Many years ago I worked on the personal management merit badge as a Boy Scout. One of the things I remembered is answering the question of what to do with $100 or some similar amount of money. I had to describe the various places to put that money and the expected outcome. The two choices that stood out most at the time were keeping it under your mattress or putting it in a savings account. The idea was to get the young boy to think about interest and that putting money in the bank is much better than putting it under a mattress. Last year I looked at my bank statement and noticed that I am not getting very much interest on my savings account and so one of my New Year's resolutions is to take a more active role in investing my money. There are lots of places to put your money and I remember them from my Boy Scout days.
My merit badge counselor was a life insurance salesman and he extolled the virtues of various life insurance products. I took his advice right after getting married and I have a great policy that allows me to borrow against the cash value in the event I need some extra money. I also have life insurance through my employer and so I don't want to transfer my savings into more life insurance.
I have toyed with the idea of purchasing a vacation home and renting it out on AirBnB or VRBO when I am not using it. Unfortunately I don't think I am quite ready for that. In looking at the various places I want a second home, I realize the giant commitment it would take and know I would soon become a slave to the vacation home. I might be able to handle that after I retire but not right now.
Ultimately I decided that I have had significant luck in the stock market and it is time for me to re-enter the world of online stock trading. Now the first thing anyone will ask you about investing is, "What are your goals?" I really don't want to actively monitor my stock portfolio and trade frequently. I really just want to put a little extra money out of each paycheck into something and let it grow over time. I don't want to lose any of that money and so I want to invest in solid companies that will be around for years to come. Sure I may miss out on some huge potential growth but I also don't want to worry about equally high risk.
My oldest son suggested that I set up a Webull account. One of the selling points is that they immediately give you 4 shares of random stocks: 2 when you create your account and 2 more when you put at least $100 into it. My son also received several shares of free stock just by referring me. If you click on the link above and create your own account, I will also get referral stock shares and so I really want a lot of people to create accounts for themselves. Don't worry, I won't feel bad if you don't. It would be nice though.
The real reason I created my Webull account is because there are zero commissions on purchases and sales. I can buy and sell stock at will and as long as I follow specific rules, I don't have to pay any fees. One of the rules is that I can't deposit or withdraw more than $50,000 in a single day. I can only hope that it becomes an issue in the future but for now, that is way more than I need to deposit or take out. Should I need to pull out $100,000, I will just have to plan ahead and spread the transaction across 2 days instead of 1.
There are many strategies for investing in the stock market and I don't pretend to know them all. I also don't want to give anyone ideas about where to invest as this is something I am doing to make more than the annual 10 cents per thousand dollars in my savings account that I currently am getting. Already I am up 10 dollars per thousand after only 2 days. No it is not enough to quit my day job but it significantly beats everything I earned last year in my savings account.
I must make one final note about online stock trading. I am not guaranteed to make money. I could do worse than my savings account. If you need money in the next several months, it is best to keep it in your savings. Only invest with money that you don't need for a year or more.
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