R.I.P. Loyal3

[Hargrove]

I don't know if anybody here used Loyal3. It is objectively worse than Vanguard by almost any comparison, but I didn't know about Vanguard when I started it. I probably arrived at it from "low cost investing options" or some such search, which tended to highlight RobinHood, Motif, and Loyal3. It offered free, untimeable stock-picking that I applied as a "do-it-yourself index-funding" menu for totally, completely free. Absolutely anyone could use it, and I used it to create a "mutual fund" of 15 companies, depositing $150/month ($10 each) for years, at close-to-market performance.

Unfortunately, the new platform it's shuffling off to costs $5/month, which means 3% of a month's deposit, and I'm closing it. Which is fine, because I can update the comparatively small amount there into the rest of my investments (VTSAX), but I really liked the idea of a (albeit very limited) DIY investment fund you could DCA into for any amount YOU felt like investing. That and a credit card were my emergency fund (all else went into more traditional investments).

/sadfaces

[missundecided]

There were a bunch of people here who used Loyal3 back when you could buy stocks with a credit card. So it was great for meeting minimum spend.

I think there might be similar, no-fee platforms as Loyal3. Perhaps Robin Hood is one of them, if my memory serves.

[Capyy]

I had Loyal3 and will also be closing mine. I would have paid $1/month. $5 a month is a huge fee for the type of people who were using loyal 3. They were advertising to buy stocks $20 at a time. No one doing that should pay $5/month.

[Salvo]

I also closed my Loyal3 account.  Just started investing in the past few months, had pretty decent returns from their limited stock picks, but the $5/m for FolioFirst is a rip off.  I switched to Robinhood which has $0 trade fees, I can set buy/sell prices and pick from any stock.  My gripe is that I have to use a mobile device (no web interface) and no partial shares, but those are both minor for the service they provide.

[Hargrove]

Yeah, investing with Folio would be incredibly silly. What's left of the demographic with a $5 monthly fee? Only stock-picking dividend/megacap long-term investors, who DCA $500 or more every month into multiple companies (which can't be timed or chosen individually). And Folio still lacks most regular broker features. If you were investing $100/month, you're paying a 5% fee up-front now. Yuck.

It may be that Loyal3 had too many accounts to track with $10 in them. $2 or $3/month could have been a different story - unfortunately, I don't think everyone will realize how bad a deal it is now to do it this way. I can't tell enough people to go Vanguard.