• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
Good Financial Cents®
Content is based on in-depth research & analysis. Opinions are our own. We may earn a commission when you click or make a purchase from links on our site. Learn more.
  • Make Money
    • Get Money Now
      • Ultimate Guide to Making Money
      • Need Money Now
      • Get Free Money Fast
      • Make Money Fast
      • Make $1K Per Month
      • Make $100 Per Day
    • Control Your Destiny
      • Self Employed Jobs
      • Make Money from Home
      • Hobbies That Make Money
      • How to Become a Freelance Writer
      • Small Business Ideas to Start
      • How to Become an Independent Contractor
      • Best Online Jobs
    • Passive Income
      • Passive Income Ideas
      • Multiple Streams of Income
      • Extra Income
      • Residual Income Ideas
      • Learn to Sell e-Books
      • Make Money on Facebook
      • Make Money on Tiktok
      • Best Online Survey Sites to Make Money
    • Explore More
      • Best Side Hustle Ideas
      • Make Money for Teens
      • Best Online Colleges
      • Best Jobs No College Degree
      • Become a Millionaire
      • Careers for the Future
  • Manage Money
    • Best Of
      • Budgeting Tools
      • Personal Finance Software
      • Best Cashback Cards
    • Company Reviews
      • Personal Capital vs Mint
      • Personal Capital Review
      • SmartAsset Review
    • Guides
      • Buy or Lease a Car
      • What is Liquid Net Worth?
      • Setting Financial Goals
      • How to Budget
      • Ways to Save Money
    • Explore More
      • How Much Car Can I Afford?
      • Best Auto Refinance Companies
  • Invest
    • Best Of
      • Best Short and Long-Term Investments
      • Best Low Risk Investments
      • Best Online Stock Brokers
      • Best Crypto Exchanges
      • Best Short Term Investments
      • Best Long Term Investments
      • Best Trading Platforms
      • Best Investment Apps
    • Company Reviews
      • Lending Club
      • Robinhood
      • M1 Finance
      • Ally
      • TD Ameritrade
      • Fundrise
      • Betterment
      • Etrade
      • Wealthfront
    • Guides
      • Investing for Beginners
      • Investing Small Amounts of Money
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • No Money Down Real Estate
      • Bonds vs Stocks
      • Peer to Peer Lending
      • Best Hedges Against Inflation
      • Safe Bitcoin Investing in 2023
    • Explore More
      • Bitcoin vs. Real Estate
      • Betterment vs Wealthfront
      • Investing for College Students
      • Stock Market Alternatives
    • By Investment Amount
      • How to Invest $100
      • How to Invest $1K
      • How to Invest $2k-$3k
      • How to Invest $5K
      • How to Invest $10K
      • How to Invest $15k
      • How to Invest $20K
      • How to Invest $30k
      • How to Invest $50K
      • How to Invest $100K
      • How to Invest $200K
      • How to Invest $500K
      • How to Invest $1M
  • Taxes
    • Best Of
      • Best Tax Relief Companies
      • Best Tax Software
    • Guides
      • Federal Income Tax Guide 2023
      • Taxes and Cryptocurrency
      • How to Do Your Own Taxes
      • How to Invest Your Tax Refund
      • Hiring a Professional Tax Preparer
      • Tax Tips for Freelancers
    • Company Reviews
      • TurboTax Review
      • H&R Block Review
      • Taxslayer
      • Tax Act
  • Insurance
    • Best Of
      • Best Life Insurance
      • Best Home Insurance
      • Best Auto Insurance
      • Cheap Term Life Insurance
