You Invest by J.P. Morgan Review | A Beneficial Brokerage

On August 29, 2018, J.P. Morgan Chase, a financial behemoth with over $2.6 trillion in assets, brought a new product – You Invest – to its customers.

The product offers an impressive collection of trading options, tools, and resources for investors to consider.

You Invest is a new entrant in the online brokerage industry, offering all customers 100 commission-free online stock and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) trades.

So, if you love free stuff, You Invest could be your ideal online brokerage platform. here are several other factors that you need to consider. Let’s take a more in-depth look at this program and see what it has to offer.

You Invest Overview

What You Invest Offers

J.P. Morgan Chase developed You Invest with the aim of eliminating barriers to investing. To achieve that, the program offers $0 account minimums, $0 minimums on hundreds of funds including J.P. Morgan funds, and commission-free online stock and ETF trading.

You don’t have to be a Chase Bank customer to be able to use You Invest to purchase and sell stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, and bonds, but the number of free trades available to you will depend on your relationship with Chase Bank.

Namely, if you hold a Premier Plus Banking account, you will get 100 free trades a year. Conversely, if you have a Sapphire Banking or Chase Private Client account, you’ll enjoy unlimited free trades.

Opening a You Invest account is quite easy. It will not take you more than five minutes, and transferring funds between your Chase accounts happens in real-time.

Benefits of You Invest 

Once you are in, a Portfolio Builder tool will evaluate your tolerance to risk, and help you create and invest a diversified portfolio of ETFs and Stocks. In summary, here’s what you stand to enjoy when you sign up for You Invest:

• 100 commission-free online ETF and stock trades for a whole year.
• After a year, all ETF and stocks trades will cost $2.95
• Unlimited commission-free online ETF and stock trades for Sapphire Banking, J.P. Morgan Private Bank, Chase Private Client, and J.P. Morgan Securities customers.
• Access to competitively priced online fixed income trading
• Access to mutual funds with no commissions or transactions fees

Note that you may need to pay regulatory transaction fees.

How Does You Invest Work?

Account Set Up

For a Chase Bank customer, the You Invest app is conveniently accessible through the Chase Mobile Banking app.

However, if you’re currently not a Chase customer, you’ll need to visit the Chase website to open your You Invest account. Keep in mind that you must be aged 18 or above and have a valid social security number to be able to open a You Invest account.

You may choose to use your You Invest accounts as a standard brokerage account, but you do have retirement account options. You could open up a Roth or traditional individual retirement account (IRA). If you are not sure what account is appropriate for your situation, consider seeking advice from a tax expert.

Trading Terms

This investing app allows you to trade stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, and certificate of deposits (CDs).

The lowest amount you can have in your account is $0, and the app allows you to make 100 trades for free in the first year. After exhausting all your free 100 trades, you’ll be paying $2.95 per trade. This price is lower than what most online brokerages charge, adding to the long list of benefits of You Invest.

Portfolio Builder

You Invest gives you access to a free Portfolio Builder tool if you have a balance of $5,000 and above in your account. This tool is designed to analyze your ETFs and stocks to determine if the entire portfolio is commensurate with your risk profile.

Your risk profile refers to your investment time horizon, your financial goals, and your perceived capability to withstand market fluctuations.

While the portfolio builder isn’t supposed to push you into choosing certain investments, it will notify you if you pick investment options that are inconsistent with your risk profile.

Cost of You Invest

You won’t pay a dime to download the You Invest app. In fact, if you are already a Chase customer, you can easily access it from the Mobile banking app. This app also doesn’t charge maintenance fees or other charges that you’ll see in other investing apps.

However, you will need to pay $2.95 for every trade when purchasing ETFs and stocks once you use all your 100 free trades. If you are a Chase Private Client, J.P. Morgan Private Bank, Chase Sapphire Banking, or J.P. Morgan Securities client, you won’t have to pay for trades.

You also won’t be charged if you are purchasing mutual funds via the You Invest app. If you are looking to buy bonds, however, you’ll need to pay $1 for a single bond.

