November 2021 - HappyNest

Introducing Loose Change

Nov 29, 2021

We’re excited to share some big news with you!

Here at HappyNest, we want to help you achieve your financial goals. That’s why we have developed Loose Change, a tool designed to help you build your nest egg consistently and organically with your day-to-day purchases.

We know it can be hard to put aside chunks of cash into investing accounts. Loose Change allows you to contribute to your investment portfolio incrementally – a few pennies here, a nickel and dime there – over time. A little change in your growth strategy can add up to a big change in the long run. That’s especially true when it comes to building wealth. As the old saying goes: It’s not timing the market. It’s time in the market.

Consistency and time are the no-so secret ingredients. Loose Change was developed to make contributing to your financial future easy, manageable, and methodical.

How it works

As you go about your life, Loose Change will track your daily purchases and calculate the number of cents it would take to round up the total to the next nearest whole dollar.

For example, if you buy a coffee and your total comes out to $3.69, Loose Change tallies an additional $0.31 cents to bring that purchase amount up to $4.00 even.

That $0.31 is called a Round Up. That $0.31 round up gets pooled with other round ups from the rest of your regular purchases.

Every time your cumulative Round Ups reach $5.00 total, we’ll automatically deduct that amount from your linked bank account and invest it in your HappyNest account. Contributing to your financial future will be a built-in part of your daily life.

How to opt-in

Loose Change is only available to current HappyNest investors. In order to sign up for this feature, you will have to have an active account with HappyNest.

You will also need the most up-to-date version of the HappyNest app. You can check that you have the latest version by going to your personal profile on your device’s App Store. If you have an older version, you’ll see a button that says ‘Update.’ (You know what to do.)

Once you have the latest version, hop back into the HappyNest App and login to your account.

At the top of your HappyNest home screen, you’ll see a banner that says ‘Try Round Ups for Free.’

Click on that banner, and you’ll be directed to the Loose Change self-guided setup process.

After agreeing to the terms and conditions, you’ll connect either a credit card or bank account through our partners at Plaid.

You can connect Loose Change to credit card, debit card, or bank account. Round-ups will only be tallied based on designated linked payment sources.

Tracking your Loose Change Round Ups

Once you have connected a payment method to Loose Change, you will be able to view your purchase history and the resulting round ups in your HappyNest account.

This activity log can be found on your HappyNest profile’s home screen.

Turbo charge your nest egg

Loose Change also offers a multiplier feature on round ups for those who want to turbo charge their portfolio contribution activity.

You can access the multipliers feature by clicking on Account Settings on the Loose Change activity log screen.

There you’ll have the option to add a 2x, 5x, or 20x multiplier to your Round up contributions.

Try Loose Change for free

As a HappyNest investor, we invite you to try out Loose Change free of charge. We want you to see for yourself what a difference your Loose Change can make over time.

This free trial is good for six months. After that, you can continue to use the feature for just $1 per month.

FAQs

Can I link more than one account/card to Loose Change?

Currently, Loose Change only supports one linked payment method. We recommend linking your most active account or card to maximize your regular spending activity’s impact on your investing portfolio.

When I go to sign up, it shows Round Ups as ‘coming soon.’ Am I not eligible to sign up?

If you see ‘Coming soon’ in the opt-in banner on your home screen, you may have to log out of the app, turn off the ‘Remember me’ toggle on the login page, and sign in manually.

Once you log back in, you should see “Let’s get started’ where ‘Coming soon’ appeared before. If you continue to see ‘Coming soon’ after logging out and logging back in, please reach out to us at info@myhappynest.com and we would be happy to assist. You can also send us a chat message.

Will Round Ups be charged to my linked credit card?

No. If you link a credit card as the purchase log on which to base your Round Ups, the actual drafts will still be deducted from the bank account you have linked to your primary HappyNest account.