      • Car Insurance For Young Adults
    • Guides
      • Term vs Whole Life
      • Different Types of Car Insurance
      • Average Cost of Car Insurance
    • Explore More
      • Life Insurance Over 50
      • Life Insurance Over 80
      • $1 Million Life Insurance
      • $2 Million Life Insurance
      • $3 Million Life Insurance
    • Company Reviews
      • Banner Life Insurance
      • Ladder Life Insurance
      • Health IQ
      • Haven Life
      • Policygenius
      • State Farm Auto Insurance Review
  • Retirement
    • Roth IRA
      • Best Places to Open a Roth IRA
      • Best Investments for Roth IRA
      • 7 Roth IRA Secrets
      • Roth IRA Conversion Guide
      • Roth IRA Rules
      • Roth IRA vs Roth 401k
      • Are Roth IRA Contributions Tax Deductible?
    • 401(k)
      • 401(k) Limits
      • 401(k) to Roth Rollover
      • Is 401(k) Enough for Retirement?
      • Maxed Out 401(k): What's next?
    • Traditional IRA
      • Traditional IRA Rules and Limits
      • Traditional IRA vs. 401(k)
      • Simple IRA Rules
      • SEP IRA Rules
      • How Much Do You Need to Start an IRA?
    • Explore More
      • SEP IRA vs. Roth IRA
      • 457 Plan for Successful Retirement
      • 401a Rollover Rules
      • How to Retire at 50
      • How to Retire at 55
  • Banking
    • Best Of
      • Best National Banks
      • Best High-Yield Savings Accounts
      • Best Checking Accounts
      • Best Savings Accounts
      • Best CD Rates
      • Best Money Market Accounts
    • Company Reviews
      • BBVA
      • Synchrony
      • Wells Fargo
    • Explore More
      • 9 Banking Alternatives for 2023
      • What is a Credit Union?
  • Home
    • Best Of
      • Best Mortgage Lenders
      • Best Mortgage Refinance Companies
      • Best Home Warranties
      • Best Homeowners Insurance
      • Best VA Loans
      • Best Mortgage Rates
      • Best Moving Companies
      • Best Home Security
    • Guides
      • Home Buying Checklist
      • Online Home Appraisal
      • How Much House Can I Afford?
      • First-time Homebuyer Programs
      • How to Get Approved for a Home Loan
      • Save Money When Building a House
      • How to Save for a Downpayment
      • When to Refinance Your Mortgage
    • Explore More
      • 15 vs. 30-year Mortgage
      • Home Warranty vs. Home Insurance
      • Veterans United Home Loan Review
      • Quicken Loans Review
      • HELOC vs Second Mortgage
      • DCU Mortgage Review
      • Costco Mortgage Program Review
      • USAA Mortgage Loan Review
  • Credit
    • Best Of
      • Best Credit Repair Companies
      • Best ID Theft Protection Services
      • Best Credit Report Options
      • Best Bad Credit Loans
    • Guides
      • How to Build Your Credit Score
      • How to Raise Your Credit Score in 5 Months
      • How to Dispute Your Credit Report
      • Hot to Remove Collections from Your Credit Reports
      • How Identity Theft Destroys Your Credit Score
    • Explore More
      • What is a Good Credit Score?
      • What is a Bad Credit Score?
  • Debt
    • Best Of
      • Best Debt Consolidation Loans
      • Best Personal Loans
      • Best Student Loans
      • Best Student Loan Refinance
    • Guides
      • What is Debt Consolidation?
      • How to Get Out of Debt
      • How to Get a Personal Loan Approved
      • How to Pay Off Student Loans Faster
      • Should I Consolidate My Debts?
      • Should I File for Bankruptcy?
    • Company Reviews
      • Credible
      • Sofi

