Stock Footage

A socialist in the stock market?  Yeah, I'm a hypocrite.  What of it?

As I much as I may rail at times against the greed of corporations, I also consider myself a pragmatist.  Not in the sense that word is being used now.  Pragmatist seems to be used now to mean a centrist moderate, i.e. no bold proposals, no overarching vision.  No, I mean in the sense of being able to spot opportunities.

Back in 2016, I was as shocked as anyone that Trump won, and grappled with all the ramifications.  Having hit 40 and dealing with a mindset that can't help but look to the future, I was asking myself "What are you going to do if/when you can't make a living from your physical labor?"  Watching the stock market begin it's steady rise in November and December of that year, I decided it was time to get in.

I like to gamble (conservatively), and in fact, during the fall and winter of 2016 I was playing a lot of bingo, so it was easy to set that money aside for investing instead.  Getting started had always seemed daunting and intimidating, but fortunately I'd finally upgraded my smartphone.  I started with Acorns, but then switched to the Robinhood app (still use it, plus the Stash app; see below).  After some issues funding my account, I bought my first stocks in the spring of 2017 and I've been picking stocks ever since.

I was lucky.  I got in and started learning the ropes during 2017 when just about everything went up, had a strategy going in (heavy on dividends) that I stuck to, and enjoyed great returns until the bottom fell out in January 2018.  Since then, the strategy has had to adapt and evolve, and I'll be sharing more about that in future posts (it's basically buy good stocks on the dips and hold good dividend payers).

If you're interested in dipping your toe into the market, I have a good way that will also put some money in both our pockets.  I'm a member of InboxDollars, an online earning site that I use to make roughly $150/year doing surveys, watching videos, doing web searches, etc.  They're currently running an offer for new users of the Stash app, which lets you invest in stocks, exchange-traded funds and bonds.  It costs me $1/month, but I make more than that in dividends, and I think you can sign up for other services that will waive the fee.  So:

1. Sign up for InboxDollars with this link
2. Find the Stash offer on the Offers page
3.  Create a new account with Stash, deposit $5 or more, and Stash matches your $5 while InboxDollars pays you $15    

I signed up with Stash that way and got paid for it.  The current offer says it's for $20.20, so I'm not sure where the extra $0.20 comes in, and I'm not sure how long it runs for.  In the past, the reward has been $5 less.

Good luck!