One of my New Year’s resolutions was to fund a brokerage account.
Now, I have accounts everywhere. TD. Option Monster. Scottrade. Options House. Trading Block.
There isn’t a platform I haven’t tried. But I never put a dime to work.
Until yesterday.
I signed up for a Robinhood account the day they started taking sign ups. Months later, they let me in.
I’ve been hesitant because they don’t allow you to trade options and it’s not like I have a lot of cash to invest.
But the siren song of “commission free” captured my interest. (Harkening back to Zecco’s era.) And I bought five shares of an ETF with my measly $200.
I got lucky and bought during yesterday morning’s dip, long before yesterday’s late-afternoon surge.
And even though China was down overnight and oil is also down, U.S. stocks went up. I don’t get it but it’s nice seeing an extra dollar in my tiny account.
What I love about the app is you can see your real-time gains and losses. Which, it’s hard NOT to log in and look constantly.
It’s also hard to not be able to back up the truck and buy more. Seriously, Robinhood. Give a girl an options chain, OK?
Why have I waited so long to do this? Because, work. The same excuse I use for everything. This time because I have to turn over all my trades to Legal. There ain’t no privacy here, yo.
I don’t argue with the booklet of rules. I just don’t want to get tossed if I somehow accidentally don’t comply with them. Because, I have enough stress in my life, thanks.
But this is cool. And the dollar I’ve made so far is more than that shitpile of a 401(k) plan has given me in the past six months.
To be continued, I hope!