What are investment apps?

Investment apps are bringing stock market trading and financial planning to the digital age. Simply put, they offer a platform for investing your money independently, without the need for a stockbroker or financial advisor.

The best investment apps overview

App	Best For
Betterment	Robo-advisor and financial advice
Stash	Beginning investors
Acorns	Beginning investors
M1 Finance	Automated investing
Personal Capital	Overall financial management
Robinhood	Stock traders
Stockpile	No annual fees
Wealthfront	Low cost investing
WeBull	Low or No fee trading

The best investment apps

Betterment

Betterment offers personalized investment options. It also automates the investment process from start to finish.

Betterment wants to make investing effortless and affordable for everyone. Based on your finances, needs, goals, and lifestyle, they give you a personalized portfolio of low-cost index funds.

They help you decide how much to invest and sync with your bank so that you have the option of regular automatic contributions. This robo-advisor makes financial decisions using a complex algorithm, but what’s great about Betterment is that you also have the option of speaking to a financial expert.

Pricing

$0 minimum and 0.25 percent annual fee for the standard account; $100,000 minimum and 0.40 percent annual fee for the premium account.

Pros

• No prior experience required
• Simple and effortless investing
• Personalized
• Financial advisor
• Low fees

Cons

• Rigid formula is not great for DIY-ers
• Limited to managing Betterment accounts only

Stash

Stash is an easy investing app that’s accessible to everyone. You can start investing with as little as 1 cent!

Inspired by the weight loss industry, their philosophy is about making small, easy steps. Stash allows you to invest in fractions of shares, which means you can start with as small an investment as you want.

They offer you a choice of roughly 1800 single stocks and ETFs. So there is a lot to choose from based on your desired risk, financial situation, and lifestyle. What’s great about Stash is how easy they make the whole process. They explain everything along the way and they even offer financial advisory services.

Stash offers three different plans:

• Beginner – This plan is $1/month and offers a personal investment account, debit account access, and free financial education.
• Growth – This plan is $3/month and offers all the features of the beginner plan, plus tax benefits for retirement investing.
• Stash+ – This is a $9/month plan that offers everything the other two plans offer, plus a debit card, an investing account for two of your children, and monthly market insights.

Pros

• Low barrier to entry
• Easy to use
• Includes personal financial advisor

Cons

• The cost can add up if you’re a small investor
• Limited to their chosen portfolios

Open an account with Stash today. Special promotion: Sign up and add $5 to your investment account and get $5 added to your Stash banking account! 

Acorns

Acorns allows you to choose from portfolios made by Nobel-Prize winning economist, and automatically invest your spare change.

Acorns links with your credit and debit card and automatically “rounds up” the spare change to the next dollar on every purchase.

For example, if you bought a latte for $3.60, they’d automatically deposit 40 cents to your investment account, which can potentially add up to quite a lot every month. Based on your desired risk, Acorns gives you the choice of five different portfolio options, which were created by Nobel Prize-winning economist Harry Markowitz.

This is a little different from robo-investors like Betterment that offer custom portfolios instead of the choice of a few pre-configured ones.

Pricing

$1 monthly fee for accounts with balance under $5,000; 0.25 percent of the balance annually on accounts over $5,000.

Pros

• Easy way to invest without even noticing
• No minimum balance

Cons

• Your monthly spare change may not be enough for a solid routine investment
• $1/month fee may not be worth it if you’re not investing enough

M1 Finance

M1 Finance offers automated investing in pre-selected portfolios, or you can choose from any stock or ETF.

M1 is meant for people who like the idea of automating their investments, but still want some say on where their money is going. M1 Finance allows investors to choose from any stock or ETF.

Unlike robo-investors, you’re not restricted to their pre-selected ETFs, but they do offer preset templates for beginners. You can also set up recurring automatic deposits on a weekly or monthly basis, or any custom time frame you desire.

Pricing

Free of charge; $100 minimum to open an account and $500 minimum to open a retirement account.

