No tricks, just treats at the popular wholesale club. Ken Wolter / Shutterstock.com
Costco might not be the first store that comes to mind when preparing for autumn holidays or enjoying the season of falling leaves and temperatures. (Spirit Halloween and Starbucks probably have it beat by a mile.) Yet the beloved wholesale club offers a surprisingly wide array of goods that are handy if not indispensable during the fall. Here is a look at top things to snag there for the spooky…
IPOs are typically reserved for institutions and high-net-worth investors, but SoFi aims to democratize the process. Read on to find out more.
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SoFi announced it would allow its customers to participate in IPOs in March 2021, when the IPO market was red hot. However, by the time the capability was actually added to the platform, the IPO market had cooled off sharply. SoFi offered investors some shares in Rivian and Nubank in late 2021, but for the most part, it has not participated in any big deals.
That’s all changing. SoFi is not just offering shares of Instacart to its brokerage clients, but it is serving as an underwriter on the deal along with about 20 other banks, which puts its investors in a better position to get shares if they wish to participate.
To invest in initial public offerings, or IPOs, through SoFi, you need to open a brokerage account (SoFi Active Investing), which can be done quite easily through its app or web-based platform.
For high-demand IPOs like Instacart, it’s important to keep in mind that there are a limited number of shares available for distribution. As mentioned, about 20 other institutions are serving as underwriters on this IPO alongside SoFi. While anyone with an Active Investing account can participate, SoFi considers several factors when allocating shares, such as enrollment in SoFi Plus, the assets in your account, and prior IPO participation, if any.
To participate in an IPO, you’ll need to log into SoFi and open your Active Investing account. From there, you can visit the IPO center and see what deals are live, as well as the expected date they’ll actually go public (Note: Instacart is expected to start trading on Sept. 19).
You’ll see a “start now” button next to each one, and if you click it, you can indicate how many shares you’d like to buy. On the day before the IPO, SoFi will notify you that it’s time to confirm your buy order. On the morning of the IPO, SoFi will allocate shares to customers who have placed orders.
IPO investing might bring visions of quick riches to your mind, and it’s not difficult to understand why. There are certainly some IPO success stories; just to name a few examples:
Visa went public at the height of the global financial crisis in March 2008 and has delivered 1,850% total returns to investors in a little over 15 years since.In perhaps one of the most impressive IPO success stories in recent history, Tesla went public in 2010 and has gained 16,820% since then. That’s not a typo.As a more recent example, investors who bought shares of Airbnb at its IPO price in December 2020 have more than doubled their money in less than three years.
However, it’s important to know that IPO investing is far from a guaranteed home run. Even at the peak of the 2021 IPO boom, a report by Nasdaq Economic Research found that after three years, 64% of companies that went public from 2010 to 2020 were underperforming the S&P 500 by 10% or more.
Let’s take a look at some of the hottest IPOs from the 2020–21 hot IPO market. DoorDash went public in late 2020 and is perhaps the closest comparison to Instacart in recent years. Investors who participated in that IPO are down by 20% since that time, while they would have achieved a 21% return by simply buying an S&P 500 index fund.
Nubank, which was offered to SoFi members in December 2021, is down by 24% from its IPO price. Electric vehicle maker Rivian has fared even worse, down by 70% less than two years after completing its much-anticipated IPO. And some IPOs from that time period have performed even worse.
The bottom line is that if you want to invest in an IPO like Instacart, SoFi is an online broker that can help you do it. And this is certainly a welcome change that represents a general democratization of a process that has historically benefited wealthy investors.
However, if you do decide to participate in the Instacart IPO, or any others for that matter, it’s important to realize that IPO investing can be a highly speculative way to invest and there’s a chance you’ll lose money.
You can help yourself avoid that by doing the same thing you’re ideally doing every time you invest in a company’s stock: your research. Companies about to perform an IPO file an S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which you can read to get information about the business and financials (you can find Instacart’s S-1 here).
Do the work to understand the business and the financials, and make sure you’re investing in what you think is a good business at a fair price. That doesn’t guarantee you’re investing in a winner, but it can help increase your odds — whether you’re talking about an IPO or not.
And to be sure, there’s nothing wrong with speculating with money you can afford to lose, as long as you understand that’s what you’re doing and are prepared to accept the outcome if things don’t go your way. But IPO investing isn’t appropriate for everyone and it’s important to expect a roller coaster ride in the stock price (in either direction) in the period soon after it goes public.
