What is Stash?

We all know that trying new things can be intimidating. One of those intimidating ventures is investing your hard-earned money into stocks and ETFs when you don't feel that you know enough about it. (In case you were wondering ETF stands for exchange-traded funds which are comprised of different investments to include stocks, commodities, and bonds, to include U.S. and international holding.)

Stash aims to create a simple and approachable space for individuals new to investing. They do this by offering a $0 minimum down to open a personal portfolio. That means, if you are willing to take a chance, you can get started today with $0 down. If you prefer to start with $20 bonus for opening an account to use for any stock of your choice in your personal portfolio, then feel free to use my referral code (https://get.stash.com/elizabeth_2z615wx), but please do continue reading so you can learn a bit more about Stash.

Subscriptions

If you decide to join Stash, and everyone should, the first thing you will be greeted with is a questionnaire to determine your investment goals,  investment preferences, and your risk (how safe or aggressively you want to invest). Once you are completed, Stash offers three subscription options. The beginner's tier is $1 a month or $12 for the year. There are no additional or hidden fees associated with the subscriptions.

I personally started off with the $3/month or $36 for the year. While I appreciate the idea of having a personal account, I was also interested in having a "Smart Portfolio" and letting the experts make investments on my behalf. These experts also monitor your investments on a continuous basis and quarterly they rebalance your holdings to match your risk profile.

Investment Types: Smart and Personal Portfolios

Here is a snippet of how investments might look. On the left, you will see a "Smart Portfolio" breakdown. Basically, I transferred $50 and the experts invested it into "aggressive" or "high risk" US and International stocks/bonds on my behalf. The two other images are a snapshot of a Personal Portfolio. You may have noticed that some of those investments are for change. 33 cents here and 35 cents there. There is a really good reason for that. Stash gives away fractions of stocks. 

Stash Stock Party

That's right, they give away free stocks at what they call a "StashStockParty". You can follow Stash on Twitter and also sign up to receive updates on when a StashStockParty will be going live. Typically they are announced a few hours in advance but it's only open for an hour to claim your free stock. If you go back to the previous stash party (image on the left) then you see a countdown withing 24 hours of when there will be a StashStockParty prior to its announcement. The most recent stock giveaway was Disney stock and they not only offered free stock but a chance to win $3,000 towards a trip to Disney. Wish me luck!

Stock-Back Card (Stash Visa Debit Card)

So far, those are a few of the perks that I can currently speak to and that I have been thoroughly enjoying using Stash. I am eagerly awaiting my Stock-Back Card. Unfortunately, I recently moved and my mail has not yet caught up with me. There are two reasons I am excited to be receiving it. Firstly, can I just say that I have an Amazon addiction? Well I do but, what better than to receive Amazon (AMZM) stock for using this card and purchasing items I need! It seems like a win-win situation for me. If you decide that you want to use your card for purchases at locations that don't have public stock - you can customize what stock you would like your stock back rewards to go towards. It's very similar to the cashback rewards programs only with this, you can earn more. 

Additional Options

Although Stash seems to have been created primarily for the newbie investor, there are many other options that their customers can take advantage of. First, there are the options to use Auto-Stash. Basically, this allows the user to schedule transfers from their bank account to the specific areas they would like to invest in. In other words, set it and forget it. This works not only for the following three images, but for everything that you have options to use. 

There are optional insurance plans to choose from to ensure that you're covered in the event of an emergency. These plans cover everything from life insurance to pet insurance. 

Lastly, you have the ability to learn while you start investing. You have all the controls at your fingertips when you download this app and there is a bit of handholding that might be helpful and encouraging when first jumping in to something new. 

If you've read up to this point, I hope that you enjoyed it and learned a little bit more about Stash, how it works, and how you can use it to benefit you. If you have questions of comments please I'm here for it! If you do want to give it a try, please use my referral (https://get.stash.com/elizabeth_2z615wx) and start off with a bonus $20. If you invite your friend and family - you receive an additional bonus and so do they. Honestly, with or without the bonus the reason to share it is because it is helpful to build your investment portfolio.

Happy investing!