The Grow Your Dough Throwdown

https://www.goodfinancialcents.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/MG_5503-150x150.jpg
  • Written By:
    Jeff Rose, CFP®

    Jeff Rose, CFP®

    Jeff Rose, CFP® is a Certified Financial Planner™, founder of Good Financial Cents, and author of the personal finance...

    Read More
  • Updated: June 22, 2022
  • 7 Min Read
  • Advertising Disclosure

    Advertising Disclosure

    GoodFinancialCents® has an advertising relationship with the companies included on this page. All of our content is based on objective analysis, and the opinions are our own. For more information, please check out our full disclaimer and complete list of partners.

Quality Verified THE GFC® PROMISE
shield check icon
Quality Verified

GoodFinancialCents® partners with outside experts to ensure we are providing accurate financial content.

These reviewers are industry leaders and professional writers who regularly contribute to reputable publications such as the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

Our expert reviewers review our articles and recommend changes to ensure we are upholding our high standards for accuracy and professionalism.

Our expert reviewers hold advanced degrees and certifications and have years of experience with personal finances, retirement planning and investments.

shield check icon
Why You Can Trust GoodFinancialCents®

GoodFinancialCents® partners with outside experts to ensure we are providing accurate financial content.

These reviewers are industry leaders and professional writers who regularly contribute to reputable publications such as the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

Our expert reviewers review our articles and recommend changes to ensure we are upholding our high standards for accuracy and professionalism.

Our expert reviewers hold advanced degrees and certifications and have years of experience with personal finances, retirement planning and investments.

Who doesn’t appreciate a good throwdown?

  • Snake Eyes vs. Storm Shadow
  • Han Solo vs. Boba Fett
  • Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield
  • Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant
  • Kanye West vs. Taylor Swift, Jimmy Kimmel, the CEO of Zappos and the entire world…

These are some of the best throwdowns in history!  Well, at least to me.  🙂

Since I’m a financial planner and blogger, I don’t usually get many opportunities to throwdown.

That is until today….. Introducing The Grow Your Dough Showdown.

Boom!

Look how serious I am about this (Warning: the following picture may be scary to young children):

Grow Your Dough Throwdown

If you haven’t guessed it yet, investing is kinda my thing.  I love investing and equally love encouraging others to invest for themselves.

The purpose for this throwdown is the following four reasons

  1. Show you how easy it is to get started investing
  2. Show you the plethora of online options available
  3. Show you different strategies that you can try
  4. Erase any doubts that you can’t do this on your own.  Because you can.

Sound like fun?

The Players

There are a ton of online platforms that exist nowadays that you can invest with.  In fact, a quick Google search for “online brokers” yielded over 62 million results.

Yowzers!

I don’t have time to use all of them (I wish!), so I had to weed it down to the 7 that I thought would be the most interesting and applicable to all of you.

Wanting a diverse selection I’m including a few traditional online brokers (like TD Ameritrade, Ally Invest), a few unique ones (Prosper).

Note: Motif announced it will be shutting down on May 2020 and transferring to Folio Investments. In turn, Folio announced it will be discountinuing their services on July 31, 2021. You can now sign up through Interactive Brokers as part of the final transition.

Related:

  • https://finovate.com/motif-investing-to-close-its-doors/
  • https://folioinvesting.com/folioinvesting/home/

Here’s a brief rundown of each online platform:

TD Ameritrade

TD Ameritrade is another strong contender, and I’m excited to try out their platform myself. They’ve got 125 brick-and-mortar locations, but again the idea here is to be able to open and manage your account from the house. (In your pajamas. Eating cookies in bed. No excuses.)

They also brag about how you can open a Roth IRA in 15 minutes or less. And y’all know how I feel about Roth IRAs.

The company charges $0 per stock and ETF trade which is in line with where we want to be. (The $49.99 mutual fund trades are a no-no in my book, so I’ll stay away from these in this account.)

Even better? No minimum deposit is required to open an account and there are zero account maintenance fees.

TradeKing

If I had to pick two words to describe Ally Invest it would be… low… cost. Seriously low costs.

The company recently merged with Zecco, another online discount brokerage firm, in order to fight some of the bigger names listed here. Both companies made a name for themselves by driving costs down as low as possible. They actually kind of remind me of Southwest Airlines or JetBlue with their crazy low prices that undercut the competition.

In short, TradeKing offers stock and ETF trades for just $4.95. That’s 50% lower than TD Ameritrade. If I were going to trade a lot this is the brokerage I’d pick in order to keep my costs down.

Lending Club

This is where we start getting into some alternative investment ideas. We leave behind the relatively safe and understood realm of stocks, bonds, ETFs and mutual funds and enter the personal loan marketplace.

With Lending Club (and Prosper, below) you aren’t investing in ownership of a company. Instead you are buying ownership of a loan issued to a borrower through the website in what is called peer-to-peer lending.

Borrowers use the site to do one of my favorite things ever: pay off high interest debts like credit cards. They’ll get a loan for 11% and pay off debts at 22% which is what I call a major win.

