Hyder A., Author at Finance Throttle

Wealthfront – The Millennial and Gen-Z Advisor

Post author:Hyder A.
Post published:March 5, 2021

In 2008, KaChing! was founded. Why am I talking about KaChing!? Because KaChing! changed their name to Wealthfront in 2012 and revamped their services and platform to compete with Betterment. At the time, Betterment was well known as being the best robo-advisor platform. They revolutionized and ignited the robo-advising financial services industry. Up until recently, Wealthfront's growth was slow. Within the past 2 years, they have redone their marketing and website design to target and attract Millennials and Generation Z…

Financial Steps To Take When You Turn 18

Post author:Hyder A.
Post published:March 3, 2021

So you just turned 18. Now what? As an 18 year old, you are now officially an adult by law. You can rent a car, open a new bank account, invest, and so much more. You will also need to memorize your social security number as you will need it for almost every financial-related application. Unfortunately high school curriculums don't prepare students on the topics of personal finance and paying taxes. My aim with this post is to help introduce…

It took 6 Months to Refinance my Mortgage from 2020-2021

Post author:Hyder A.
Post published:March 1, 2021

I bought my house in November of 2018 and refinanced from 4.875% to 3.875% in June of 2019. The whole process was easy and took a little over 1 month. In August of 2020, I tried to refinance my home again to go from 3.875% to 2.5%. SIX months later, I am still trying to refinance. Interest rates were historically low. As someone who uses a HELOC, or Home Equity Line of Credit, for the purpose of Velocity Banking, I…

The Nightmare Tenant

Post author:Hyder A.
Post published:February 26, 2021

As a 24 year old landlord with limited resources, I didn't take the time to do background check aside from the interview questions. For a small 8' x 9' bedroom, I was lucky to get anyone willing to pay $300 per month with a $300 deposit. With all three bedrooms rented out, I made $1250 per month while paying a $650 per month mortgage. I was house hacking, which is another way of saying that I was a live-in landlord.…

How I make over $2500 per year Mining Bitcoin

Post author:Hyder A.
Post published:February 24, 2021

A friend of mine (get it?) has been mining Bitcoin since 2013. To date, he has earned 1 complete Bitcoin, meaning he owns about $56,000 in Bitcoin at the time of this post. When I visited his home, I found a computer mining Bitcoin in almost every room of the house. In total, he had 8 or 9 computers mining Bitcoin, including an ASIC unit specifically designed for mining. He couldn't install more because the power requirements needed to mine…

Five Alternatives to the Savings Account

Post author:Hyder A.
Post published:February 22, 2021

Brick and mortar banks offer very low yield savings accounts. To name a few, these well known banks offer only 0.01-0.02% APY - WellsFargo, PNC, and TD Bank. If you want a high yield savings account offering 0.3% to 0.6% APY, you will have to go with an online savings account like Ally Bank, Discover, Citi Bank, Capital One, AMEX, or little known small online banks like Vio and One. As with most savings accounts, you are limited by fees…

Roth IRA’s – The Rule of 5’s

Post author:Hyder A.
Post published:February 19, 2021

The Roth IRA is an Individual Retirement Account that allows you to invest after-tax dollars that grow tax-free with tax-free withdrawals in retirement. You can also open a joint-account with your spouse. Like a Traditional IRA, the contribution limit is $6000 per year ($7000 if you are over 50 years old). If you withdraw your funds early, you can be subject to a 10% penalty and income taxes. That is unless you follow the rules of 5's. The 5-year Rule's…

Ethereum – The Rising Crypto Star

Post author:Hyder A.
Post published:February 15, 2021

Ethereum is a decentralized and open-source blockchain that was created back in 2015. Its cryptocurrency is called Ether (ETH). It is currently the second largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin. As a crypto, it is more powerful and has more potential than Bitcoin (BTC) due to its smart contract functionality. Bitcoin, Tezos, and Ripple also have smart contracts, but the framework is not as robust as Ethereum. Since Bitcoin has a limited supply of $21 million Bitcoin and Ethereum does not currently…

Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps are Outdated!

Post author:Hyder A.
Post published:February 12, 2021

Dave Ramsey created the 7 Baby Steps back in the early 1990's. If you are unfamiliar with Dave Ramsey or his 7 Baby Steps, read about them here. He touted how his process was the best way to become debt free and achieve financial peace. This was almost 30 years ago, and in that time, he continued to research and study millionairres. Today, he still promotes his baby steps. While his baby steps are very effective and successful, I am…

M1 Finance – The Innovative Broker

Post author:Hyder A.
Post published:February 10, 2021

M1 Finance is a U.S. based online financial services company offering brokerage and custodial accounts, lines of credit, checking accounts, and IRA's. They are an SEC registered broker dealer and a member of FINRA and SPIC. Like Betterment and Wealthfront, M1 Finance is a robo-advisor, offering financial advice and pre-built expert portfolio's for everyone. Want a Green energy portfolio? They have it. Want a retirement based portfolio? They have it. Want a growth based portfolio or a dividend investment portfolio?…