Keep in mind that you’re required to purchase bonds ranging from $10 to $250. If you are investing in fixed income, you’ll need to pay $1 for a trade.

Alternatives to You Invest

What Makes Chase You Invest Unique?

Affordable Account Monitoring

What sets Chase You Invest apart from its competitors is that it helps investors monitor their total portfolio while granting them the flexibility to choose from a wide range of investments.

Additionally, not many investing apps will allow you to purchase and sell assets without paying a dime as You Invest does.

Educational Resources

You Invest is also trying to ensure that investors are knowledgeable. It has a variety of informational articles in its “learning and insights” section. If you are new to investing, these articles can help you understand your portfolios.

J.P. Morgan is the product of J.P. Morgan Chase, a giant in the financial industry, which means you’re getting incredibly best research and information 

Targeted Investment Strategy

If you are looking for investments that can help you attain your financial goals, then You Invest is your ideal investing app. It will help you find the right investments based on your goals.

All you need to do is to navigate to the “find investments” section on the app. Then you can search for investments consistent with your parameters. You can adjust the parameters according to elements such as asset classes, risk profile, and management fees.

One great aspect of the app is that it allows you to review stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, and fixed income investments that fit your parameters. J.P. Morgan Chase is among the few brokerage firms that are employing technology to ensure that investors find the right investments based on their goals.

Pros and Cons of You Invest

Pros of Chase You Invest

• Free trades: Every new user gets 100 free trades per year and  Chase Private Clients receive unlimited free trades
• App: You can conveniently trade on the Chase mobile app
• Convenience: Existing Chase customers get universal account management service
• Resources: Access to J.P. Morgan’s award-winning equity research that covers at least 1,200 companies in the United States

Cons of Chase You Invest

• Fees: You pay $2.95 per trade once 100 free trades are exhausted
• Trading options: No futures, options, or forex trading. You Invest only allows trading of ETFs, mutual funds, stocks, and certain bonds

Bottom Line

By offering no account minimums, no minimums on J.P. Morgan funds, and commission-free online ETF and stock trading, You Invest has lived to its promise of eliminating barriers to investing. It has made it easy for even millennials to venture into stocks investing.

This app is ideal for individuals who are somewhat acquainted with investing and are looking to further explore the world of investing by trying options such as individual stocks and ETFs.

Offering 100 free trades a year, this investing app provides an excellent opportunity to evaluate various investment options without having to burn a lot of money.

This app is a fascinating addition in the online brokerage field. You will probably enjoy trading with it, but if it doesn’t meet your expectations, just know there are several alternatives out there that you can give a try.

 

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Got Active Kids? Here Are 9 Simple Ways to Stretch the Family Budget

Feeling Good About Yourself (the Frugal Way): Find Your Flow

Amanda writes in with one of those good mailbag questions that ends up being its own post because it deserves a longer answer:

How do you handle those days when you just feel bad about yourself and just need a perk or a treat? Like your boss yells at you a bunch and you feel stressed out and burned out and you just go do something that makes you feel good for a little bit? I usually go get something to eat (not the best) or go buy makeup.

Here are the four most common things I do when I’m feeling down in the dumps, I’m alone and don’t have a social contact to connect with, and just want to feel better for a little while.

I’ll often read a book. I’ll just go into our sun room – a nice room with lots of windows – and just read for a while. I usually will read a page turner, something that’s not particularly thought intensive but not thoughtless, either. I usually choose literary fiction (I’m just finishing up Barkskins by Annie Proulx at the moment), epic fantasy, or science fiction.

I’ll go on a hike, usually at a particular state park that’s reasonably close to where I live that has really wonderful hilly hiking trails. I’ll just go on a walk in the woods and somehow I feel better.

I’ll play a “just one more turn…” computer game. These are usually really involved computer games that require a lot of thought and focus to play well, so I tend to get lost in them. The ones that usually attract my attention are Factorio, Civilization, Rimworld, Stellaris, and Europa Universalis.

I’ll practice martial arts at home, particularly taekwondo. Going through a long routine of taekwondo movements gets me into a flow state surprisingly well.

