Quick Start Guide

You’re about to start your journey on Grifin! Here’s a list of some exciting and important things to make sure you’re going into this with confidence and to have a fun, successful experience. 

Refresher on Investing (all experience levels welcome): What is it? Why does it matter?

Let’s start with the Stock Market itself. The world's first stock market was born over 300 years ago to help companies raise money to grow and expand their businesses. They do this by selling parts of their ownership to people. When companies do great, people can sell these parts to others for more money, like in an auction. If a company is super popular, its parts are worth a lot. If not, they're worth less because fewer people want them.

Sometimes companies even share a portion of the money they make with their owners. This is called dividends. Not every company does this because some may believe that it is better to reinvest that money into the business so that it grows. So there are two potential ways to grow your portfolio when it comes to investments: if the company is doing well AND if it is down to share some of the profits.

So, why invest in the first place?

The simplest explanation is to let your money work for you. If you own pieces (shares) of good companies that work hard, become more valuable, and do well over time, your portfolio may grow, too. This creates a better, more positive financial future.

That is why we believe this should be a long term thing. In our opinion, the actual purpose of investing is NOT to make money quickly, it’s almost impossible for businesses to make any significant progress in a day or a week. If that is what you are hoping to do, we might suggest you try something else. Best things in life come to those who wait. 

Think about investing like you're going to the gym.

How much progress will you make in one day? One week? But if you do it consistently, day-by-day, little-by-little, it can add up. And just like the gym, you don’t want to overtrain or over do it. Only do what you can handle. Only invest what you can handle.

And yes it can be risky. Companies can go out of business and life can happen that scares people causing them to sell their stocks affecting the market. Historically, these affects have often only been short term. And a lot of people can do well when the Stock Market goes on sale like that. If you have a long term mindset and buy little by little, you would be able to capture when stocks are at a discount.

Also the benefit of investing into a lot of different companies is that if one doesn’t do so well but 10 others are doing great, it doesn’t feel as bad. You’re de-risking yourself, which is called diversification. Think about if you put all of your money into just one company and it does poorly, that doesn’t feel as good. So another purpose of Grifin is you get to invest in all of the things you use, diversifying your portfolio.*

So again, investing is a marathon that you ACTUALLY should want to run 😀. You chip away stride by stride at first, and before you know it, you’ve put away many, many miles.

Patience is the key!

As we shared above, investing is NOT a sprint; it’s for the long-haul. It’s the notion of buying stock in companies that you believe will do well over time, and grow with you.

Good things truly do take time. When you think about exercising or eating healthy, you usually don’t see results in a day or a week. In fact, it can take many months and sometimes years upon years of growth that builds up over time to see and feel your body becoming healthier.

The same applies to stocks and investing: companies generally don’t become successful overnight. They are continuously improving their products and services little by little each day, and those actions compound over time and often aren’t realized until much, much later.

Why Grifin's “Stock Where You Shop™” mantra as a part of your investing strategy?

Grifin makes investing easy and connected to your everyday spending. When you use your linked cards to shop, spend, and pay bills as your normally do, Grifin automatically takes $1 from your bank and buys $1 worth of stock in the stores you shopped at that week. At the end of the week, you see all the stocks you got in your app.

You can invest more if you want, like $2, $5, or $10, by changing it in your settings. This way, your investments match your spending habits. For example, if you switch to a different grocery store, Grifin keeps up with your new shopping choices. Just swipe your card, and Grifin buys stock in the new store each time you shop. Easy peasy!

What’s “Plaid,” and how do I securely link my banks and cards?

Trust and security are our #1 priorities. That’s why Grifin uses Plaid - a trusted financial aggregator used by 100 million+ customers and thousands of banks around the world - to securely link your banks and cards. This ensures seamless, secure connections between your financial accounts and the app. To link your banks and cards, simply follow these steps:

1. Open Grifin and click "Banks" at the bottom
2. Click "+Add Card or Bank Account" and follow the on-screen prompts
3. Plaid securely authenticates your information, establishing a safe connection.

Why do you need my SSN?

We are on your side and we only ask for what is required by law. Just like a bank, the US federal government requires your Social Security Number (SSN) when opening up any brokerage account, because we are a federally-regulated SEC-registered investment advisor.

This is for tax purposes and identification only. We are legally mandated to collect this in order to comply with all regulatory laws, ensuring that your investments are properly reported and managed. This information is securely encrypted and stored, safeguarding your sensitive data.

What’s a “dividend?” How do they work with Grifin?

When you buy stock in a public company, sometimes that company will pay you simply because you own their stock. This is called a dividend.

When you invest in a company through Grifin, any dividends you earn are processed by our brokerage providers (Alpaca Securities LLC and Apex Clearing Corporation) and are paid out directly into your Grifin account in cash every 3 months! This means you'll see the returns on your investments as the companies you've invested in distribute dividends.

You can see which stocks pay a dividend by clicking on a company’s page and look for the Dividend Yield in the bottom right corner, as shown in this screenshot:

What does “long term” mean when it comes to investing?

Grifin is NOT a get-rich-quick scheme, and any company or app or person that tells you that is probably misleading you. Long-term investing involves holding onto your investments for an extended period, typically several years or more, rather than weeks or months. By looking at investing through this lens, this strategy helps “smooth out” market volatility, giving your investments the opportunity to recover from short-term fluctuations and potentially achieve higher returns in the long run. Patience in long-term investing is key to building a solid financial foundation - we are firm believers of this.

*Keep in mind that while diversification may help spread risk, it does not assure a profit or protect against loss. There is always the potential of losing money when you invest in securities or other financial products. Investors should consider their investment objectives and risks carefully before investing. The price of a given security may increase or decrease based on market conditions and customers may lose money, including their original investment.