limit your risk.

Now that you have a grasp on investing, how to trade, and what might be some options for you, lets go over the actual platforms you can invest on for general trading.

By far the most talked about investment company

Robinhood

Robinhood is a free-trading app that lets investors trade stocks, options, exchange-traded funds and cryptocurrency without paying commissions or fees.

In its early stages, Robinhood stood out as one of the only brokers offering free trades.

The newest feature is ‘recurring investments’ which gives customers the ability to purchase fractional shares of stocks.

Currently, Robinhood one of the few brokers that gives investors the opportunity to trade cryptocurrency.

Robinhood’s commitment to providing 100% commission-free stock, options, ETF and cryptocurrency trades is admirable, and the savings for investors who trade frequently is significant.

This is especially true for options traders — Robinhood is among the handful of brokers that don’t charge a per-contract fee.

Tradeable securities in Robinhood

Signing up with this link will get you some free stock to get started – claim free stock (yes, it’s safe!)

Robinhood also offers a high-yield savings account that currently pays 0.30%.

The account comes with a debit card and free ATM withdrawals from more than 75,000 ATMs, and offers up to $1.25 million of FDIC insurance thanks to Robinhood’s agreements with several banks.

IQ Option

IQ Option is one of the fastest growing online trading brands in the world.

Their mission is to give customers the ultimate online trading experience and help them optimize their investment portfolio, being voted the best mobile trading platform.

Here you can trade a variety of instruments including CFDs on:

Additionally, you can find the trading assets available, check price performance, and trading hours within the platform

When opening a deal on the platform, you make a prediction about the direction of the price development and open a deal correspondingly (click BUY or SELL).

The outcome of the deal will depend on the direction the trader chose and the actual direction the price moves.

IQ Option trading is Contract For Difference (CFD)-based, meaning that by opening a deal on the platform, you will have an outcome based on the changes of the price of the asset without acquiring it. 

First founded in 2013, IQ Option has grown massively, and now has over 40 million members and counting and is constantly working to ensure it is fast, accurate, and easy to use.

TD Ameritrade

TD Ameritrade was named Best Broker for Stock Trading Platform and Research in NerdWallet’s 2021 Best-Of Awards.

Within their trading platforms, $0 commissions, and a large selection of mutual funds, they aim to meet the needs of all kinds of investors.

TD Ameritrade was also named #1 Overall Broker in the StockBrokers.com 2021 Online Broker Review, for a third consecutive year.

Additionally, they were rated #1 in five different categories.

Not to mention, they were among the Best in Class for Commissions & Fees, Ease of Use, Futures Trading, IRA Accounts, Mobile Trading, Offering of Investments, Options Trading, and Research.

Diversyfund

DiversyFund is a financial technology company specializing in alternative Investments.

They help everyday people achieve the American dream by giving them access to wealth building opportunities that have previously been reserved for the 1%.

In all honesty, the wealthiest have invested in real estate for decades.

Diversyfund makes it easy to buy shares in a portfolio of fully vetted, multifamily real estate.

You can own a piece of their fund across multiple properties and build your portfolio that will be specifically designed to function with one goal in mind: To grow your net worth like the 1%.

With Diversyfund you will

Investing in Gold

Gold has always been the most preferred investment option for many people, and for good reason.  

Additionally, investing in gold is less risky that other investments and it gives good returns over time.

What’s more, Gold is much more mainstream now than it used to be.

In fact, the global demand for gold investments has grown around 18% every single year for a long time now.

The current investors are those ranging from huge wealth funds to people on pension, to individuals being located in the emerging markets and in the highly developed areas.

Furthermore, the central banks also started to expand gold use as a foreign reserve.

Gold is considered by investors to be one of the safest investments, recovering its value quickly through economic downturns.

Its price often tracks in opposition to stock market or economic swings.

When investor confidence is shattered, gold prices often climb as nervous investors look for a safe place to put cash pulled out of the market.

Gold is also a haven in times of inflation because it retains its value much better than currency-backed assets, which may climb in price, but drop in value.

Here are a few companies that can help you invest in gold.

Silver Gold Bull

Silver Gold Bull has tens of thousands of satisfied customers who have taken their financial future into their own hands by investing in gold and silver.

Their commitment to their customers  is to provide extraordinary service throughout the bullion buying experience.

What’s more, Silver Gold Bull also has consistently updated prices.

