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Robinhood - Free Stock Trading

April 24th, 2017 at 02:00 am

Anybody here using Robinhood? If so, what are your thoughts and review of this investing platform?
I just recently heard about it, and from what I have seen and read about it so far online, is that it is only available via cellphone app. So installing it on my laptop is a no go.

Although I am not a day trader, I do occasionally buy/sell stocks and ETF's. The idea of commission free trades is somewhat appealing, even though I don't trade that much. However, it would mean opening another account at another institution, which is not appealing.

Also, using a device that is smaller and harder to read isn't appealing for my old, tired eyes either.

August Updates

September 15th, 2014 at 12:04 am

Yeah, I'm really late at updating pages for last month.

On the Investment Page my cash allocation dropped a couple percentage points because of two reasons. Equities advanced again for another month. I also added two small purchases, which continues my slow monthly increase in Real Assets allocation. I added a cheap steel producer and a base metals ETF.

I got three surprises / snowflakes in the mail. They were little mail-in-rebates of $6.44 twice and a $3.39. I added then to a local Credit Union Savings Account. They were from something I submitted last spring and completely forgot about. It's great getting money in the mail!

For the month of August my Grocery, HBA, and other little misc spending came slightly over budget, so it was a pretty good month for budgeting.

My sciatica is finally going away, and I am trying to get back on track with exercise and watching the diet. With the weather finally moderating I'm getting more bicycle time. I went out twice today and got in a couple hours of riding time.

July Updates

August 7th, 2014 at 02:38 am

I finally got around to updating My Pages.

In the Investment Plan Page my Cash stakes increased slightly for 2 reasons. First almost all of the equity positions dropped along with Mr. Market causing cash to increase a little. I also sold my POT in July. No, not that pot, but Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan. It was a nice little 17% gain in nine months time. The proceeds will be soon used in a future purchase, probably another metals/miners or energy play.

My Weight Loss program got severely side tracked last month with a bad bout of Sciatica. The pain in my back and leg prevented any exercise at all. I'm surprised I only put back on about 2 or 3 lbs last month. Just this week I am able to resume walking and my physical therapy sessions will be done probably next week. Hopefully the doctor will let me back on my bike for some light weekend riding.

I did get the $200 bonus from the Chase Freedom card, but I have not decided what to do with it yet.

This month I will be finally paying off my new Central Heating and AC System. I've been paying on it for only 2 years but it seems like forever.

6-30 Investment Plan Update

July 5th, 2014 at 02:28 am

For June I sold one health care stock into strength for a nice little 18% gain over a short 7 month holding period. I will probably soon redeploy the proceeds into more Real Assets, either another energy, commodity or precious metals holding.

This will continue my monthly addition into this asset class, which has been on the rise lately as inflation and the war cycles ramp up. My allocation into these holdings has risen mainly on price appreciation over the past few months. We may be in the beginning stage of another long term rally for some of these beaten down sectors especially the miners.

There were no other major changes in my core allocations.

My Plan and allocations can be found in the Investment Plan page in the sidebar.

06-03 Investment Plan Update

June 4th, 2014 at 01:06 am

The Plan and Portfolio are now updated. But there are no significant changes. I did increase the Real Assets category just a little with the addition of 2 ETF's last month that track the other white metals:
PALL - ETFS Physical Palladium Shares
PPLT - ETFS Physical Platinum Shares.

The metals may be in a bottoming mode or may have already bottomed. Then again, maybe not! Anyway I've been trying to tiptoe back into that category a little at a time. The miners certainly have been beaten up badly since Fall 2011.

The complete Plan and Portfolio page can be found in the sidebar.

5-17 New Budget and Savings Plan Pages

May 18th, 2014 at 01:44 am

I finally got around to creating the new pages. With all the rain today I wasn't able to get any yard work done. So, I also worked on the Investment Plan page today. It's still a Work In Progress though. In fact all three of them will need more tweaking.

Last Roth IRA 2013 Contribution... (Deadline Soon!)

April 9th, 2014 at 06:07 pm

I had a short term CD mature a couple days ago, which I decided not to renew. I used part of the proceeds to make the last of the 2013 tax year IRA contribution. The remainder will go into a couple online savings accounts.

I usually make all the IRA contributions during the current tax year, but I got behind last year. My 14 year old car starting needing some serious repairs, so I decided to trade it in for a 2010 model (no more brand new cars for me).

I did a larger than required down payment, because I wanted to get the monthly payment lowered. My high FICO score allowed me to qualify for a 1.99% loan from a local credit union, so that all worked out great for the auto situation, but left me a little short on the IRA situation.