Then those wonderful investors like you and me get to enjoy the interest from that loan.

Diversification is key here, but I’ll be sharing some strategies on how to minimize risk and maximize returns with Lending Club.

Prosper

Prosper was the first peer-to-peer lending website to really take off. Lending Club has given them a run for their money, and I kind of feel like Prosper has taken a bit of a reputation hit.

So I’ll open an account with both P2P websites with the exact same starting capital amount and the same investing principals, and we’ll see where everything turns out.

Motif

Motif Investing has a completely different take on investing. Instead of investing in mutual funds, ETFs, or individual stocks the company lets you invest in something called motifs.

Motif investing is a grouping of up to 30 stocks based around a macro economic idea. The company looks for macro trends like “people are fixing their homes” and then asks the question of which companies would benefit. The answer to that is home supply stores, home furniture stores, and the like.

They then seek out companies that fit that mold and weight them differently after doing an analysis on the firms. So you might end up with 25% with Home Depot, 1% with Pier One, and 7% in Bed Bath and Beyond.

That’s a motif.

A motif can be up to 30 stocks, and what’s even better is you can add and subtract from the motif to give you a completely customized investment. It’s like building your own personal ETF.

Once you have a motif or build one yourself you can trade in and out of that motif for a $9.95 trade cost. Instead of having to invest in each individual company and tailor your trades toward the allocation you want, you can instead just invest and trade in one motif.

The ability to create what is essentially my own ETF fascinates me, so I’m going to give this a try, too.

  • Note: On April 17, 2020, Motif announced the platform would be shutting down and passing over to Folio Investments on May 20th. In turn, Folio Investments announced in December of 2020 that it too, will be shutting its own doors around July 2021, after which it will transfer all accounts to Interactive Brokers.

Betterment

Betterment believes that investing is too complicated. Figuring out what asset allocation is, how and when to rebalance a portfolio, or just understanding which mutual fund to select can be overwhelming especially when you first start out.

Betterment Investing does away with that and instead offers you two investment buckets and a turn dial of risk. One bucket is index ETFs of stocks, the other is index ETFs of bonds. The risk dial let’s you determine what kind of a split you want between these two investments: 50/50, 75/25, or some other combination in between.

In short it is simple and really easy to get started with.

Tracking Progress

To make it easy to track the performance we’re using Personal Capital to track each outfit.

How It’s Going to Work

I’m funding each account with $1,000.   Starting January 1st (or the 1st day the market opens), I’m going to invest the money using various strategies.  We’ll then provide ongoing updates so you can see how I’m doing.

To make this more fun, I’ve solicited my wife to join me on this.    Here’s how it’s going to breakdown:

  • TD Ameritrade: I’m going to pick some stock so you can see how awful awesome my stock picking isn’t is.  Remember this is the same guy that lost $5,000 on a penny stock.
  • Ally Invest: Picking some blue chip dividend stocks and letting them ride
  • Motif: Selecting a “motiff” that I believe is a good one. I’m not even sure what Motiff means so this should be interesting.
  • Prosper: Going with the most aggressive portfolio with both. May the best P2P lender win!

Those are the online players that I’ll be utilizing for the year long experiment.   We’ll be using the S&P500 as a relative benchmark.  Timing wise this experiment might be the worse since we’re fluttering with all time highs in the market.  To address that…..

A quick disclaimer:  as a financial planner I need to say that  investing should always be considered a long term strategy.  This throwdown is meant to be both fun and education in nature.   This throwdown is not and should not be treated as investment advice.  Please see the bottom of the post for a more in depth disclaimer.

The Throwdown Just Got Serious

In true throwdown fashion, this wouldn’t be fun unless I had some other people throwdown with me, would it?

I’ve recruited some of my personal blogger friends to join in on the action with me.   They have all agreed to open an account with a online broker of their choosing.

They will then begin investing the first day of the trading year and then write a post on why they invested the way they did.

They will also report back with performance results on how their $1,000 portfolio is doing.

