Built In Tax Efficiency
M1 Finance allows you to minimize your tax liability by using tax efficient strategies when selling investments. M1 Finance is the only free investing platform we have come across that offers a tax efficient selling strategy.
When you withdraw money from your M1 Finance account, your investments are sold in this order:
Acorns Best For Automatic Savings
Acorns was one of the original investing apps, but it’s still around and thriving for a reason. The Acorns app makes saving and investing easy and automatic, which is suitable for both beginner and advanced investors.
One of Acorn’s main benefits is its round-up feature, which links to your bank account and sweeps excess change from each purchase into your Acorns account. So if you spend $3.30 on your morning coffee, it automatically rounds up to $4.00 and deposits $0.70 in your savings account.
While it’s not the same as learning how to make extra money, it’s close to finding free money in your couch cushions! By working behind the scenes to add to your savings, you don’t even have to think about it, which often helps people save more with less effort.
Once the money is in your account, investing with Acorns is pretty simple too. Depending on your age, investing goals, and time horizon, the app recommends one of five different portfolios. While the lack of control over your investments may be a con for some, it adds to the app’s hands-off approach to help you save and invest.
Why Td Ameritrade Made Our List:
If you are new to the markets and plan to get into active trading, TD Ameritrade is a good place to start. It charges no commissions for stock or ETF trades and offers multiple account platforms that align with various investment styles and goals.
When you’re starting out, you’ll probably feel most comfortable in the main TD Ameritrade app. As your investment skills grow, you can upgrade to thinkorswim, the premier active trading platform from TD Ameritrade. It has tons of useful features for active traders. Important for beginners, there’s a feature to chat with an expert trader inside of thinkorswim.
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Acorns Invest Spare Change
One of the best investing apps for iOS and Android, Acorns allows you to get going in just minutes without any hassle. This mobile app is loved by investors like Blackrock, PayPal, Dwayne Johnson, CNBC, Jennifer Lopez, Steve Harvey, and Ashton Kutcher.
Essential Features of This Investment Mobile App
-> Easy IRA options allow you to invest for your future using this investing mobile application.
-> UTMA / UGMA investment account for kids allows you to save for kids using this mobile app for investment.
-> More than 12,000 brands are available to be invested in for this iPhone and Android mobile application.
Available Platforms To Download:Android and iOS
App Downloading Cost: Free
App Store Rating: 4.8
Is The Money Insured
Money invested in market-based assets is not insured, meaning you could lose your investment depending on the asset performance. These assets include stocks, cryptocurrency, ETFs, mutual funds, and other asset types.
Many online brokerages are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission . For certain apps, like Betterment for example, your funds are protected up to a certain amount if the platform were to shut down. But again, this does not mean your investment is insured against market changes.
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Best Investment Apps For Growing Your Money
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Today, there are many awesome investing apps that are perfect for growing your own portfolio, even if youre starting from scratch. Regardless of whether you want to invest in stocks, exchange-traded funds , real estate, or crypto, theres something for you.
Some of the best investment apps are especially for new investors, which means you can get started with small amounts of money. Many of them also prioritize ease of use, and some offer additional learning and educational resources that can help you become a smarter investor.
What Is An Investment App
Investment apps are mobile applications designed to buy and sell stocks and other tradable assets from publicly listed companies through smartphones or tablets.
These apps let users quickly access their holdings, monitor stock market performance and track new investment opportunities. Most offer educational resources and notifications on recent market trends to keep users informed while helping them develop their own investment strategy.
Types of investing apps
Investment apps typically fall in one of three categories:
- Robo-advisors are applications designed to provide automated investment services through algorithms that need little to no human intervention. Most robo-advisors build and manage portfolios automatically, and look for growing opportunities based on users financial information and goals. The best robo-advisors offer easy configuration, solid security features and low fees.
- Discount brokerages offer users complete control over their securities. These types of apps let you buy and sell stocks, bonds, exchange-traded funds , options and even cryptocurrency of your preference at a reduced commission fee, or no commission at all.
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Best For Shared Expenses: Spendee
Spendee
- Cost: Free, with optional paid upgrade
- Bank Sync: With Premium plan only
- Free Trial: Yes
With its shared features and tracking tools, Spendee makes it simple to manage your finances as a family or household.
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Easily accessible by family members or roommates
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Free plan has limited features
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Bank account sync only available with Premium plan
Many other personal finance apps are for individual use. But Spendee allows you to create shared wallets with friends and family that you can use to manage shared expenses for a household budget.
