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Howdy all!
Some VERY exciting news here.
OK, so we all know who Warren Buffet is.
Most know what Berkshire Hathaway is, which is the company Buffet owns to, y’know, buy stuff.
But did you know that the return for those investors who were at the beginning of Berkshire Hathaway (in its current form) from 1965 to 2018, is a whopping… 2,472,627%… um wow.
Compare that to the S&P 500 which returned just over 15,000%
So how to get in?
If you have a cool $331,526 USD lying around, you can buy 1, yes ONE class A share (Class B costs $221 – but we only want the A-TEAM guys).
Unfortunately last time I checked my wallet, there was a total of $2.65 lying around, which makes buying anything rather difficult.
Which is where Stake comes in!
What’s Stake?
Stake is an Australian fintech start-up, primarily serving as a digital broking platform. You can check them out at stake.com.au
Their offering is targeted towards us Aussies who want quick and easy exposure to the US markets, with over 3,500 US Stocks and ETFs we can invest in.
So what?
So, the ASX makes up 2% of the global equities market capitalization, compared with over 40% for the US – if you wanted to diversify some of your holdings, or access the largest equities market… the US is it.
Personally, I am EXCITED to have this access, and with such ease as well!
How?
Just by signing up!
The best feature of Stake, in my humble opinion – is the interface.
You can see it’s targeted towards the younger crowd and quite intuitive to use.
Here is the home page on the desktop version below.
You can sign up via the mobile app as well!
Sign-up!
I was blown away by how easy it is to sign-up.
Account type:
Get Started:
Your profile:
Employment Details
KYC/Account Verification:
Add funds:
And that’s it! WOW so simpaul!
What do they charge?
Ah, yes, fees and charges…
From their company website: https://hellostake.com/pricing/
Cheap, cheap, cheap!
Although still recommend that you read their pricing breakdown in full (link here), before doing anything.
What to buy?
Ahhh, the ultimate question isn’t it? The world is your oyster here.
All the well-know brands, Amazon, Apple, Tesla, Netflix, Google, Alibaba… sigh, you know, 3,500+ of stocks, stocks, stocks (oh and ETFs as well!)
The cool thing here is you can filter through what you like:
Needless to say, yours truly was like a kid in a candy store.
How to get into BRK.A?
For those of you who don’t know the lingo, BRK.A is the Berkshire A class shares I talked about earlier.
Well, in conjunction with Stake’s fractional share offering, you can trade a fraction of BRK.A. (down to four decimal places) and be the rightful owner (fractionally) of the stock.
Note, I have insufficient funds myself, as I only have $2.65 remember.
Is it safe?
It’s the internet here guys, nothing is guaranteed.
But you ask a prudent question, and you can find the answers to this and more on their support page (here, here and more specifically here).
Oh and for those of us who love reading the T’s and C’s, have a read of their disclosures library (here).
And remember, no one is forcing you to do anything!
What’s in it for TheFrugalSamurai?
Nothing! Your unrequited love and devotion is payment enough.
No, sorry I lie, there is a small benefit for myself.
I receive a nominal amount for each successful referral (would need millions in order to FIRE, c’mon people – $2.65 ain’t gonna multiply by itself).
If you are so kind as to warrant a mention to this humble blogger, then upon signing up, there is a part where you put a “referral code” on the Get Started screen.
Please put in: TheFrugalSamurai
Muchas Gracias.
Stake in the media
If you still want more information about Stake, there’s quite a bit of media attention which they generated:
‘Be your own hedge fund’: Investment startup Stake raises $3.5m
Stake: A trading platform for US stocks
Stake: An App For Investors Looking To Trade US Shares
REVIEW: We test-drove Stake, the app that gives Aussie investors access to US stocks and ETFs
Final words
Remember, a flashy platform and intuitive interface is good. Exposure to international markets is good. Minimal fees and brokerage is good.
But nothing but nothing, beats your own research and sound financial management.
Every form of investing/trading has risks.
If you’re not up to them, just don’t do it.
But if you are, there are worse ways to do it than using Stake.
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