Capital One HSA (Health Savings Account)
Capital One does not offer Health Savings Accounts or HSA to non-employees.
If you are looking for a $0-fee, easy to open and use HSA account, take a look at
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Capital One Automatic Investment Plan
Capital One Investing, formerly known as ShareBuilder, is an online brokerage company operated by the U.S. banking giant Capital One. It may be
deemed wimpy by those who have accounts at ThinkOrSwim (review), but the firm holds its own to the more systematic and methodical investor.
The brokerage’s claim to fame is its low cost automatic stock purchase plan - this is the real benefit of a company's account.
A Capital One Investing client can program his brokerage account to automatically buy a predetermined dollar amount of a stock or ETF on a weekly
basis. The idea is simple: as long as there is enough free cash in the account on a Monday afternoon, the firm will make a Buy order of one or
more stocks or ETFs on Tuesday.
Since the dollar amount of each purchase is pre-set, the number of shares of the equity or ETF purchased will be unknown until after the Buy
order is made. The really interesting thing about Capital One Investing’s automatic stock purchase plan is that the account is set to make
fractional share purchases. In other words, if a client has his automatic stock purchase set to buy $30 of iShares Silver Trust (SLV – NYSE)
and $50 of SPDR Gold Trust (GLD – NYSE) each time, Capital One Investing’s systems will allow a fractional purchase of SLV and GLD. In this case the client might buy 1.09 shares of SLV if the share price of SLV is $27.50, while on the next weekly buy in
he might buy only .95 shares of GLD if the price of SLV is $31.57 that day. The same is true for a higher priced stock or ETF such as GLD.
In this case the client might buy only 0.3 shares of GLD if the price of GLD were to be $166.65/share. At the same time the client might buy
0.285 shares of GLD if the price of GLD moved to $175.46 per share the next week.
Capital One Investing will charge the client $4 for each standing Automatic Purchase that it executes. This charge is subtracted from
the amount of the standing order, which can lead the first time user to some very confusing and disappointing buy ins. If the client that wishes
to buy into SLV at $30 per week will actually have to list his dollar value buy in amount at $33.95. The trading platform will then take the $33.95,
subtract the transaction fee of $4, and invest the remaining $30 into a fractional share of SLV. Not too hard to figure out once you get the
hang of it. At first though, the client might be expecting his SLV order to be filled at $30 and get $30 worth of the ETF SLV, only to check his
position after the transaction to find his order has been filled and now he owns only $26 worth of SLV. This small difference can greatly increase
the transaction costs/share owned percentage over time.
Capital One Investing Review
Real time orders to invest in stocks and ETFs cost the client $6.95, which is a bit expensive for a bare bones trading platform. If a client
wants to buy/sell securities real time, it would be best to open an account at a broker such as Ally Invest or TradeStation, companies well-known for their deep discount prices.
Capital One Investing does not have minimum balance requirements, account inactivity or maintenance fees (this includes all retirement investment
accounts). Minimum to open cash account is $0; for margin account it's $2,000. Mutual fund transactions cost $20. In addition to
traditional brokerage accounts, Capital One Investing also offers IRAs, Educational Savings Accounts and Custodial Accounts. The firm is a
member of the FINRA and SIPC which means that client accounts are insured in case of brokerage failure for up to $500,000.
First time investors should consider setting up a Capital One Investing automatic investment plan. When you setup this feature from within your
account, you get to tell which stocks to buy and when to buy them. You are presented with a schedule which allows you to buy stocks on a weekly,
biweekly or monthly basis. When you fund your Capital One Investing account, you can choose to have the money automatically drafted from your
checking or savings account at no cost to you.
One of the most underrated features on Capital One Investing's website is their research tab located at the top of their page.
Capital One Investing's research panel rivals any other investment websites free research tools. With this knowledge base, you have the ability
to chart trends, look up current quotes, add stocks to your watch list and much more. Within the research panel, you can add stocks that you are
contemplating purchasing onto your watch list and see how you would have done if you had hypothetically bought that stock. Capital One Investing
will tell you whether or not that certain stock has increased or decreased since being put on your watch list.
Capital One Investing clients can download apps that give them on-demand look at the current status of their portfolio, lets them
execute trades, and deposit funds. The apps are available for iOS, Android and BlackBerry devices.
Customer Service
Capital One Investing's customer service department is available Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 11:00 PM EST. If a client ever has any
questions, he or she may reach an agent by phone at 1-800-747-2537. Alternatively, they can use the live chat feature located on the website's
Contact Us tab.
Capital One HSA Summary
For anyone looking to invest money automatically, or only wanting to invest in a simple mix of mutual funds, ETFs and stocks, Capital One
Investing is a good company to open an account. For a more advanced or active investors there is a bunch of better options to consider.
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