The crew joining me for the ride:

  • Paula Pant – AffordAnything.com
  • Hank Coleman – MoneyQandA.com
  • Rob Berger – DoughRoller.net
  • Julie Rains – WorkingtoLive.com
  • Miranda Marquit – PlantingMoneySeeds.com
  • Robert Farrington – TheCollegeInvestor.com
  • Larry Ludwig – InvestorJunkie.com
  • Tom Drake  – CanadianFinanceBlog.com
  • Doug Nordman – The-Military-Guide.com
  • LaTisha – YoungFinances.com
  • John Schmoll – FrugalRules.com
  • Luke Landes ‘aka’ Flex0 – ConsumerismCommentary.com
  • Joe Saul-Sehy – StackingBenjamins.com
  • Phil Taylor – PTMoney.com
  • Glen Craig – FreeFromBroke.com

We have some good diversity with the crew so I’m pumped to get this going.

Wanna Join?

If you’re interested in throwing down with you, you still have time.   Here’s the rules that we have:

  1. Open a new broker account of your choosing and deposit $1,000.
  2. On January 1st (anytime around the 1st), you invest anyway you want (stocks, ETF’s, mutual funds, whatever). No margin allowed.
  3. You can buy/sell as much as you want.
  4. You cannot add any more than the original $1,000.
  5. Write a blog post that publicly shares what you bought.
  6. Track your return and report back to me so I can keep track of everyone that’s taking part.

Just contact me and I’ll get you added to the list.

Next Steps

At the beginning of the year, I’ll be publishing a mega post that outlines everything I’ve bought with each account.   I’ll have screenshots showing you everything.

In fact, this will be probably be the most in depth post I’ve ever completed on the blog and I can’t wait!

Staty tuned…..

P.S.

In case I didn’t make this clear above:  INVESTING SHOULD ALWAYS BE A LONG TERM STRATEGY.

Hope you caught that.  😉

****

Disclaimer:

The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. To determine which investment(s) may be appropriate for you, consult your financial advisor prior to investing. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. Content posted by third parties on this site is screened in order to protect clients’ privacy and comply with regulatory requirements. Content containing sensitive personal information, inappropriate language, information about specific investments, misleading information, information about other companies or websites, or information related to litigation will be removed. Content posted by third-parties on this site remains the responsibility of the party posting the content and is not adopted or endorsed by GoodFinancialCents.com or Alliance Wealth Management, LLC. Any opinions or statements posted by third parties are their own and may not be representative of the experience of others and are not indicative of future performance or success. Third party content on this site does not reflect the views of GoodFinancialCents.com and have not been reviewed by the principal owner, Jeff Rose, as to accuracy or completeness.

Facebook LinkedIn Twitter

About the Author

Jeff Rose, CFP® is a Certified Financial Planner™, founder of Good Financial Cents, and author of the personal finance book Soldier of Finance. He was a financial planner for 16+ years having founded, Alliance Wealth Management, a SEC Registered Investment Advisory firm, before selling it to focus on his passion - educating the masses on the importance of financial freedom through this blog, his podcast, and YouTube channel.


Jeff holds a Bachelors in Science in Finance and minor in Accounting from Southern Illinois University - Carbondale. In addition to his CFP® designation, he also earned the marks of AAMS® - Accredited Asset Management Specialist - and CRPC® - Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor.

While a practicing financial advisor, Jeff was named to Investopedia's distinguished list of Top 100 advisors (as high as #6) multiple times and CNBC's Digital Advisory Council.

Jeff is an Iraqi combat veteran and served 9 years in the Army National Guard. His work is regularly featured in Forbes, Business Insider, Inc.com and Entrepreneur.

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn


You Might Also Enjoy

What Is The SIPC and How Does it Protect Your Investments?

What Is The SIPC and How Does it Protect Your Investments?

What Happens When Your Bank is Seized by the FDIC?

What Happens When Your Bank is Seized by the FDIC?