You can import your bank transactions and let the app categorize them to tally how youre spending money each month. You can also manually add cash expenses for a more accurate picture of where your money goes. And if youre concerned about going over budget, you can set budgeted amounts for each spending category and track your progress toward the budgeted amount.
Additionally, Spendees bill tracker functionality ensures you remember to pay each of your bills and avoid late payment penalties. If youre going on a trip or another special event, you can create a category specifically for that event to track your spending and keep yourself on budget.
While Spendee offers a free version, it has limited features compared with its paid versions. Those who want to sync the app with their bank account will need to pay for the Premium version, which costs $2.99/month or $22.99/year.
Stockpile Stock Trading & Investing Made Simple
One of the best apps for stock trading, Stockpile has simplified investment tools to help users invest their money with ease. In just a few minutes an account can be set up and as little as $5 can be invested with this mobile application.
Essential Features of This Investment Mobile App
-> You are not required to pay a monthly fee with this mobile app but only 99¢ and you can reinvest dividends for free and more.
-> Custodial accounts for kids can be set up with ease using this mobile app for investment.
-> This iOS and Android app can be used to buy ETFs managed by experts like Vanguard, Fidelity, and Blackrock.
Available Platforms To Download:Android and iOS
App Downloading Cost: Free
App Store Rating: 4.7
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What Makes Publiccom Different
Public.com does not monetize its trading activity through receiving payment for order flow unlike other free stock trading apps found on this list.
In light of the GameStop market mania in early 2021, Public.com announced a change in its revenue model, breaking with how many free stock apps generate income.
They no longer generate revenue from PFOF and has introduced a tipping feature in the app, acting as a de facto commission.
The company believes they have a responsibility to lead the industry in a different direction and no longer receive compensation for routing orders to market makers for trade execution.
With the Robinhood blow up, we saw how this created a conflict of interest between brokerage and customer.
By doing this, Public.com will better align their financial incentives with the best interests of their customers.
For those interested in starting to trade on Public.com, the online brokerage platform offers a free $10 signup bonus if you make an initial deposit. Further, you can share your special link with others and gift them free stocks as well.
If this sounds like an interesting micro-investing app, open an account and make an initial deposit to see if the app meets your social and investing needs.
Fidelity: Best For All Finances Under The Same Roof
Fidelity is a financial powerhouse. You could invest with the company in a self-directed way or by using its robo-advisor services, plan for your retirement, open a brokerage, checking or savings account and apply for a Fidelity credit card.
You can trade stocks, bonds, ETFs and more. If youre familiar with Fidelity, the institution really stands out for its low-cost index funds. Best of all, Fidelity doesnt charge commissions on trades, nor are there any minimums.
In fact, fractional shares are available so you can invest as little as one dollar on a particular position if thats all you have.
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Finny Best For Personal Finance Education
Finny is an up-and-coming personal finance education web app. If you need to learn about or get a refresher on topics like budgeting, managing debt, investing, taxes, and more, Finny makes learning simple and fun through its game-based approach. Lessons are bite-sized and quiz-based. You earn gold coins when you answer questions correctly and can redeem them for tangible rewards.
Finny also has an engaging financial education discussion forum. Ask any personal finance question, and you’ll be sure to get intelligent and thoughtful responses from their community. What’s unique about Finny’s discussions is that they also have verified Financial Coaches responding to members’ posts on various financial topics, all for free.
What Is A Personal Finance App
A personal finance app is an app you can download on your smartphone or tablet that helps you manage all aspects of your personal finances. These apps can help track your spending, saving, and investing. They can also track bill payments and keep you up to date on credit score changes. You can connect personal finance apps to your financial institution to see where the money from your bank account is being spent.
A personal finance app makes it easy to keep track of your finances on the go. A personal finance app typically has different features such as a shared wallet, bill reminders, auto bill pay, and even managing subscriptions.
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What Are Investment Apps
Investment apps are apps on your phone that give you exposure to the stock market. These apps act as brokerages, allowing you to buy and sell stocks from your account. Just open an account, transfer money in and youre good to go. Every investment account is different, but they all have the same goal: to get you invested in the stock market.
What Are The Advantages And/or Disadvantages Of Using An Investment App
Brian Fry, CFP:
Using an investment app helps you have better awareness of your financial situation. An app can greatly help to track progress towards financial goals and investment performance.
using an app might lead to more trading instead of focusing on investing towards your financial goals.