There are a few other things I do occasionally if the mood strikes me. I’ll exercise really vigorously. I’ll play a solitaire board game. I’ll make some sort of food item. I’ll go on a long walk.

What do all of these things have in common? It’s certainly not spending money.

Every single one of them is about getting into a “flow state.”

So, let’s back up here. A “flow state” is when you’re so engaged with an activity that you literally lose track of time and place. Have you ever been so engaged with doing something that you totally lose track of time and then all of a sudden you “snap back” to reality and you’re just stunned at how much time has passed? That’s “flow state.”

The thing is, flow state feels tremendously good and, I’ve found, the aftermath feels tremendously good, too. The psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi actually wrote a book about flow state, entitled Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, and that subtitle is a big clue. Optimal experience.

I find that whenever I am able to get into a flow state, I thoroughly enjoy myself and I feel incredibly good afterwards, a feeling that lasts for a while. This is doubly true when I do it without anything hanging over my head – no impending deadlines or other responsibilities weighing me down. For example, I’ll sometimes get into a flow state when I’m doing work tasks with deadlines, but while those flow states feel good, they also completely wear me out. A flow state doing something I enjoy without deadlines or without a strict need to do it makes me feel good.

It’s possible to “lose track of time” without getting into a flow state. This can happen when you’re watching a television program, for example. You’re not really deeply engaged with the thing; rather, you just kind of zone out for a while. To me, this isn’t invigorating, but very exhausting. Think about how you feel after a day of just watching television.

Again, it’s worth noting that getting into a “flow state” doesn’t cost anything; it merely requires you to be doing something that you enjoy doing that’s engaging enough that you completely lose track of time and place.

So, to summarize, the one thing I do to improve my mood when I’m feeling down is to do something purely for enjoyment (but also not easy or thoughtless) that’s likely to put me into a “flow state,” where I’m so engaged with it that I lose track of time and place for a while. When I come out of that state, I always feel better and, more importantly, I feel ready to tackle real life problems. (That is, if I don’t just dive back into that “flow state.”)

As you can see, there are a wide variety of specific activities I can do that cause this to happen, so I consciously choose activities that do not require much expense.

For example, I know that from previous experience, I can get into a flow state while golfing, and I can also get into a flow state while working in a wood shop, but the expense of both of those things is tremendous. The startup costs of a proper wood shop are incredible (though it’s not too bad afterwards), while golf is an infinite path of expenses. So, even though I know those things can put me in a flow state, I skip by them.

What about other treats, like eating some ice cream? Sure, those things can give an immediate burst of “feeling good,” but that burst fades really quickly. I’m not left in a state where I feel good and motivated to tackle things after other kinds of splurges. Thus, over time, I’ve learned to not turn to those things that just give a quick burst of pleasure and fade immediately because they don’t really help. In fact, I usually end up feeling worse.

What if you don’t have the time for something that gets you into a “flow state”? If that’s the case, then clearing out a window for it becomes my big short-term goal. “If I get X, Y, and Z done in the next two hours, I can do this other thing for an hour or two.” I deeply enjoy those flow state activities that I have, so they tend to work really well as short-term motivators.

So my answer to Amanda is this: If you want a frugal way to boost your mood, find some things in your life that you enjoy that bring you into a “flow state” without requiring you to spend money and make them a regular and accessible part of your life. For me, “flow state” activities are the most reliable things I have in my life for feeling good in terms of things I can easily draw on when I’m alone or when I’m with others.

For me, as I noted earlier, reading, hiking, gaming, and practicing martial arts gets me there most of the time, and vigorous exercise, cooking, and long walks also work.

Of course, those things won’t necessarily work for you. If you don’t instinctively know what gets you into that kind of “flow state,” you should try a lot of things that you view as fun that don’t come with a sticker price. There are infinite things to do out there that are interesting but don’t require you to spend money.

I’ll offer up my daughter as an example because, well, she’s actually right across the room from me as I’m working on this article, so I asked her. She thought about it and she said the things that get her into that kind of state are painting, playing the piano, reading, and playing soccer.

