Free From Broke

A Personal Finance Blog for Regular Folks

Investing

ShareBuilder $50 New Account Bonus Code

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You know I love ING Direct products.

I have both the Orange savings account for online savings and their Electric Orange checking account.  What I also have is a brokerage account with ShareBuilder (owned by ING Direct).  This is where I buy stocks outside of my IRA accounts.

ShareBuilder is offering a promotion where new customers get a $50 bonus code for opening a new ShareBuilder account. 

The offer is in effect until 9/30/12.  In order to receive the bonus you need to fund your account with $2,000.  And most important – make sure to enter the code 50LSQ3 when you sign up to make sure your account gets credited with the $50 bonus!

What I like about ShareBuilder: [Read more…] about ShareBuilder $50 New Account Bonus Code

What is Passive Investing?

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For some, the idea of investing conjures up images of crazed traders on the floor of an exchange.

Others think of someone in a home, sitting in front of a computer screen, desperately trying to time the exact best time to buy — and then to sell.

These images, and the idea that you have to be on top of all the market movements and news, discourage many from investing.

Not all investing is a short-term attempt to profit, though.

Indeed, many investors are passive investors, doing very little to actively manage their portfolios.  Think investing in a tax-advantaged retirement account like a 401(k) or an IRA.

A passive investment doesn’t have to be all about your retirement account, though.  Anyone can be a passive investor and come out just fine in the end.

Definition of Passive Investing

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Good High Yield Dividend Stocks Are Better Alternatives to Bonds Today

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The markets continue to be volatile.

With the European countries still struggling to figure their way out of the debt mess, and even the well regarded bank like JP Morgan taking large losses on their hedging activities, it is understandable that some investors may decide move their assets to the relative safety of the bonds.

However, this safety is illusory.

The Inverse Relationship Between Bonds and Interest Rates

This is one of the fundamental principle of bond investing.  It is well understood but still bears repeating.

The value of a bond goes up when the interest rates are low and it goes down when the interest rates are high.
[Read more…] about Good High Yield Dividend Stocks Are Better Alternatives to Bonds Today

Tradeking and Zecco to Merge – More Capabilities, Same Great Pricing

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Like so many other industries, there are small players and big players.

Little fish in a very large pond may be another applicable cliché to describe this story.  The pond is the brokerage business and that pond is big.

Companies like Fidelity, the world’s largest retirement account holder has 13.5 million accounts, E*Trade, one of the most well known of the brokers for retail investors has 3.9 million accounts and TD Ameritrade has 5.7 million.

In the past, there were plenty of smaller discount brokers but most were bought by the larger firms.

Schwab acquired OptionsXpress for $1 billion and TD Ameritrade acquired Thinkorswim for an undisclosed amount.

As the big brokers keep getting bigger, there was little room to compete if you were still holding on as one of the smaller firms in the highly competitive field of discount brokerage.

[Related: Best Online Brokers for Inexpensive Trades]

This was true for two small firms, Zecco and Tradeking.
[Read more…] about Tradeking and Zecco to Merge – More Capabilities, Same Great Pricing

How to Avoid Investment Scams

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We all want to make more money.

And, for many, the dream is to make money quickly and with a minimal amount of work.  This is why investing is such a popular method of making money.

If you take a measured approach, you should be able to regularly invest in carefully chosen stocks, index funds or some other boring investment, and, over time, amass a reasonable amount of wealth as you receive returns on your investment.

Many people, though, don’t want to take the measured approach.

There are stories of people making money fast by choosing the right investment, at the right time.

How many of us regular folks harbor the dream of, perhaps, taking $10,000 in capital and turning it quickly and painlessly into ten times that amount?

The unfortunate truth is that investments that promise such riches, fast and easy, are usually scams.

Does that Investment Send Up Red Flags?

[Read more…] about How to Avoid Investment Scams

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