Pros

• Offers an alternative to rigid robo-advisor formula
• Simple, user-friendly
• Free

Cons

• Limited to 1 trade a day
• Can be confusing for beginners
• No human financial advisor

Personal Capital

Personal Capital is like a personal financial manager that offers advice, wealth management, and free financial tools

Personal Capital not only works as an asset manager service, but also provides helpful free financial tools. Personal Capital links to your financial accounts to summarize your finances and help you plan and budget your finances. You get a ton of features including a handy retirement planner or bill notification.

Personal Capital invests your money in a preselected portfolio of individual securities and ETFs, specifically to minimize added expenses and taxes. Every account also gets a dedicated advisor.

Pricing

0.89 percent fee for $1 million deposited or less; you need at least $100,000 to start using the service.

Pros

• Affordable
• Consolidates all your financial information
• Free finance tools
• Easy to use and set up

Cons

• High minimum
• Can’t customize your investment
• More expensive than most robo-advisors

Robinhood

Robinhood is a simple stock trading platform with no transaction fee.

Robinhood offers a platform for buying and selling stocks and ETFs in real time. The best part is that you invest in anything with zero transaction fees. You can also schedule recurring deposits if you want.

Robinhood offers a super simple user interface that’s easy to use. You can see a simple overview of your investment performance with helpful charts and stats.

Pricing

Free; no minimum.They do charge a monthly fee!!

Pros

• Absolutely free
• Easy to use
• Easy to sign up
• Perfect for investment DIY-ers

Cons

• You must do your own research
• Easier to make rushed uncalculated decisions
• No personalized investment recommendations

Stockpile

Stockpile is an investment brokerage app that allows you to buy fractional shares and offers stock gift cards.

If you want to buy a specific stock of ETF, but don’t want to pay for an entire share, Stockpile allows you to buy share fractions. What’s especially unique about Stockpile is that you can buy stocks and ETFs in the form of gift cards.

Trade can take up to a few days to get completed, it’s not ideal as a live trading platform. However, it’s a great option for casual investors or novices. It’s also a good way to learn about investing. Stockpile offers a bunch of learning resources and even lets kids create their own accounts with adult supervision.

Pricing

No minimum; $0.99 per trade; $2,000 maximum for gift card.

Gift cards cost $2.99 for the first stock and $0.99 for each additional stock, plus a three percent credit or debit card fee. The plastic cards cost $4.95-7.95 depending on the value of your gift.

Pros

• Not limited to expensive stock buy-in cost
• Unique gift card option
• Low fee per trade and no annual fees
• User-friendly interface
• Allows minors to participate
• Great way to learn about trading

Cons

• Longer processing time
• Not all stocks are available
• Gift recipients are stuck using this platform
• High gift card fee
• No live customer support
• Limited research tools

Wealthfront

Wealthfront is a robo-advisor that automates everything with the goal of keeping costs low. You can also get financial advice through the app.

How it works

Wealthfront looks to make you money with minimal effort from you. They create a custom portfolio for you based on your finances, goals, lifestyle, and risk level. They try to keep costs as low as possible by strategically choosing low-cost ETFs that minimize tax obligation.

Their whole interface is super simple. No complicated jargon, and the app has great resources. It can even answer your very specific questions about your goals and aspirations, like whether you can afford to take a year off to travel.

Pricing

$500 minimum investment; free for the first $10,000; 0.25 percent of your invested assets afterwards.

Pros

• Low, straight-forward fees
• Easy to use
• Simple for new investors
• Custom portfolios

Cons

• No face time with financial advisor
• High minimum investment
• Stuck with rigid robo-advisor formula

Wealthsimple

Wealthsimple is actually based in Canada, but it’s available in the US. Wealthsimple is a robo-advisor that offers special investment portfolios you may not find elsewhere. These include SRI (socially responsible investing) portfolios and a Halal portfolio, consistent with Islamic Halal principles.