I asked my oldest son as well, who was in another room nearby, and he told me that the things that work well for him are playing soccer, reading, doing taekwondo forms, and learning something new.

There are some overlap in those answers – we’re family, after all – but some big differences as well.

I’m not going to share a big list of fairly random ideas, but I’d suggest, for starters, trying things that your family and good friends really enjoy as low cost hobbies, as well as seeing if there are any groups or classes for free in your community that might help you dig into a hobby. You can discover those kinds of groups and activities using Meetup, the local library, and the community calendar that’s probably on your city’s website.

After I finish up this article, revise it a little, and then submit it to the website, I’m actually going to do one of those things listed earlier – namely, I’m going to practice taekwondo for half an hour or so. I’ll deeply enjoy the practice itself and I’ll probably slip into a flow state, so I’ll set an “emergency timer” for about an hour after I start just to make sure I don’t completely disrupt my day, and when I’m done, I’m almost certain I’ll feel really good and ready to tackle much of what’s left on my to-do list for today.

There’s truly nothing better I’ve found for lifting my mood than doing things that get me into a flow state. I think you may just find the same to be true in your own life.

Good luck!

Read more by Trent Hamm: 

• 16 Little Perks I Use to Boost My Mood When I’m Feeling Down – Without Spending Money
• The Happy Life on Your Path to Your Financial Goals
• 12 Low-Cost Strategies for Getting Out of a Funk

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Dear Penny: My Husband’s Overspending Is Destroying Our Finances

Dear A.,

You must feel like you’re talking to a wall whenever you want to discuss finances. A very expensive wall.

It sounds like you’re doing everything right by presenting evidence and making the case for cutting back. But since your message isn’t getting through, it might be time to take a few steps back and explore a new approach.

Have you asked questions when you talk about money with your husband, or do you just charge ahead, spreadsheets a-blazing?

Try starting the conversation with something like, “I know we’ve talked about trying to save money before, and you probably remember that I have a lot of ideas for how we can go about it. But I want to learn from you: What are your priorities when it comes to money?”

Even if you’ve argued about this a dozen times before, approaching your husband again with curiosity and a genuine desire to learn can help get you started — and on the right foot this time.

The answers might surprise you. Your husband might say that he thinks cable is worth having in exchange for spending less money on nights out, for example. Or he might reveal that he’d love to avoid paying the late fee on a certain bill, but he can’t figure out how to set up autopay without getting frustrated and giving up — we’ve all been there.  

You may think some of his justifications are dumb or that his priorities are off-base. But that doesn’t make his thoughts less valid. Investigating his point of view should help you identify areas where you agree, as well as areas that might be lost causes.

It’s also important to highlight the “why” as much as the “how.” If you aren’t unified in your goals for saving money, you’re going to be at odds trying to make those changes happen.

It’s only then that you can start re-examining a game plan for your family’s finances. He may be willing to let you take the reins of accounts and subscriptions if he doesn’t have the patience to nickel and dime them.

But you, the go-getter, will not know how to proceed productively until you get to the core of what motivates (and demotivates) your husband.

Have a tricky money question? Write to Dear Penny and you might see your question answered in an upcoming column.

Lisa Rowan is a personal finance expert and senior writer at The Penny Hoarder, and the voice behind Dear Penny.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

The Penny Hoarder Promise: We provide accurate, reliable information. Here’s why you can trust us and how we make money.

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Five Credit Score Points Could Cost You $15,000 on Your Mortgage

7 Ways to Start an Online Fashion Boutique for Free

I’ve often daydreamed of owning my own fashion boutique with piles of designer denim, trendy new tunics, and stylish jewelry hanging from eclectic jewelry stands. But where do you begin? How do you become a wholesaler? And my gosh, what are the startup costs involved!? For the majority of the population, starting a brick and […]

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Can you really bag a bargain at Outlet Stores?

