Sharebuilder Automatic Investing?

[anotherAlias]

I currently have a taxable Sharebuilder account that I'm using to build a nice dividend producing portfolio.  I've just gotten started but I'm planning on only buying about once a month.  When I was tracking my recent purchases, it struck me how much the trade commissions are going to eat at my bottom line.  So I've been doing some searching to see how much I could cut trade commissions and stumbled on Sharebuilder's automatic investing program.  Has anyone used this?  The only downside that I'm seeing is that I would be limited to investing on a set Tuesday.  Other than that I could change the stocks, dollar amount, or cancel all together all the while trading for $4.

Any other down sides that I'm missing?  I'm kind of new to investing outside of my 401k/IRA accounts. 

[Honest Abe]

It depends how much you're investing at once... If you're investing $100 at a time, that's a 4% cost right up front... Meaning with many dividend stocks it'll be a year before you break even. You might be better off saving your money until you reach $1000 or so and then just doing a regular trade for a 1% cost up front

[anotherAlias]

I'd be investing about a thousand each month.

[Honest Abe]

Is that case it's a very cheap way to dollar cost average into a position... For example if you wanted to accumulate a $10k position of McDonalds this year you could set a 1x/month plan for $1000.. Sounds fine to me. (Assuming you're diversified.... I guess you could also split the $1000 into as many stocks as you'd like too)

[Will]

Just a heads up to anyone who uses Sharebuilder for automatic investing:

There is a promotion code which gets you 5 free automatic trades.  I just entered it and it worked like a charm!

Here it is:

SK483GXM2BU9

Just go to Enter Promotions under Accounts: Profile and Settings

Happy Free Trading!!!

[Will]

Found another that works too:

3AIP

Gets you 3 more, so with the 5 above, I now have 8 free trades!

[anotherAlias]

Will, thanks for the promotion codes.  That covers my trading expenses through the end of the year.  Gotta love free.

[Will]

You're welcome!  I figure by the time my 8 are set to expire, I'll have used them all and maybe they will have added some more freebies.

[Reepekg]

I'm big on regularly investing whatever I can scrape together, and you are absolutely right to pay attention to fees. I did a while back and found:

If you are buying individual equities, consider a Dividend Reinvestment Program (DRIP). Read up on them, but basically you buy the shares directly from the company for like $1 or sometimes the cost is covered by the company.

If you are buying funds, the are plenty of online brokerages that offer commission free ETFs where you can index the S&P500 or whatever at tiny expense ratios. I should stress how nice it is to buy in small amounts whenever you want for free.

I'm pretty much saying you should not be paying $4 commissions on trades.

[Will]

I got an email today which read thusly:

Dear William,

The Capital One Black Friday Sale may be over, but in case you didn't hear, you can still get a free PortfolioBuilder trade credit through December 3 (tomorrow). Didn't want you to miss out.

This free credit lets you build and buy a diversified portfolio of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that aligns with your investing style—and pay no commission.

To get your free credit, follow these super-simple steps by December 3, 2014:

    Click this link or one of the buttons in this email.
    Sign in with your username and password.
    On the Enter Promotion page, enter promo code BF2014PB and click Submit.

Use your PortfolioBuilder trade credit between December 15, 2014 and January 30, 2015:

    Go to sharebuilder.com/portfoliobuilder.
    Enter your investment style and amount, then choose investments for each asset class.
    Choose your payment option.
    Review and complete your order—your credit will be applied automatically.

Enjoy! It's our small way of spreading good cheer.

Happy holidays,

The ShareBuilder Team

So I went and got my credit, but now that I re-read what they sent, I am not sure if this works as a free credit  for automatic investing or if it is for something else.  Regardless, if any of you have Sharebuilder and have not gone in to get your free credit, here is your chance!

[BarkyardBQ]

Will, yours returned expired, however this one below from last year still worked.

Gave me 3 to use until January 31, 2015.

I don't do auto investing with share builder, but I do use it to buy and hold limited individual stocks like BRK-B.

Found another that works too:

3AIP

update: just got this in an email from SB.

Don't forget—there's an expiration date on your credit(s): 01/31/2015. (Actually, the last Tuesday of the expiration month is the real cutoff.) So take advantage while you can.

Credit(s) will be applied when you update your Automatic Investment Plan and your scheduled orders are placed. Start now.

That promo is only good for AIP credits, not trade credits.

[birdman2003]

The particular dividend stock that I buy through sharebuilder covers the monthly trade commission, but you have to invest a minimum amount automatically each month.

[BEN_BANNED]

Is that case it's a very cheap way to dollar cost average into a position... For example if you wanted to accumulate a $10k position of McDonalds this year you could set a 1x/month plan for $1000.. Sounds fine to me. (Assuming you're diversified.... I guess you could also split the $1000 into as many stocks as you'd like too)

IF the O.P. was planning to in invest in something McDonald's he could buy shares from Loyal3 absolutely free.

Loyal3 has some heavyweight dividend stocks to choose from like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Unilever, etc...

[RyeWhiskey]

Indeed, Loyal3 is the best option if the stocks one is interested in are available. Otherwise I'd recommend buying shares of a dividend ETF commission free from Vanguard or whatever brokerage works best with the free commissions (TD Ameritrade comes to mind).

[lielec11]

Will, yours returned expired, however this one below from last year still worked.

Gave me 3 to use until January 31, 2015.

I don't do auto investing with share builder, but I do use it to buy and hold limited individual stocks like BRK-B.

Found another that works too:

3AIP

update: just got this in an email from SB.

Don't forget—there's an expiration date on your credit(s): 01/31/2015. (Actually, the last Tuesday of the expiration month is the real cutoff.) So take advantage while you can.

Credit(s) will be applied when you update your Automatic Investment Plan and your scheduled orders are placed. Start now.

That promo is only good for AIP credits, not trade credits.

Thanks Will and zdrave!