There are a number of online brokers out there that provide you with the chance to invest on your own at a reasonable price. One of the newer brokerages is Motif Investing, a discount brokerage that helps you invest based on themes.
Themed Investing with Motif Investing
With Motif Investing, you invest in groups of stocks that share similar characteristics. Each motif features between 20 and 30 stocks that can be said to follow specific themes, such as “Healthy and Tasty,” “Utility Bills,” “Recession Resistant,” and “Biotech Breakthroughs.” There is even a “Lots of Likes” motif that focuses on companies with the most Likes on Facebook.
You can look through motifs using different criteria, such as exploring by industry or looking for motifs based on current events. It’s also possible to screen motifs by looking at daily change, one year return, and popularity.
Motif is quite cost-efficient as well. You get access to each of the stocks in the motif for one flat fee of $9.95 per transaction. There are no management fees, and no activity requirements. There is a $250 minimum, though. However, the fact that you can get 30 stocks at once, for less than $10, is a big deal. Any time you trade a motif, you just pay the flat transaction fee.
Customizing Your Motif
What if you don’t like all of the stocks offered in your motif? The company allows you to customize your motifs. The company allows you to customize your motifs before you buy. And, after you buy your motif, you can still buy/sell shares of individual stocks in your motif for $4.95 per stock.
If you like a general motif, but want to customize what is included, it’s possible to tweak matters to your liking. “Recession Resistant” offers some solid dividend paying stocks, and you can switch some of the stocks you don’t like, with dividend aristocrats that you do if you are trying to build a dividend portfolio. (Warning: There is no way to automatically reinvest your cash, so if you do receive dividends in your account, you will have to reinvest them on your own.)
On top of that, you can also customize the weighting in your motif. That way, you can switch up how your money is distributed throughout the motif, as well as purchase fractional shares.
There are a lot of interesting options for your money with motifs. It is a little clunky if you are trying to customize, but it still works reasonably well. And, of course, one of the big selling points is the cost. You can essentially create your own customized ETF, but you don’t have a management fee to pay (even a small one); you just pay your flat rate.
Motif Investing Promotion
Get up to $150 when you open a new account with $2,000. If you are interested in a 7.5% ROI in 50 days, you can sign up for a special offer from Motif: Fund your shiny new account with $2,000, and get up to $150. You have until June 30th 2013 to sign up, and you need to leave the money in there for 45 calendar days. The new funds must be deposited into the account within 10 calendar days of creating the account. The total bonus will be based on motif trades made within 45 calendar days of funding as follows: 1 motif trade will receive $50, 3 motif trades will receive $75; 5 motif trades will receive $150. A motif trade is defined as a completed purchase or sale of a motif for $9.95 commission. Individual stock trades are not included with this promotion.
Overall, Motif is an interesting take on investing. It’s especially helpful for those who are looking to invest in trends, or who want to focus on a particular sector. The pricing is competitive, and it’s nice that you can customize your motif, so you aren’t limited to only what’s in a particular motif.
Readers: What do you think of Motif Investing theme concept?