Discount villages and online outlet stores can appear a shoppers’ paradise, with prices slashed on high street and designer items. But are the goods you buy worth their cheaper price tag or is all not as it seems? Moneywise investigates

While many high streets shops are struggling to keep afloat, outlet shopping appears increasingly popular, with at least three more locations planned for 2020. 

But what are you buying when you shop at outlets, both online and in store? Are you really getting items that others pay considerably more for or are you buying the dregs that no one wants or products that were never even on the high street? 

What do outlets stock?

Clothes, homeware, gadgets and electricals are just some of the items being sold off in these places, with eye-catching discounts of up to 75%. But what do you get for your money?

“Typical outlet stock will be a combination of last season, returns and seconds as well as production overruns, experimental lines and some items that are ‘made for outlet’,” says Ken Gunn, managing director of property at retail strategy consultancy Pragma, who has worked on outlet centres including Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth, Clarks Village in Somerset and Cheshire Oaks in Ellesmere Port.

And with online outlets, items may be a mix of both new and clearance products including refurbished, returns, or seconds.

5.2. Clarks Village-2-110_Brands Gallery 3.jpg

Clarks Village in Somerset claims to be the UK's first outlet shopping centre

Can you pick up a bargain?

How much you can save depends on the brand, but outlet shops, or the shopping villages or centres in which many are housed, typically claim discounts of ‘up to’ anything between 50% and 75%.

While this can sound enticing, remember stock is usually last season, so you are unlikely to find something you spotted on the high street sitting on the outlet shelves a month later. “There is so much discounting on the high street right now that it can make outlet discounts look marginal,” says Clare Bailey, independent retail expert at Retailchampion.co.uk,“so you may not get as much value from the outlet stores”.

Natalie Berg, a retail analyst and founder of NBK Retail, a retail consultancy that looks at changing shopping habits and future retail trends, agrees. “The shine has worn off due to constant discounting on the high street,” she says.

“If shoppers can get 20% to 30% off the entire season’s stock, why trek to an outlet mall where the discounts will be similar but on last season’s inventory?”

However, when it comes to luxury brands, outlets can be a way of introducing the brand to a new market. “At the upper end of the market, people aren’t price sensitive, they’re not fussed about half-price stock and willing to pay top whack,” adds Ms Bailey. “It’s a different type of customer who wants to buy those items at a discount, as they’re not worried about something that’s last season.”

Forget voucher codes

This is one time when voucher codes don’t have any value so don’t even bother hunting for them.  Most vouchers can only be used on ‘full price’ merchandise, so you can’t get ‘double discount’ by using them alongside any special offers, promotions or deals.

However, some outlet locations may offer their own loyalty deals. For example, Springfields outlet, near Spalding in Lincolnshire, offers a free ‘VIP’ card with further discounts at around 40 stores.

Where do you find outlets?

Clarks Village in Street, Somerset claims to be the UK’s first outlet shopping centre, having been going for 25 years, and now boasts 90 outlet stores including many high street names such as Marks & Spencer, Next, Body Shop, White Stuff, Joules, Jack Wills, Hobbs and Gap.

Another big outlet centre is Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth, which also features over 90 brands including Coach, Fossil, French Connection, Pandora and Molton Brown. And there are outlet ‘chains’ such as McArthurGlen, which has several sites across the UK including London, Cardiff, Manchester, Nottingham, Swindon and York. Its Cheshire Oaks site has more than 130 stores and houses a mix of high street names, such as Build-A-Bear and Paperchase, alongside luxury brands such as Mulberry and Burberry.

Other outlets, such as Bicester Village in Oxfordshire, have cornered the high-end market with the likes of Armani, Gucci, Montblanc and Kate Spade.

Livingston Designer Outlet is Scotland’s largest outlet mall and houses top-end brands including Antler, Barbour, Calvin Klein, Lacoste and Tommy Hilfiger along with high street names such as Phase Eight, Reiss, Hamleys, Marks & Spencer, Next, Body Shop and French Connection.

And the London Designer Outlet at Wembley Park houses more than 70 stores including Hamleys, Yankee Candle, Jack Wills and North Face.