How to Invest $200,000 and Generate a Solid Return

How to Invest $200,000 and Generate a Solid Return

Webull Review: Trade Crypto and Traditional Investments on the Same App

Webull Review: Trade Crypto and Traditional Investments on the Same App

How To Diversify Your Portfolio With Artwork In 2023

How To Diversify Your Portfolio With Artwork In 2023

10 Best Investment Companies in 2023

10 Best Investment Companies in 2023

9 Comments

  1. Pingback: I’m A Boring Investment Competitor. February 4, 2014
  2. Pingback: The Grow Your Dough Throwdown - Investing is Easy January 13, 2014
  3. Pingback: The $1,000 Investment Throwdown | Yes, I Am Cheap January 6, 2014
  4. Pingback: The Grow Your Dough Throwdown: My Investments January 6, 2014
  5. Zee January 5, 2014

    Hey Jeff,

    I thought it would be fun to participate in this so I’ve setup my account and I’m trying to figure out where to go from there. Happy New Years!

    http://worktonotwork.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-grow-your-dough-throwdown-beginning.html

    Reply
  6. Pingback: My Investment in the Grow Your Dough Throwdown - Frugal Rules January 3, 2014
  7. Pingback: The Grow Your Dough Showdown - My Investment Pick January 2, 2014
  8. Pingback: Grow Your Dough Throwdown: My Dividend Portfolio January 2, 2014
  9. Pingback: The Grow Your Dough Throwdown Best Investor Challenge January 1, 2014
  10. Pingback: Grow Your Dough Throwdown January 1, 2014
  11. Pingback: Ringing in a New Year with Goals to Improve Myself January 1, 2014
  12. Miranda January 1, 2014

    Got my plan in place, and I’m ready to execute when the U.S. markets open on January 2. So excited, since I’m using this as a chance to help me grow my own ability.

    Reply
  13. Glen Craig December 31, 2013

    I’m looking forward to this! I pretty much know what I’m going to invest in I just need to set up the trades. It will be interesting a year from now to see how everyone did.

    Reply
  14. Larry Ludwig @ Investor Junkie December 31, 2013

    Got my investment strategy setup and ready to execute. Happy New Year!

    Reply
  15. Jacob December 26, 2013

    This is a sweet idea! I’m in for the next throwdown when I have a bit more cash to play with.

    For this one my money’s on…..

    Joe from Stacking Benjamins (sorry Jeff). Looking forward to see how this plays out!

    Reply
  16. John S @ Frugal Rules December 20, 2013

    I’m liking the name change! Looking forward to the competition, just got my account open and funded today!. 🙂

    Reply
  17. LaTisha December 20, 2013

    Sweet! I can’t wait to get started! Time for a good ole fashioned rumble!

    Reply
  18. Steve MoneyPlanSOS Stewart December 19, 2013

    Dude, that sounds like a lot of fun! I love hearing about different risk tolerances and various market returns. I’d join buy my investing strategy is quite boring.

    However, I do have a Betterment account that I’m playing around with – just $100 going in every month. That’s the extent of my “madd money”.

    I’ve already put in $1,300 and gained $127.01 on an all-stocks ETF portfolio (not great but not bad either).

    I wish I’d known about the throwdown last year – I could’ve waited until now to start and become one of the control groups by which to measure the success of the other bloggers.

    Reply
    • Jeff Rose December 19, 2013

      @ Steve Sometimes boring wins in the realm of investing. My predictions for the upcoming year is that my account that I actually choose stocks will lose to Betterment, the peer to peer lending companies and probably even my wife. 🙂

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

  • Make Money
  • Manage Money
  • Invest
  • Taxes
  • Insurance
  • Retirement
  • Banking
  • Home
  • Credit
  • Debt
  • About
  • Contact
  • Facebook LinkedIn Twitter

© 2023 Good Financial Cents®. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Disclaimer

All written content on this site is for information purposes only. Opinions expressed herein are solely those of AWM, unless otherwise specifically cited. Material presented is believed to be from reliable sources and no representations are made by our firm as to another parties’ informational accuracy or completeness. All information or ideas provided should be discussed in detail with an advisor, accountant or legal counsel prior to implementation.

All third party trademarks, including logos and icons, referenced in this website, are the property of their respective owners. Unless otherwise indicated, the use of third party trademarks herein does not imply or indicate any relationship, sponsorship, or endorsement between Good Financial Cents® and the owners of those trademarks. Any reference in this website to third party trademarks is to identify the corresponding third party goods and/or services.