Don’t Like Your Holiday Gift Cards? Invest Them! GoalMine Review

That’s absolutely right! If you have gift cards left over from the holidays or a birthday you can use them to invest and get more than they’re worth!  Listening? GoalMine is a relatively new company that offers investing options in the form of two mutual funds that cater to younger investors.  The minimum investment is $25 and is one of the best ways to get into investing and make it a permanent habit.

GoalMine offers two mutual funds, one that is based on stocks and another on bonds. Mutual funds are simply pools of investments that are professionally managed. The money you invest helps go towards the investments that are pooled together.  You will also have the option to hold your investments in an FDIC insured savings account. This allows you to tackle any of your short term and long term investing goals.

What does Goalmine cost? Are there any fees?

Unlike stock brokerages there are no trading fees and no minimum account fees. These are known as “no load” funds. However as with all mutual funds there is a management fee. This is the fee you pay for the company to manage the investments.  They do the research, buying and selling shares.  This fee is 1.12% – 1.4%.  That is essentially an entire percentage point off of your earnings. However for them taking the time to do all of the work for you it is definitely an affordable service.

What are In the Goalmine Mutual Funds Mutual Funds?

Gratio Values Stocks Fund (GRVLX)

NAV: $11.55 (Price Paid Per Share)

Top Five Holdings:

Berkshire Hathaway, Inc.	BKRB	17%
Harvest Natural Resources, Inc.	HNR	9%
Birner Dental Management Services, Inc.	BDMS	8%
Telular Corp.	WRLS	6%
Citibank, Inc.	CISCO	6%

Berkshire Hathaway is almost always a great buy and is excellent as the top holding as it gives even more diversity to the fund. The other stocks are quite often neglected. This is an exciting mutual fund that allows immense diversity.  As an individual investor it is difficult to get diversity without having 6 figures invested. This mutual fund helps solve that problem. Please know that the managers will buy and sell as they see fit so many holdings are likely to change.

GoalMine Fixed Income Fund (GRFIX)

NAV: $9.86 (Price Paid Per Share)

Top Five Holdings:

As of 10/31/2011	Ticker Symbol	% of Overall
iShares iBoxx Investment Grade Corporate Bond Fund	LQD	17%
iShares Barclays Short Treasury Bond Fund	SHV	15%
iShares Barclays 1-3 Year Treasury Bond Fund	SHY	13%
iShares Barclays TIPS Bond Fund	TIP	11%
Analy Mortgage Management	NLY	7%

This fund has not been the most profitable as of yet but as the fund manager describes it has only been in existence for over 3 months. Fixed income requires more time to mature and this fund is taking a defensive posture compared to other fixed income mutual funds. Goalmine is a bit more pessimistic in Europe. This mutual fund is a great way to make more money than a savings account but to surpass the same risk as stocks.

Another thing to consider is that this mutual fund allows young investors an entry point to fixed income and bonds that are otherwise difficult to understand.  Most bonds require minimum investments well over a thousand dollars. This way you can have exposure to all of that at just $25.

How Safe is it to Invest in Goalmine?

Goalmine might sound too good to be true or too risky. Perhaps it is too comfortable and friendly to be professional. However the reality is just the opposite. This new company is on the front end of investing for young people and is really offering an amazing opportunity to us. Do you know anyone else that will trade in your unwanted gift cards?  Better yet, someone who will give you more than they’re worth?

As with all investments there is always risk. And having a mutual fund run by professionals does not necessarily mean that you forgo risk.  You must consider your investing objectives and responsibly allocate your money. Their savings account is protected and as safe as a local, regional or national bank.  Your investments are also regulated by the SEC.

Final Thoughts – Is Goalmine worth the investment?

Goalmine is a genius idea. Look for an interview in the next couple of weeks as I would love to learn more about how they came up with this idea and some of their managers philosophy’s on investing.  Use this tool here to see how much you can exchange for your gift card and start investing!

No fees, No brokerage Costs, No Load Mutual funds!  Welcome to GoalMine.

Tagged bonds, diversity, dollar cost averaging, fund, GoalMine, income, Mutual Fund, young investors