95454240-93af-11e5-bd82-c1fb87bef7af.jpeg

Bicester Shopping Village in Oxfordshire

Brands for the outlet market

While the discounts offered sound tempting, you’re not necessarily comparing like for like with high-street stores. In some cases, as much as 50% of the merchandise on sale in outlet stores may be specifically made for the outlet according to Mr Gunn.

“These are sometimes labelled as ‘outlet exclusives’, but every brand is different, so the balance in store can range from 100% last season’s stock to 50% made for outlet.”

“Made for outlet isn’t always inferior quality and essentially lets consumers access aspirational brands at prices they can afford,” says Mr Gunn.

If it matters to you, you can always ask in store if the items on sale have previously been sold in stores or online or specifically made for the outlet market.

Online outlets

Many big-name retailers have online outlet stores, including Argos, Clarks, Debenhams, Currys PC World, Lakeland, and Tesco. These can be separate from their main websites or, in many cases, may be outlet stores on eBay. Some have online outlets even if they don’t have physical outlet locations.

Lakeland, for example, sells refurbished items at up to 50% off, along with a year’s guarantee, through its eBay outlet store. At the time of writing, a soup and milkshake blender (1.5 litre size) is on sale on its eBay outlet for £34.99, which is less than half the price it is currently selling for in its high street stores and on its website.

Some items sold through online outlets are listed as potentially having minor surface defects or not being in their original packaging. If you are buying for yourself you might not mind, but if you’re gifting check the description carefully if you don’t want to give something that is not in perfect condition.

Clarks has more than 50 outlet stores around the country as well an online outlet, which is separate from its standard website. Its outlet site promises at least 30% off, although the headline banner says ‘up to 60%’. However, during sale periods, you can buy current stock with up to 50% off through its standard website.

Joules also has an outlet store on eBay, but right now both its standard website along with its eBay outlet are currently advertising ‘up to 50%’ off, which doesn’t make the online outlet version look like a better deal.

If you prefer an online outlet selling multiple brands, you can sign up for free at BrandAlley.co.uk, which is a members-only designer discount site with up to 80% off around 500 brands.

Well-known brands include Michael Kors, Ted Baker, Gucci, Jimmy Choo, L’Occitane, Elemis, Diesel and Orla Kiely, covering fashion, beauty and home. We found Mulberry handbags with over 70% off and La Prairie luxury skincare at a 50% discount. BrandAlley charges a flat £5.95 delivery charge and £3.50 postage on returns.

Outlet store or online outlet?

It can be hard to compare prices for the same brand between its outlet store and its online outlet. “When it comes to pricing between the outlet stores and outlet websites, they are no better or worse”, says Ms Bailey.

In most cases, they are not likely to have exactly the same products in stock and even if they do, they may in different colours or designs so it is impossible to compare like for like. Sometimes online will have better offers, at others physical outlets – it tends to balance out.

nike.jpg

Nike has over 130 outlet stores across Europe

Looking for a particular item?

If you are really serious about bargain hunting, you may have to put in some legwork, says Mr Gunn, as not all outlets have the same stock.

“Larger chains are more sophisticated. Nike for example, which has over 130 outlet stores across Europe, has a centralised distribution system that collects unsold stock, plans the correct inventory for a specific outlet centre and then resupplies the stores,” he explains.

This, he says, means “smart outlet shoppers will visit different outlet centres as the same brand can have different stock”. 

Check the returns policy

If you are buying from an outlet, it is worth checking its returns policy. In most cases, even if you are able to return unwanted items for a refund, you may have to be prepared to trek back to the same store you bought it from.

This is because most ‘outlet’ stores won’t let you return items to their high street counterpart. But buying online gives you more rights; as even with online outlet stores, you still have 14 days to return items and in many cases, you may even have longer.

Check delivery costs when buying online. Even after you factor this in, it is still likely to be cheaper than the cost of the petrol plus time to drive to an outlet centre, and, of course, no guarantee you’ll find the same thing on the shelves there anyway.

SUE HAYWARD is a personal finance journalist who writes for publications including The Guardian and LoveMoney.com

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