Charlotte Geletka, CFP, CRPC:
An investment app can be great for keeping informed and up to date, but it can also allow you to make impulse decisions so proceed with caution.
Kaysian Gordon, MBA, CFP, CDFA, CPA:
It depends on how much guidance you’re looking for. A robo-advisor will be able to create a portfolio based on a series of questions that you have answered. However, we know that as humans, we’re way more complex than what a robo-advisor can provide.
Rickie Houston, Personal Finance Insider:
Investment apps typically offer easy access to the stock market and allow retail investors to trade various securities. The downside is that all apps don’t cater to those who prefer the face-to-face support of a human advisor.
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Why Acorns Made Our List:
Acorns is an investment app for people who know they should be investing but don’t have or want to spend the time to manage it themselves. For $3 per month, Acorns will take care of everything. That includes automatic spare change investing through transaction round-ups, automated transfers, retirement account saving, banking perks, and a fully automated investment plan.
And for both of its pricing plans, Acorns Personal and Acorns Family, the platform invests your money into a diversified portfolio of ETFs.
The big upside of Acorns is that it’s so easy to use. The big downside is that there’s a fee no matter what. This is arguably better than asset-based fee deductions which fluctuate as your balance grows. With the monthly fee, you’ll pay the same amount every year. For additional accounts and features, including investment accounts for children, you’ll have to pay $5 per month.
What Can You Invest In
Itâs totally up to you to decide how you want to invest. You can build your own unique portfolio by investing with dollar amounts in fractional shares of stock or buy full shares.
Finding the learning curve steep? You can glean knowledge from other investors, both fledgling and seasoned, within a totally transparent community.
Public is built around conversations about investing. You can start or join group chats to talk about companies and trends. Along with meeting investors at various stages of the game, youâll be able to talk to people from varying professional backgrounds for a different point of view.
One unique and notable aspect of Public is that you can choose investing âthemes.â These reflect industries and trends, and help you support causes you believe in. Via cheerful icons and succinct descriptions, Public lets you select from a wide array of causes to direct money into with your investments.
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How We Chose The Best Personal Finance Apps
To choose the best personal finance apps, we evaluated several options on the market and considered factors we felt were most important to consumers. We did not evaluate every app available. Our top seven choices were chosen based on their features, monthly cost, if payment reminders were available, and more.
What To Look For In Investing Apps
Consider these important points BEFORE choosing the best app for your needs.
- Fees: Most investing apps are free, but some make you pay per trade. Some apps, like Acorns, charge a yearly or monthly fee.
For passive investors, some apps will select investments and manage your portfolio for you. Look into a robo-advisor if you wish to be hands-off.
Are Investing Apps Safe?
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Invstr Best App For Education
Invstr is what you get when you mix learning, real-life investing and community into an app thats designed to give beginning investors a way to get into stocks, especially if you like games. The app combines a fantasy stock game, where you can assist in managing a virtual portfolio, with access to investors thoughts on stocks and other investments.
Why we like it:
- The fantasy game gives you $1 million in virtual money, and you can use the apps social network and news feed to source ideas. The months top performers win real cash, too.
- If you want to turn some of those fantasy picks into real-life stakes, you can buy fractional shares and whole shares commission-free in the app.
- The app will even give new users $30 worth of Bitcoin when they open and fund an account with $100. Invstr has also started offering commission-free trading in cryptocurrencies.
Who is it best for? You want to learn from an investing community, hear why they like certain stocks and play a fun fantasy game.
Minimum balance required: $0
Fees: $0, $3.99 for Invstr Pro. Can trade stocks, crypto and ETFs commission-free with a $5 minimum investment.
Best App For Active Investing And Saving For Retirement
Who’s this for? Similar to Robinhood, Webull offers commission-free trading on stocks, options, ETFs and crypto, with no minimums required. Users also have access to IPO and fractional shares.
While Robinhood and Webull are both great investing options for active traders, only Webull currently offers IRAs so users can manage their retirement funds along with their stocks all in one place.
Webull offers users a customizable desktop version of its platform if you prefer to trade on a bigger screen and investors have extensive extended trading hours before and after the market closes: 4:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. ET and 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET, Monday to Friday.
Webull’s app is available to download for free in both the App Store , where it has 4.7/5 stars, and on Google Play , where is has 4.4/5 stars at the time this article was written.
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