Bottom line

Making your money work for you is the key to financial success and independence. Loose Change is an easy and effortless way to grow your nest egg. Combined with other tools such as our auto-invest feature and dividend reinvestment option, you can manageably build your portfolio into a passive income producing machine.

Download the HappyNest app:

HappyNest is an alternative way to ‘invest in what you know’

Nov 14, 2021

By Jesse Prince

Peter Lynch, a multi-hundred millionaire investor and Fidelity investment manager, has been vocal about his leading investment philosophy: Invest in what you know.

Many investors look up to Warren Buffet. He is widely considered one of the greatest investors of all time.

He echos Lynch’s sentiment: ‘Don’t invest in a business you can’t understand.’

Whether that be drawing on your professional experience or your observations as an every day consumer, understanding what companies offer and how they make their revenue is step one in effectively vetting potential investment opportunities.

You’re probably aware that CVS is a shopping center staple with a national presence. You know that FedEx has had tremendous growth over the last decade; perhaps its role within your own life has grown. With the rise of e-commerce, you probably also can understand why the services of shipping companies like FedEx are becoming ever more central to the functioning of our shape-shifting economy.

Think outside of the stocks

Sure, you could invest in these companies by buying shares of them in the stock market.

Or you could leverage their success, stability, and growth prospects by investing in the critical infrastructure these businesses need to operate.

HappyNest is an alternative investment that fits the bill.

We own a portfolio of commercial and industrial properties and lease them out to the likes of CVS and FedEx.

By buying shares of HappyNest, you become a partial owner of these properties. You’ll also become a partial landlord to these Fortune 500 companies. As a shareholder, you’ll get a slice of the rental income and enjoy the value appreciation of our properties.

Best of all, you start building your personal passive income stream.

HappyNest’s portfolio consists of in-demand properties with tenants you know

It’s not hard to see that the demand for the properties in our portfolio is unlikely to wane anytime soon.

Industrial shipping property in Fremont, Indiana

Consider our industrial shipping center based in Fremont, Indiana. With the rise of e-commerce, facilities like these are already rapidly appreciating in value, and are projected to see exponential growth.

And that’s just to support current demand.

But it’s hardly the end of the e-commerce sector’s growth. Current forecasts estimate 30% expansion or more by 2024.

That makes it hard to imagine a property like this will struggle to find tenants or face value depreciation.

Commercial retail property in East Hampton, MA

Our portfolio also has a commercial retail asset. This 8,775 square foot property is located in East Hampton, Massachusetts.

While the commercial retail sector experienced market volatility in recent years due to the pandemic and social distancing, our property is home to a CVS pharmacy.

Because many pharmacy offerings require in-person consultations, business operations in this sector have fared moderately well through lockdowns. We haven’t experienced any interruptions in rent and don’t expect to with this well-established tenant. CVS still has twelve years left on the active lease.

The long-term nature of the lease, and considering our estimations for this property’s value appreciation during the lease period, the rental rate on this property is on a five-year tiered plan.

Every five years, the rental income will increase. CVS has already accepted these future rent raises as part of the contract. These scheduled rent increases amount to approximately a 10% bump every five years.

Those rent increases will be trickle back to HappyNest shareholders in the form of higher rental yields.

Translation: Revenue growth is already in the signed contracts.

HappyNest likes to keep things simple

Here at HappyNest, we strive to streamline our own operational costs so that value add and revenue can be passed right on to our investors.

One advantage we have is that though the properties in our portfolio are high value, they generally require one tenant. That means we don’t have to invest time and resources to continuously fill vacancies as an apartment building or shopping complex might require. It also means less fluctuation in dividend payments based on vacancy rates and overhead.

We prefer to keep things simple and consistent. As we look to add to our portfolio, we consider the property’s long-term prospects, what kind of companies and industries would be interested in that property, and select for the best combination of high value and lowest management overhead possible.

Less paperwork. More dividends.

