Here are 5 ways the brokerage app you love (or love to hate) can help you cash in

Robinhood is more than just a meme stock.

It shed some baby weight, learned a few lessons and, well, it’s a legit fintech company now, complete with 120,000 funded accounts (up from 90,000 a few months ago) to power its latest growth spurt. It had $3.6 billion in net deposits (the fifth straight month of $3 billion-plus deposits), a $4.5 billion margin book balance and $135 billion in assets under custody (including my $1,500+) in May.

But, it’s more than that, too.

Robinhood is a brokerage that makes building wealth easy; something it achieves through the support it lends along the way. It breaks down the processes, gives you more than enough information to make informed decisions and, in some cases, automatically adds cash to your flow so you can literally sit back and watch your portfolio grow.

5 ways Robinhood can help you build wealth while you sleep

In addition to supporting investors through its streamlined, stylish and user-friendly interface, Robinhood actually supports them financially. I should know … I’m one of ‘em.

For those of you who haven’t been following along via the newsletter (or checked my portfolio lately), I’m on Day 133 of my journey toward a $1,000,000 portfolio. I’m getting there one day and $10 at a time, but I’m getting there … and I have Robinhood to thank. The brokerage co-founders Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt are building got me into investing in the first place; the commission-free model made it possible for someone without a lot of money to make more of it in the stock market — the greatest wealth-creation tool on the planet.

To me, that’s what Robinhood is, too: a tool.

Combine the two — Robinhood and the stock market — and they can be powerful forces when coupled with consistency, discipline and a little good ol’ intelligent investing. While I’m far from that — an intelligent investor — the app is helping me make money in real, tangible ways each and every single day. It doesn’t make investing easy, but for me, thanks to all the perks that come with Robinhood Gold (the company’s $5 a month subscription service), it has certainly made it more profitable.

Robinhood will pay you per deposit

The easiest and most straightforward way Robinhood can help supercharge your returns is to simply deposit money into the brokerage.

Boom.

Done.

It doesn’t get much easier than that.

I’ve been doing it for 130-plus days (you know, in an effort to stay consistent) and, well, I noticed Robinhood added a 1% deposit match for Gold members sometime within the last couple.

The bonus is paid out over a 24-month period, creating a brand new revenue stream. For me, it amounts to about $0.01 per month, per deposit. Small potatoes, I know, but this is huge for people with small accounts like mine … my daily $10 deposits just turned into $10.10. It’s a pretty sweet deal, but, like all good things, I’m sure it won’t last forever.

My plan is to take advantage while I can.

This is after two days of qualifying deposits.

The boost, which will only grow from future deposits, will be paid out incrementally over the course of a couple years.

Gold members earn 5% interest on brokerage cash

The 1% deposit match easily takes the top spot for simplicity’s sake, but, thanks again to Robinhood Gold, earning interest on brokerage cash is automatic, too (compounded daily and paid out monthly).

It takes discipline to build a cash balance … especially when stock returns have been through the roof. I’ve manage, but it hasn’t been easy. So far, I’ve grown my cash stash to nearly $400 through $10 deposits on weekends and holidays, along with the $2.07 in dividend income and $3.38 in interest income I’ve earned so far. That’s more than $1 for every day of the year … all earning 5% interest while I sleep.

If I continue to build my cash balance, and interest rates remain where they are, that payment will only grow over time.

Here’s my own personal haul since I started growing my cash balance earlier this year.

• Interest income for February: $0.02

• Interest income for March: $0.28 (+1,300%)

• Interest income for April: $0.73 (+160.7%)

• Interest income for May: $1.27 (+73.9%)

• Total interest income $2.30

Robinhood makes investing in dividend-paying stocks and ETFs a breeze

Dividends, like the aforementioned deposit boost and ability to earn interest, offer a great way to build a passive-income stream — income I plan on using to opportunistically invest in growth stocks over long periods of time. Every now and then, I may even reinvest a few bucks back into the company that paid me.

Microsoft is one of my favorite dividend-growth stocks. It’s also one of two individual stocks I own that actually pays one. My first is scheduled to hit the account this month.

My favorite part about Microsoft’s dividend is the sustainability. The growth, which comes in as a close second on my list of favorite attributes, is also stellar. The tech giant pays a $3/share annualized dividend. The yield isn’t great — 0.68% — but the payout ratio, at just 25.37%, leaves plenty of room for growth. Microsoft has been growing its dividend for 19 consecutive years, too, most recently at a 10.23% clip over the last five.

I can live with that.

Robinhood makes earning and reinvesting dividends as easy as collecting a paycheck. The money automatically hits your account on pay day. After that, it’s up to you whether you want to reinvest the dividends into the stock or fund they came from, or put them to work into something else entirely.

Create passive income with stock lending

Robinhood has a stock-lending program and, if you opt-in, the brokerage can loan your stocks in return for a little kick back. This feature doesn’t impact dividends (if the stock pays one, you’ll still get it) and you can trade your shares whenever you want. It seems like a win-win and, while it hasn’t amounted to much for me (yet), I’ve seen some market participants who’ve been banking sizable payments through stock lending alone.

Finally, turn any stock into an income stock with options

As long as you have 100 shares of a company (which I’m miles away from with any of my positions) or enough cash to buy 100 shares of the underlying stock at the strike price, you can sell option contracts.

Robinhood makes it super easy and, once I have 100 shares of a company like, say, Robinhood, I plan on doing exactly that.

When you sell covered calls, you get the premium up front and, despite the potential for opportunity cost coming back to bite you if the stock soars past the strike price, you can leverage your position into a pretty sizable income stream.

Combined with my daily $10 deposits, the deposit boost, interest income, stock-lending payouts, dividends and options income will help me build a portfolio past the seven-figure mark. It won’t happen overnight, but it’ll happen.

Are you taking advantage of all Robinhood has to offer?

Are you a market participant?

There are more than a few ways to make money in the stock market, but you can’t take advantage of any of them if you don’t participate. Don’t have much money? Me either. I mean, I’m not investing huge chunks at a time — $10 every day — but it adds up fast. Consistency is key and, if I can build a million-dollar portfolio, anyone else with a phone, internet connection, and a little disposable income can, too.

If you aren’t already, start investing today.

Need a brokerage?

Investing is impossible without a brokerage. If you’re in need, I recommend Robinhood. Sign up with this link and we’ll both get a little something to brighten our financial futures. The best time to start investing was yesterday. Today’s the next best and, well, if you don’t start today I highly encourage you to pencil it in for sometime soon. Your future self will thank you.

Disclaimer: I’m a market participant, not a financial advisor. This is not financial advice … but it could change your life.