Wealthsimple offers three different SRI portfolio types for you to choose from. They include:

• Conservative: More heavily invested in Local Initiatives and Affordable Housing, since those are bond funds. It essentially creates an allocation in which 65 percent of the portfolio is invested in bonds, and 35 percent in stocks.
• Balanced: Has an even split of 50 percent stocks and 50 percent bonds. With the three different portfolio allocations, not only can you invest in SRI, but you can do so based on your own personal investment risk tolerance.
• Growth: Has a higher concentration in the stock sectors, and particularly Low Carbon, which represents more than 46 percent of the portfolio. Local Initiatives and Affordable Housing represent just 20 percent of the portfolio combined. That results in a portfolio mix of 80 percent stocks, and 20 percent bonds.

Pricing

There’s no minimum investment required. Wealthsimple charges 0.50 percent per year of account balances up to $100,000; 0.40 percent per year for balances greater than $100,000. There is no additional cost for SRI investing.

Pros

• Offers SRI investing
• Offers Halal investing
• No minimum investment requires

Cons

• Higher fees than other investing platforms
• Relatively new

How do investment apps work?

Investing apps allow you to start investing in a matter of minutes. There are many investing apps out there to satisfy the needs of all types of investors. Some apps help new investors effortlessly set up an investment portfolio from scratch. Others offer a simple bare-bones platform for quick low-fee trading.

The pros and cons of using an investment app

Pros

Simplicity for all

Investment apps empower anyone of any means or skill level to start investing easily. Your app can help you set up an investing account and offer financial advice based on your lifestyle and income.

They can also automate the whole process so that you can continue building your investment without much effort.

Cheaper

By replacing human advisors with an algorithm, apps have much lower overhead and can afford to keep their fees significantly lower. Some apps even offer free trading.

24/7 access

Gain access to your financial information, make adjustments, or buy and sell anywhere you can connect to the Internet. You don’t have to wait for the work day to start. The app works around the clock for you.

Cons

Enables bad decisions

The convenience of using these apps allows people to invest impulsively, instead of making a calculated investment decision. The benefit of investing the traditional way is that you have the advice of an expert to help second guess your decisions.

Lacks a human element

Although some apps give you the option of speaking to an advisor, many use algorithms to help guide you. What you’re missing is conversations that can reveal much more nuanced information. Advisors not only know about the market, but can offer advice that’s tailored specifically to you.

Many investors are finding that the massive advantages of investment apps make the risks worth taking.

App	Price	Minimum Investment Requirement
Betterment	Standard Account: $0 minimum and 0.25 percent annual fee	None
Stash	$1/month for balances under $5,000; 0.25 percent for balance of $5,000+	$5
Acorns	$1 monthly fee for accounts with balance under $5,000; 0.25 percent of the balance annually on accounts over $5,000	None – your purchases are rounded up to the nearest dollar
M1 Finance	Free	$100 minimum to open an account and $500 minimum to open a retirement account
Personal Capital	0.89 percent fee for $1 million deposited or less	$100,000
Wealthfront	Free for the first $10,000; 0.25 percent of your invested assets afterwards	$500
Wealthsimple	0.50 percent per year of account balances up to $100,000; 0.40 percent per year for balances greater than $100,000. There is no additional cost for SRI investing.	None
Robinhood	Free	None
Stockpile	$0.99 per trade	None

Investment apps FAQs

Don’t I need a financial advisor?

Financial advisors can be incredibly helpful resources. They also give you peace of mind that your financial decisions are backed by an expert. However, many apps can provide the same type of advice with an algorithm.

Are investment apps secure?

We don’t suggest anything that we haven’t personally vetted, all of these apps come with robust built-in security features.

How much money do I need to invest?

This really depends on how much you feel comfortable investing. There are many investment apps geared to a variety of investors. Apps like Stash have no minimum investment. You could invest as little as $5.

Why should I invest?

Whether or not you are saving up for something, investing allows you to squeeze the most out of your money. Investing doesn’t require much knowledge or a huge time commitment. Plus, a bunch of these apps make it easy for anyone can start investing.

What can I trade on these apps?

There are many trading options, depending on what app you choose. Robo-advisors like Betterment only trade ETFs, while live trading apps like Robinhood allow you to buy and sell stocks in seconds.