When you invest in HappyNest, you invest in what you know

HappyNest is a strategic approach to ‘invest in what you know.’ It’s thinking outside of the box and finding ways to invest in valuable, stable companies outside of the stock market.

If you agree that e-commerce will probably continue to see healthy growth in coming years, you can probably see why we think industrial shipping centers won’t fall out of fashion.

If you agree that many pharmacies will continue to require in-person visits for many of their offerings, you’ll probably be on the same page with us regarding reliable demand for properties like ours.

It’s not too hard to understand that managing one or two tenants per property is easier than managing many.

Having tenants like FedEx and CVS is also a major advantage, because the outlook for these major corporations over the next few years suggests they will have no problem making rent. We bet most people never considered that they could become the landlords of Fortune 500 companies. But with HappyNest, they absolutely can.

Grow your yields as we grow our portfolio

As HappyNest’s collective investing base grows, we will use our pooled capital to acquire more properties.

Your principle capital investment is reinvested into more assets, expanding your portfolio, tenants list, and dividend income. Brick by brick, you’ll be steadily building your financial future and making your money work for you.

Warren Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha, says: “If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.”

But as HappyNest’s portfolio grows – and whenever corporate America’s rent comes due – you’ll be sleeping like a baby.

Saving vs. investing: Which should you be prioritizing?

Nov 9, 2021

By Tanja Fijalkowski

Saving vs. investing – the age old question. Which makes more sense for your long-term financial future?

Both saving and investing come with their own risk-reward profiles, and the best strategy varies from person to person. Sometimes, it makes sense to change course due to the changing external factors of life.

Here, we’ll explore the profiles of both for your consideration to help you better understand the merits and drawbacks.

Macroeconomics of saving vs. investing

Context is key.

Macroeconomics (i.e., the ‘big picture’) are important considerations when comparing saving vs. investing.

Some key concepts worth factoring into your decision making are inflation and the dollar’s purchasing power.

They are functions of each other. They have an inverse relationship. When inflation is up, the dollar’s purchasing power goes down. That’s because when inflation is high, the prices of goods and services goes up. You have probably noticed an increase in the cost of many regular expenses – your groceries, a tank of gas, perhaps your rent. This is the product of inflation.

Say every year, you allocate $100 to take your friends out to the movies while they’re all in town for the holidays. You’ve been doing it for decades.

In the year 2000, when movie ticket prices were $5.66, you would have been able to bring along 17 friends. In 2020, when the national movie ticket price averaged $9.31, you would have to make a few cuts, because now, you can only afford 10 tickets with the same amount of money.

You’re still putting up the full $100 – but what you can buy with that money has gone down.

While there are several economic indicators used to measure inflation rates, the one that is generally most significant for average Americans the CPI index. The CPI index measures a basket of consumer goods – from food, to gas, to rent – to estimate the increase in the overall cost of living.

As last reported by the Department of Labor, the CPI index has increased by 5.4% for the 12-month period ending in September 2021. That means life is about 5.4% more expensive than it was a year ago.

With that, we have some framework in which we can better assess if saving or investing makes more sense.

Risk management

The world of finance, proper due diligence doesn’t only evaluate potential gains and losses. It’s also about risk management.

Risk management considers the probability of different outcomes.

You likely weigh out the probabilities of different outcomes often in your daily life. For example, you look up a car mechanic in your area on Yelp! You find two – one that has numerous 5-star glowing reviews, and another with numerous 1-star complaints. The former is more expensive.

But you decide to do business with them despite the higher cost, based on from pervious customers. You are betting that the lower the risk of getting ripped off or having a faulty repair done – worth the extra cash.

This assessment of likelihood of desired outcome is arguably more important than determining potential outcomes. After all, most people would take 50-50 odds of winning $1,000 than a one in a million chance of winning a million dollars.

Savings: A guaranteed loss

For most people, keeping their money in a savings account feels safe. It is safe in that money kept in a savings account is secure and insured.