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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.Matthew Frankel, CFP® has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends DoorDash, Tesla, and Visa. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Nearly one-third of Americans are open to financial advice from AI. Read on to find out why that might not be the best idea.
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Americans have had access to generative AI technology like ChatGPT and Google Bard for less than a year, yet a good portion are willing to take financial advice from it.
A recent CFP Board survey found that 31% of investors felt comfortable implementing financial planning advice from AI without verifying it with another source.
That’s a significant percentage of investors who are confident AI will give them good financial advice. Still, before you hand your brokerage account decisions over to an AI bot, there are a few things you should consider.
Even more surprising than nearly one-third of investors trusting AI for financial planning advice is that older generations appear to be more open to AI investment advice than younger ones.
The survey showed that 62% of investors aged 45 and older were “very satisfied” with getting financial advice from generative AI, compared to 38% of investors under 45. More than half of the respondents believe that AI is the future of financial planning, with 52% saying that both AI and social media will supplant financial planning advice from advisors in the next three to five years.
It’s worth pointing out some differences between generative AI financial planning and robo-advisors. The latest AI chatbots spit out financial information when users ask a question. For example, you may ask what percentage of stocks you should hold in retirement compared to bonds and then act on its advice.
In contrast, a robo-advisor uses algorithms to put your investment portfolio on autopilot. They’re typically implemented using age- and risk-tolerance-appropriate investments that focus on exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds and are often offered as a portfolio choice from major online brokerage firms.
While generative AI bots can certainly give correct answers, even when it comes to financial advice, it’s wise to be a little skeptical. Bots like ChatGPT are large language models (LLMs) that create content based on databases. But while it can access databases of correct information, it is also creating text that it thinks makes sense — but may not be true.
A recent Ernst & Young article noted, “Large language models (LLMs) can provide responses with high confidence even when the information is inaccurate or unverified.”
That’s why some people think that as generative AI progresses, financial experts may act as an editor or fact-checker in the financial advice process.
A recent report from Amazon Web Service said that financial planners may eventually shift their focus from providing information to investors to “checking the accuracy and completeness” of the answers provided by generative AI.
So, it may be best to treat financial advice you receive from generative AI the same way you do when an overconfident family member gives you a hot stock tip. Maybe it’s a good company to invest in, and perhaps it’s not. Either way, you should find a reliable source to vet the information with before making any life-changing financial decisions.
If you’re not all-in on an AI financial advisor yet (and I don’t blame you if you aren’t), there are a few things you should consider when picking one of the human variety.
First, talk to your friends and family to see if they have any financial advisor recommendations. You don’t have to use their advisor just because they recommend them, but it could be a good place to start, especially if you’ve never had an advisor before.
Next, you should find out whether your prospective advisor is fiduciary or not. A fiduciary is legally bound to put your financial interest above theirs when making investment decisions.
While you can certainly find good financial advisors who aren’t fiduciaries, doing so will help ensure all financial decisions are always in your best interest.
Finally, come up with some questions to ask a potential financial advisor, including what their fees are, what types of clients they have, and what types of services they provide. Knowing what you want and finding out what an advisor offers will help you decide whether or not they are the right fit for you.
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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Chris Neiger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet and Amazon.com. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
New construction can seem appealing when you’re looking to buy a home. Read on to see why my experience wasn’t so great.
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When my husband and I sold our starter home in a day, we knew we’d need to move quickly to find a new place to live. And we ultimately settled on a new construction home in our same neighborhood.
We knew that by purchasing a home being built from the ground up, we’d end up with a higher mortgage payment than with an existing home. But the home we signed up to buy fell within our home-buying budget (and below our maximum price), so that wasn’t really an issue.
We also liked the idea of being able to customize different features of our home. For example, we opted for a kitchen setup with a double oven, and we chose an oversized tub for our master bathroom. These were features we may not have gotten in an existing home in our town.
But while buying new construction had some benefits, my husband and I agreed we’d never do it again. Here’s why.
My husband and I were initially told that our home would be move-in ready by early June. We wound up moving in October.
During that time, we had to secure temporary housing that cost about $2,000 a month and pay to keep our furniture and most of our belongings in storage, which was another several hundred dollars on top of that. And trust me when I say that it’s not easy to find a month-to-month rental when there’s a dog in the mix.
