Back in the day, people used to call up their investor to let them know what stocks to buy, and then floor brokers would shout out trades in the trading pit. The dawn of internet has put the old-school investment practices to rest, and now everyone trades by the light of their glowing screens. Within this throng of innovative technology has emerged Motif Investing, a unique tool that allows investors to build and trade “motifs” — collections of 30 stocks or ETFs that pertain to a specific theme or industry.
Motif has an unusual approach to investment. Instead of trading by the share quantity, investors trade stocks in dollar amounts. This makes it easier for people to visualize their investments, especially those who are just banking on small amounts. The motifs are divided into two categories: professional motifs and community motifs. The professional motifs are curated by Motif’s staff, and the latter are developed by existing investors.
You can use filters to sift through the different kinds of motifs, such as green investing, social causes, current events, health care, real estate, social causes, financial services, and natural resources.
For example, doing a query for real estate could pull up a series of professionally-built stock baskets including housing recovery, office space, home improvement, renter nation, and millennials. The housing recover basket includes a run-down describing the historical trajectory of the housing market, a one-year index return graph, and stocks from homebuilder companies, real estate brokerage services, mortgage service providers, and building products. Currently, baskets runs at $9.95.
The motif catalog is organized according to performance, most purchased, and highest dividend yield. There is also a compiled list of 30-day winners and 30-day losers.
If you want to build your own motif, explore the stocks and ETFs and collect the ones you want. You can adjust their weighting through editing each individual selection or through market capitalization. The platform automatically shows you how your motif performed over the last year through benchmarking against the S&P 500.
Motif is perfect for investors who want to prioritize their interests, morals, and values when pooling their money into stocks and ETFs. For those with their focus zeroed in on specific industries, Motif also gives access to select public offerings with no commission or fee. Investors must shell out a minimum of $250 to take part in an IPO, and just like stocks, IPO orders are measured in dollar amounts and not by share.
Every Monday morning, Motif rebalances professional motif portfolios, allowing users to only reinvest in professional motifs or ones they have built themselves. That means if you’re an investor who practices dollar-cost averaging by routinely depositing cash into the same investment, you could save on commissions by using Motif.
For die-hard trading nerds, Motif is the trading platform of your dreams. The freedom to customize a portfolio by focusing on specific missions and industries is seldom prioritized in the robo-advisor market. That being said, it’s hard to say what’s in store for the future of high-tech investing.
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Oh, interesting. I’ve seen a few people blog about ethical investing, but I was curious how it was put into practice. I do like the idea of using Motif to do socially-responsible investing.
I have an account with Motif. Yes, it costs $9.95 to purchase a Motif. Whether that’s a good deal or not depends on how much money you invest. It also costs $9.95 to sell a Motif or part of one, and you get hit with a $10 fee twice a year if your account is under $10,000.
I’ve been really interested in getting involved in Motif! I just wish I could put Motifs into a 401k, but it seems like Motif is another platform I’d have to pay attention to.
I do like the idea of investing my money in companies that align with my personal views. This is an interesting way to do it.