Best Investment Apps Of 2020 - Investing At Your Fingertips

Investors are dumping their financial advisors and stockbrokers for an app. That’s because investment apps offer lower fees and the convenience of making trades on the go.

Investment apps also reduce the barrier to entry for new investors who can easily get started without much experience, time or money.

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

The best investment apps

Betterment

Overview

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

How it works

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

Open a Betterment account today or read our full Betterment review.

Stash

Overview

Stash is an easy investing app that’s accessible to everyone. You can start investing with as little as 1 cent¹. Terms and conditions apply*

How it works

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 as 1 cent.¹

They offer you a choice of roughly 1800 single stocks and ETFs.² 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 education.

Pricing

Stash offers three different plans:

• Beginner – This plan is $1/month and offers a personal investment account, bank account access⁴, and financial education.³
• Growth – This plan is $3/month and offers all the features of the beginner plan, plus accounts with tax benefits for retirement⁵ investing.³
• Stash+ – This is a $9/month plan that offers everything the other two plans offer, plus a debit card, custodial accounts (UGMA/UTMA) for up to two of your children⁶, and monthly marketing insights.³

Pros

• Low barrier to entry
• Easy to use
• Includes financial education

Cons

• The cost can add up if you’re a small investor

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! 

Money Under 30 is a paid Affiliate/partner of Stash. Investment advisory services offered by Stash Investments LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser.

Acorns

Overview

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

How it works

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

Open an account with Acorns today or read our full Acorns review. 

M1 Finance

Overview

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

How it works

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

Open an account with M1 Finance today or read our full M1 review. 

Personal Capital

Overview

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

How it works

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

Open an account with Personal Capital today or read our full Personal Capital review.

Robinhood

Overview

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

How it works

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.

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

Open an account with Robinhood today.

Stockpile

Overview

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

How it works

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

Open a Stockpile account today. 

Wealthfront

Overview

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

Open an account with Wealthfront today or read our full Wealthfront review.

Wealthsimple

Overview

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

How it works

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

Wealthsimple Disclaimer:
MoneyUnder30 has entered into a referral and advertising arrangement with Wealthsimple US, LTD and receives compensation when you open an account or for certain qualifying activity which may include clicking links. You will not be charged a fee for this referral and Wealthsimple and MoneyUnder30 are not related entities. It is a requirement to disclose that we earn these fees and also provide you with the latest Wealthsimple ADV brochure so you can learn more about them before opening an account.

Open an account with Wealthsimple today.

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.

Investment apps FAQs

Don’t I need a financial advisor?

Financial advisors can be incredible 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.

Summary

Investing really doesn’t need to be complicated. Investing apps empower us to take control of our finances. Whether you have $5 in your bank account or you’re a seasoned investing pro, everyone can benefit from having simple investment resources at our fingertips.

Read more

• Robo-Advisors vs. Discount Brokers—What You Need to Know
• The Pros And Cons of ‘Spare Change’ Investment Apps

*Terms and conditions apply – Stash legal disclosures

This material is not intended as investment advice and is not meant to suggest that any securities are suitable investments for any particular investor. Investment advice is only provided to Stash customers. All investments are subject to risk and may lose value.

¹For Securities priced over $1,000, purchase of fractional shares starts at $0.05.

² Before investing in any exchange-traded fund, consider your investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses.

³ You’ll also bear the standard fees and expenses reflected in the pricing of the ETFs in your account, plus fees for various ancillary services charged by Stash and the custodian.

⁴Account opening of the bank account is subject to Green Dot Bank approval. Bank Account Services provided by and Stash Visa Debit Card issued by Green Dot Bank, Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. Investment products and services provided by Stash Investments LLC, not Green Dot Bank, and are Not FDIC Insured, Not Bank Guaranteed, and May Lose Value.

⁵Stash does not monitor whether a customer is eligible for a particular type of IRA, or a tax deduction, or if a reduced contribution limit applies to a customer. These are based on a customer’s individual circumstances. You should consult with a tax advisor.

⁶ The adult (or Custodian) who opens the account can manage the money and investments until the minor reaches the “age of majority.” That age is usually 18 or 21, depending on the Custodian’s state. The money in a custodial account is the property of the minor. Money in a custodial account can be used by the parent or legal guardian, but only to do things that benefit the child.

⁷Promotion is subject to terms and conditions.