Finances - Retirement

So I jumped into the retirement fund game!

I did some research on Stash and discovered a whole new market of robo-advisors. A robo-advisor is an online investment service. A person does not directly manage your account, so robo-advisors are able to offer investment services at significantly lower costs than traditional investment firms. Stash is just one of many.

I read lots of articles and lots of reviews, and narrowed a long list to one - WiseBanyan.

The fees are low, and the initial investment cost was doable. So far so good. The only downside (which Stash and others do allow you to do) is that there isn't a lot of flexibility in what you get invested in. They do, as most investment firms (robo- or not) do, have you fill out investment related questions to figure out an ideal risk factor for your account. Also, I signed up for a retirement milestone IRA so they will automatically redistribute my risk as I age and/or as my account increases in value. Another thing that I liked about WiseBanyan, that Stash and a few other robo-investors allow you to do, was that you buy fractional shares of investment shares. So if you have $5 or $5,000 you can still invest, unlike with most traditional investment firms.

So far so good!

I experienced a nice bump up of my initial investment after the election, but it has since leveled off. Oh the joy! Oh the sadness! of investing experienced in one week.

So you are aware, this represents a fluctuation of total value of $1 or so. I didn't go from $1,000 at the lowest to millions at the highest... I wish!

DISCLAIMER #1 - I am not a certified financial planner. All information presented in this post is my personal opinion and experience. Please do your own research before making important financial decisions with your own money.

DISCLAIMER #2 - I have not been paid to discuss either service - Stash or WiseBanyan. There are a ton of different robo-advisers providing similar services. As you will have different needs than I do, it is important that you do your own research before choosing an investment firm.