This year, I started looking at the Motif investing platform, and for my clients, offering managed accounts through Motif Advisor.
Basically, Motif is a different type of online broker that, rather than selling you stocks one at a time, allows you to trade in “Motifs” (basically baskets of up to 30 US-listed stocks or ETFs) for a flat fee of US$10 per trade. You can either build your own basket of 30 stocks, or choose from one of hundreds of pre-built baskets. This is not too different than buying a basket of the 30 Dow stocks, and paying one brokerage commission rather than 30. This approach provides a meaningful alternative to pre-built ETFs, which vs the Dow’s DIA I discuss in another post.
For reference, here are 7 of the Motifs I built this past summer:
- US REITs
- Deep Discount Closed-end Funds
- US Select Value
- Stable Dividend Growth
- Insurance Companies
- Mexico Dividends
- Argentina Dividends
User-friendliness will decide how much I continue to use the Motif platform, but as always, I’m keen to hear your thoughts.
Until next time,
Tariq