When consumers purchase from the company, they’re buying at the live market rate with prices updating every minute during market open so you know you are getting the best deal.

In fact, their market data comes straight from Xignite, one of the biggest data providers in the world.

Thousands of people have left testimonials about Silver Gold Bulls service, high quality products and genuine commitment to provide their customers with an easy and risk-free way to buy gold and silver.

Goldbroker.com

Goldbroker.com is another investment platform that allows individuals to own physical gold and silver in their own name and without any intermediation, stored securely outside of the banking system.

Here are some key takeaways to investing with goldbroker.com

•  Physical gold and silver (high-quality bullion bars and coins)
•  Secure storage outside the banking system
•  Direct ownership (without intermediation)
•  Ownership certificate issued in your own name by an independent third party
•  Direct and personal access to the vaults
•  Precious metals insurance
•  Buyback program
•  Shipping service
•  Minimum investment: $10,000

Monetary Gold

Founded in July 2000, Monetary Gold has helped over 45,000 clients protect and preserve their lifestyle with physical precious metals such as Gold and Silver.

Clients can make a cash purchase for physical delivery or they can roll over all or a portion of their IRAs or 401(k)s into a Precious Metals IRA.

Put simply, you can transfer or rollover your IRA/401k into a Gold IRA Account tax deferred & penalty free in 3 short steps.

In summary, this opportunity allows you to invest in physical precious metals such as Gold, Silver, and much more.

What’s more, Monetary Gold is the one account Forbes Magazine says all wealthy people have.

In addition, there’s also a bonus to signing up with Monetary Gold, as they give you the chance at up to $5000 in free gold and silver.

Investing in Bitcoin

Bitcoin has been the most exciting asset to invest in for decades, the profitable gains that are possible trading Bitcoin are second to none; yet only 1% of the population is actually invested, making it an Increasingly High Adoption Rate.

Even so, the supply of Bitcoin is limited; if you haven’t taken the plunge into investing in Bitcoin, now may be the time.

Indeed, there are benefits to investing in Bitcoin.

Benefits of Bitcoin Investments

 

There have been huge rises in the past with Bitcoin when many people rushed to buy anything below $10,000.

Now that Bitcoin is around $5000, people have lost confidence due to the past rough year.

But this is, in fact, the time you need to start accumulating.

In short, the price is low compared to the all-time-high, for it making sense to accumulate at a low price and sell at the highs (and above).

Here are a few companies you can invest in Bitcoin

Bitcoin IRA

Bitcoin IRA is a platform full service platform that connects consumers to qualified custodians, digital wallets and cryptocurrency exchanges.

It is the world’s first, largest, and most secure cryptocurrency IRA platform used by thousands of clients.

Being the first, and leading, full-service solution to investing in cryptocurrencies, they are able to allow consumers to invest with their IRA.

In addition, they believe in making the complex process simpler and safer to help consumers achieve retirement goals with cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin IRA™ – Official Site

Robinhood

Yes, Robinhood is a great option for buying cryptocurrency directly.

You’ll also get to take advantage of Robinhood’s wildly popular trading commissions: $0 per trade, or commission-free.

And if you’re into more than just cryptocurrency, you can stick around for stock and ETF trades for the same low price. 

TD Ameritrade

TD Ameritrade is one of the top full-service brokers on the market, and not only does it offer access to traditional products such as stocks and bonds, but it’s expanded its offering to include Bitcoin futures.

However, TD Ameritrade does not allow trading directly in the digital currency.

You’ll need to meet the account minimum to get started with Bitcoin futures.

Webull

Webull provides intuitive and powerful advanced charts, multiple technical indicators, and premier Level 2 Advance (Nasdaq TotalView) to help users analyze companies, trends, and seize trading opportunities.

Cryptocurrencies Webull offers

Technology is the investor’s best friend. It vastly expands the human’s trading capabilities in terms of time, scale, and technique. Technology is the future

As a financial company driven by technology, Webull aims to offer:

A final word

Your next step is to just begin. Start creating your multiple streams of income so you can become yet another millionaire in the 21^st century.

With access to basically everything, anyone really can do anything they set their mind to. Hopefully in the end, you can now say that you understand how to become a successful investor.

So read that book, take that course, do that research, and reach your fullest potential.

Finally, and most importantly,

Believe in yourself.