If you’re someone who can cope with being in limbo, then you may be okay to buy new construction. But if you can’t imagine having to bounce around in temporary housing or cover the cost, then building a home may not be optimal for you.
Thankfully, when we went through the process, we didn’t yet have children. Had this happened when our kids were in school, we would’ve needed to enroll them in a new district for a few months and then switch them mid-semester. Talk about a nightmare.
The whole appeal of buying new construction was to get to customize our home’s features. And that meant making different upgrades. We were able to roll those upgrades into our mortgage loan, which meant we didn’t need to empty our savings. But our upgrades wound up costing more than expected because our builder took advantage of the situation.
When you have an existing home and you’re looking to make upgrades, you can talk to different contractors and get quotes to see whose prices are the most competitive. When you’re working with a builder on a new construction home, you have to go with your builder. And that gives them the chance to charge whatever they want.
Now, if you buy a new construction home that’s well below your budget like we did, you may be able to cope with those costs. But like us, you might get frustrated by being overcharged.
When you buy new construction, it can be tricky to assess its value because there may not be many comparable homes in the area. But that could end up hurting you.
My state, New Jersey, has the highest property taxes in the nation. And my town’s tax rate is higher than that of a lot of surrounding towns. So we didn’t expect our property tax bill to be minimal. But we were shocked by the taxes we got hit with, and we couldn’t really argue them down because there were no similar homes to use as a point of comparison.
If you’re going to buy new construction, know that your property taxes might be high. Also, know that the initial property tax bill you’re presented with might change once your home is completed. The estimate we got for our property taxes when we signed our home purchase agreement was $2,000 less than our actual tax bill.
For some people, the process of buying new construction might be totally smooth and pleasant from start to finish. But that unfortunately wasn’t the case for us, and it’s turned us off from a repeat experience.
Of course, your experience will ultimately hinge on the builder you work with. Ours wasn’t wonderful. But we should’ve done a better job of vetting our builder, so that’s on us.
If you decide to move forward with a new build, dig into your builder’s history and finances, and talk to people who have used that builder to see how things went. That could prevent you from having a less-than-favorable experience like we did.
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Setting a goal could mean setting yourself up to fail. Read on to learn more.
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If you were to ask Suze Orman what her career-related priorities are right now, she’d probably tell you that encouraging workers to build an emergency fund is at the top of her list. Orman co-founded SecureSave, a company that partners with workplaces to make emergency savings accounts accessible to employees, because she recognizes that it’s so important for people to have some cash reserves in the bank.
Without money in savings, you could instantly land in debt when unplanned expenses arise. And that debt could wreck your credit and cost you a lot of money in interest — money you’d probably rather spend on other things.
But while Orman is a firm believer in having emergency savings, she’s not so big on savings goals. Here’s why.
Many people set savings goals for themselves only to fall short. And that’s understandable.
You might, for example, decide that you really want to save $1,000 one year. But if your car needs a major repair midway through, or you encounter a medical issue that has you spending a lot of money on healthcare, that may not happen.
If, come July, you realize your $1,000 savings target isn’t attainable, you might get discouraged and stop saving completely. And that’s why Orman doesn’t like the idea of savings or other financial goals.
The way she sees it, when people set these goals, they put themselves in a position where they might end up disappointed and discouraged. That could constitute a major setback. So instead, Orman suggests a “do the best you can” approach to saving money.
Rather than sell yourself on a specific dollar amount you want your savings to hit, Orman says, “Just save something and see how it goes.”
You might start off growing your savings account from $0 to $150. And $150 is far better than $0. So even though it’s not a ton of money, it’s a great start.
Orman also insists that as people can see their cash balances grow, they tend to become “addicted” to saving money. But that’s a good thing, because it pushes them to keep at it.
Some people need to have specific goals to feel motivated to start saving. If you’re one of those people and you absolutely need those goals, you don’t have to fight it. But if setting goals and falling short has tripped you up in the past, then you may want to instead take Orman’s approach and just do the best you can, whether it’s in the context of building an emergency fund, socking money away to buy a home, or funding your IRA.
Financial goals can be motivating in their own right. But they can also wreak havoc on your mental health when they don’t work out. So if you’re willing to give Orman’s approach a try, you may find that it takes the pressure off but keeps you going at the same time.
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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Yes, you can get Amazon gift cards without paying a dime for them. The Toidi / Shutterstock.com
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