The right investment app can help you grow your money by investing in stocks, ETFs, robo-advisors and 529 college savings accounts. Some apps provide free brokerage accounts and bonus cash incentives for new users while others require a minimum account balance to remain open.
Wealthfront is an investing app that lets you manage and expand your investments through an automated robo-advisor for just 0.25% per year – as well as trade cryptocurrency and ETFs!
Betterment
Betterment is an award-winning robo-advisor that offers various tools to assist users in saving and investing. These include automated tax tools such as tax loss harvesting and asset location that ensure assets expected to incur high tax rates are held in tax-advantaged accounts while lower taxed assets remain in taxable investment accounts. Betterment also has a charitable-giving tool which makes giving back easier while potentially providing tax breaks through contributions made directly to charity organizations.
Betterment’s goals-based approach organizes savings and investments into various buckets with different growth and risk metrics, and allows clients to connect outside accounts for an all-inclusive financial picture. Betterment also offers goal planning tools which calculate the likelihood of reaching goals under different market scenarios as well as provide reminders and nudges to encourage saving and investing.
Betterment’s app monitors portfolio drift daily and rebalances it when it strays more than 3% from its target allocation. Instead of selling assets to achieve this balance, Betterment uses cash flows from deposits and withdrawals to replenish lagging portfolios instead.
Acorns
Acorns differs from many robo-advisors by not charging a percentage of assets as its management fee; rather, it charges a flat monthly fee of $3 or $5 instead – something which could prove costly if only investing small sums of money with them.
Acorns provides five investment portfolios with different levels of risk. It also offers ESG (environmental, social, and governance) investments and utilizes low-cost exchange-traded funds such as iShares and Vanguard ETFs in its portfolios.
Acorns offers free use and features such as Round-Ups to its users. When linked credit and debit cards make purchases, their change is automatically put towards investments managed by Acorns; you have the option to multiply this contribution two, three or ten times! It also features direct deposit, mobile check deposits and fee-free ATM network connectivity – not forgetting custom financial literacy content as well as an online personal finance coach – making Acorns an all-in-one personal finance app!
TD Ameritrade
TD Ameritrade is one of the US’s premier online brokers, overseen by top regulators and offering outstanding investor education and trading tools. Their flagship platform thinkorswim boasts high ratings on both iOS and Android App Stores for quality trading experience; thinkorswim also provides 24-hour trading capabilities, complex options ordering capabilities (three or more legs), market news updates and market reports.
TD Ameritrade also provides investors with other valuable tools, including its paper trading feature; an investment simulator that allows users to practice trading strategies without risking their real money. Customers also have access to low-cost mutual funds as well as advanced products like futures and forex trading through the TD Ameritrade app.
TD Ameritrade app is easy to use and contains all of the essential features an investor might require for success, from Level II quotes and customizable charts, third-party research reports, price alerts and price notifications, to account types ranging from individual/joint taxable accounts up to 529 savings accounts/trusts and custodial accounts.
E*Trade
E-Trade is a full-service brokerage offering an intuitive mobile app and sophisticated trading platforms, featuring investment tools and educational content suitable for both beginner and experienced traders alike. Furthermore, they have no-transaction-fee mutual funds and commission-free stock and ETF trades available as part of their offering.
Their extensive research resources include articles and videos covering everything from fundamental to advanced investing topics, with webinars on stocks and options strategies as well as exclusive order types like All or Nothing and Stop Limit orders not readily available elsewhere.
However, its customer service lacks both phone and chat support – something which may be an issue for investors who prefer those features. Core Portfolios’s robo-advisor provides goal-oriented questions to assist with creating a portfolio; plus it boasts an attractive annual advisory fee with only $500 minimum investment required to create it.