Additionally, money kept in a savings account is essentially instantly accessible in times of need. If a financial emergency required $5,000 to be paid on the spot, having the money in a savings account readily available can prevent you from having to put the expense on credit and pay interest rates in the 20%+ range.

But by other measurements, it’s quite unsafe. With inflation rates topping 5% in just one year, the value of your money it is a guaranteed loss. In other words, there is a 100% chance that the purchasing power of your savings accounts will decline as inflation goes up.

With inflation rates at historical highs and showing no signs of subsiding, it’s critical to understand that money sitting in a bank savings account is losing value.

If your bank pays you an annual interest rate, that does help a little. But with most bank savings accounts offering around 0.5% interest annually, it is hardly offsetting about 10% of the value lost to inflation.

In a nutshell, given the current rate of inflation as the cost of living goes up, the risk-reward profile of keeping money in a savings account breaks down to:

Loss potential: Very high probability
Loss max: Capped at the rate of inflation (-5.4% in purchasing power for 12-month period ending in September 2021.)
Gain potential: Very low probability
Gain max: Decline in the cost of living
Other considerations: Easy access to funds

Investing: A risk of loss, and potential to gain

The alternative way to store your hard-earned dollars is in the form of investments.

With a savings account, you can, with a fair degree of certainty, know what to expect.

Investing on the other hand has many more possible outcomes, each with its own risk-reward profile.

However, with investing, there is a much higher probability of staying ahead of inflation in the form of returns. If a $100 investment produces 6% in returns for in a year, the extra $6 in profit fully offsets the purchasing power erosion effects.

Funds held in investments aren’t any more protected from inflation than those held in savings accounts. But unlike money kept in savings accounts, there is potential to gain on investments – potential that essentially does not exist with savings accounts.

No investment is risk free

As a general rule of principal, the higher the risk, the higher the potential reward. Traditionally, the safer the investment, the lower the reward potential. The higher the risk, the higher the potential returns – but also a lower probability of hitting those returns, and a higher possibility of losing your investment.

For example, odds of ‘losing it all’ on blue chips stocks aren’t high. Companies like Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson are likely to survive even sharp market corrections.

But they aren’t likely to top the potential gains of a unicorn penny stock that really hits it big. That being said, for every unicorn penny stock investor that hits it big, there were thousands of others who took losses on penny stocks.

Every investor has to decide their own risk tolerance.

In sum, the risk reward profile of investing:

Loss potential: Very low–very high (depending on investment, e.g., blue chips vs. penny stocks)
Loss max: Capped at initial investment (unless engaging in short selling)
Gain potential: Very low–very high (depending on investment, e.g., blue chips vs. penny stocks)
Gain max: Uncapped; infinite potential
Other considerations: Lower liquidity. Some investments, like stocks and crypto add a 1–3 business day delay to access your funds; alternative investments, such as real estate or commodities could make accessing your funds a long and involved process.

Saving vs. Investing

While everyone’s financial situation is different, with inflations eating away over 5% of the dollar’s purchasing power every year, keeping money in a savings account is in effect an almost certain loss.

Investing on the other hand, opens up the possibility of staying ahead of inflation.

For example, HappyNest is an REIT portfolio you buy into for just $10 per share. On average, the quarterly dividend payments average 6% a year, topping inflation’s erosion on your purchasing power.

In addition to the quarterly dividends, as the properties in our portfolio gain value, your investment does as well. As such, you not only keep pace with inflation and preserve your nest egg’s purchasing power, you also can gain value on your capital while it is invested.

Priorities

Remember: It’s not really about movie tickets, rent, the price of gas, etc.

Most Americans work for wages or salaries. They exchange their time for money.

In a savings account, time works against you. It erases hours you already clocked in – hours away from your family, your friends, your hobbies, your pets. Smart investing makes time your friend, opening up the opportunity to buy some of it back in the future.

Because it is time – not money – that is life’s most precious, limited and valuable asset.