Motif Investing

• Unique trading concept called motifs
• Visibility, ability, and flexibility
• Clear pricing with no hidden fees
• Single stock trading and other requirements
• Auto-Reinvest Dividend Program
• Other important features

Motif Investing has some pretty impressive stats, which include being ranked #4 on CNBC's Disruptor 50 list and the winner at Finovate Fall 2013 and Spring 2014 for Best of Show. Additionally, they have $126.5M in venture capital funding, 151 professionally built motifs, more than 9,100 published community created motifs and upwards of 130,000 motifs customized by their community. And their motifs have averaged a 16.3% annualized returns since their creation. Other benefits include:

Unique Trading Concept Called Motifs

Motif Investing uses a unique trading concept they call motifs. Motifs are intelligently weighted baskets of up to 30 stocks or ETFs. No two are the same as they understand that every investor has different financial goals, risk profiles, investing interests and personal values. And Motif's tools allow you to customize your portfolios by adding or deleting stocks or changing their weightings. They offer over 150 professionally built portfolios; however, if you don't want to use one of theirs, you can easily build your own. This concept allows an investor to achieve their own unique investment goals regardless of whether they are a newbie or a seasoned trader. And they offer professionally built motifs in six, easy to access categories, which are: Sectors, Income Strategies, Trading Strategies, Global Opportunities, Values-based and Asset Allocation.

Visibility, Ability, And Flexibility

In the traditional sense, investing has been expensive and cumbersome, if you want to trade the way you want. However, at Motif Investing you are given the visibility and the ability to act on insights, perspective, and current events. You can easily trade dollars and invest in a trend with one click.  And you can adjust, customize and trade the way that fits with your strategy. Or you can use the wisdom and experience of the crowd for the latest insights. Motif Investing has built a platform around the ways you want to trade to make it easier to act on the insights and the news of the day.

Clear Pricing With No Hidden Fees

Motif Investing offers a superior level of visibility and transparency. That means you see exactly what it is you own. This will allow you to have an exceptional understanding of your investments such as what they are worth and how much they cost. You will also enjoy real-time access so you can easily see exactly what you are investing in down to the fractional share and penny. With Motif Investing, you have the ability to change any type of investment that doesn't align with your values. For example, pollution, guns or anything else that doesn't match your personal values. If you end up with something you don't believe in, you just simply change it. It's that easy. Motif Investing makes everything simple and transparent. You can buy a portfolio of up to 30 stocks all weighted the way you want. Elsewhere, you could end up paying commissions of around $300. However, at Motif Investing, you only pay $9.95 in total commission for all 30 stocks or $4.95 per single trade. And as we mentioned above, you can buy a motif as is, customize one to fit your style or build one from scratch.  Additionally, there are no management fees and no activity requirements either.

Single Stock Trading And Other Requirements

Motif Investing now has a single stock trading option in addition to their motif model. You can now pay $4.95 per trade for single stock commissions. Motif's other requirements are as follows - no deposit required to open an account; however, you will need to deposit $250 if you want to make a trade. Additionally, if you want to buy on margin, you will be required to maintain a minimum balance of $2,000. One other mention is that after the initial $9.95 per motif trade, it's only $4.95 if you modify the motif. So that equals even more savings and is a fantastic feature.

Auto-Reinvest Dividend Program

Motif's Auto-Reinvest Dividend program is different from the traditional dividend reinvestment program (DRIP). A traditional DRIP uses cash dividends from a stock to purchase additional shares of the same stock. With Motif auto-reinvest, all cash dividends will accumulate as dividend balance that will be used to purchase shares of any stock or ETF of choice.

Other Important Features

Motif Investing offers trading alerts, which is common for most online brokerages. Additionally, they have a social network where you can share investing ideas with others, invite friends and more. And lastly, Motif Investing now offers their Horizon motifs. These are no fee motifs that are made up of low-cost customizable ETFs, which are considered best in class in their particular asset class. Additionally, they are based on your specific risk tolerance, timeline, and amount.

• Few educational opportunities

Few Educational Opportunities

Most of the online brokerages offer plenty of educational opportunities, such as videos, webinars, podcasts, knowledge libraries, online and local classes and seminars, etc. However, Motif Investing only offers a blog and an extensive social network. If you are not well-versed in trading or are at least familiar with the basics of trading, you might want to consider another company, at least until you have mastered a few of the basics.