As a newbie in personal finance, you might be a bit hesitant about investing. Yes, for one thing that there’s a big possibility that you might lose your hard earned money. Well, don’t get disheartened.
The good news is that despite the possibility of loss there are still some investment apps out there that can help you earn more. In this article I will share with you some great investment apps every beginner should use to earn big bucks quickly.
Twine (Best app for couples investing together)
- Minimum deposit and balanceMinimum deposit and balance requirements may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected. Minimum $5 to start investing
- FeesFees may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected. Monthly fee of $0.25 per month for every $500 you invest (or 0.6% annually)
- BonusNone
- Investment vehiclesRobo-advisor: Twine investing
- Investment optionsDiversified ETFs of stocks and corporate, treasury bonds
- Educational resourcesTwine financial blog
See our methodology, terms apply.
Pros
- Low minimum to start investing
- Invests money in diversified ETFs
- Automatically rebalances your portfolio
- Educational blog to help you and your partner get started investing
Cons
- Monthly fee is higher than some other robo-advisors
- No bonus offered
Who’s this for? Many people’s first experience with investing is for long-term goals like retirement. But there are a number of other short- and mid-term goals that can be easier to achieve if you invest the money rather than leaving it in a savings account. Twine, designed by John Hancock, focuses on helping couples save and invest together for milestones like a down payment on a future home.
With Twine, couples can choose a joint goal (house, large purchase, children or vacation) and identify a monetary target. Each partner then links their Twine investment and savings accounts to a checking account and sets up recurring transfers. As their balances grow, couples can see a combined account interface that includes each partner’s accounts and shows them their joint progress toward their goals.
Twine’s website says that its portfolios are “designed to beat the returns of your savings account while managing your risk.”
The Twine app is available to download for free in the App Store (for iOS), where it has 4.5/5 stars at the time this article was written. The app is not currently available for Android devices.
Acorns: Beginner automated investing
Acorns charges a flat fee of $1 to $5 per month depending on the features you want. The higher tiers include money advice for you and your family, the ability to set up recurring retirement contributions, and even a checking account with no minimum balance, ATM fees or overdraft fees.
There is no minimum investment.
Acorns is one of the best investment apps for those who want to get started, even though they may not have a lot of cash to invest at first. Its phone app is designed to round up the price of your everyday purchases to the nearest dollar then take that amount (your “change”) and automatically invest it in ETFs. It does this automatically after you link it to your credit card or checking account. Example: You buy a bag of groceries for $10.45 and pay for it with your linked credit card. The price charged to the card is rounded up to $11, then Acorns debits the difference (55 cents in this case) from your account and invests it.
Acorns has “Found Money” partnerships with more than 300 brands that work like cash back on a credit card — except the money is earmarked for investment. There’s a delay of 90 to 120 days in getting the money, which is automatically invested.
M1 Finance: Flexibility without fees
M1 Finance allows you to build a flexible, custom portfolio of individual stocks and funds or choose from dozens of premixed options for free. While it will likely appeal to experienced investors — and has a paid option that lets you trade or invest during an additional time window, among other things — it’s also one of the best investment apps for beginners who don’t want a lot of hand-holding.
M1 Finance lets you automate your contributions and supports fractional share investing, which is investing in expensive stocks without buying full shares. It doesn’t charge any commissions or the management fees that are common elsewhere, but the app can charge a $20 inactivity fee after 90 days for low balances. M1 Finance has a minimum account balance of $100, or $500 for retirement accounts.See Also:14 High-Return Investments for When Interest Rates Are Low
Stash: Education for beginners
Stash lets you invest with no minimum, and monthly fees vary from $1 to $9 depending on account type. The beginner account allows you to invest in fractional shares of an individual stock, bond or ETF; the $3 per month “growth” account allows for IRAs; and the big “Stash+” offering provides monthly market research and allows for custodial investment accounts for kids.
Its Auto-Stash feature lets you schedule regular investments, and, like Acorns, it allows you to round up purchases and invest the spare change.
Stash recommends investments to you based on the profile you build at sign-up. It’s also one of the best investment apps if you want to get digestible educational content to boost your trading knowledge.
Plus, it offers personalized guidance, challenges and quizzes. It even has a podcast.
Betterment: Goal-based investment
Betterment LLC helps you plan savings and investments for specific life goals such as funding a safety net, a child’s education, a retirement nest egg or major purchases like a home or wedding.
Betterment’s basic plan has an annual advisory fee of 0.25%. (It also has a premium plan with a fee of 0.4%, which offers access to professional advice but requires a $100,000 balance.) Betterment says the ETFs it uses have average fees of 0.11%.
It charges no other fees, and there is no minimum balance for an account.Ad
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Ellevest: Investing for women
Ellevest, as you might guess from the name, is one of the best investing apps for women and was built around research on female investors. This robo-adviser tries to account for the gender pay gap and the likelihood of women living longer than men in designing portfolios, although male investors can and do use it too.
Ellevest‘s basic plan costs $1 per month; there are also Ellevest Plus at $5 per month and Ellevest Executive at $9 per month. The higher tiers include support for 401(k) rollovers and transfers, larger discounts on financial planning and career coaching services, and a wider variety of goal-setting options.
There is no minimum balance for the basic plan. The funds it uses carry fees ranging from 0.05% to 0.19%.
Robinhood (Best app for active investing)
- Minimum deposit and balanceMinimum deposit and balance requirements may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected. No minimum required to open an account or to start investing
- FeesFees may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected. Commission-free trading; regulatory transaction fees and trading activity fees may apply
- BonusRobinhood will add 1 share of free stock to your brokerage account when you link your bank account and fulfill the conditions in your promotion (you’ll be able to keep the stock or sell it after 2 trading days)
- Investment vehiclesBrokerage account: Robinhood Financial commission-free investing
- Investment optionsStocks, ETFs, options trading, fractional shares, IPOs, plus certain cryptocurrencies through Robinhood Crypto (depending on where you live)
- Educational resources“Investing basics” blog, an online library of content and Robinhood Snacks newsletter
See our methodology, terms apply.
Pros
- $0 minimum deposit to open an account and invest
- Commission-free trading
- Free stock welcome bonus
- Plenty of investment options for active traders
- Variety of accessible learning tools
Cons
- No access to tax-advantaged IRAs
- Fees outside of commissions may apply
- Users rely on their own knowledge when building their portfolio
Who’s this for? Robinhood was the first on the investing app scene to charge no commission for users to buy and sell stocks, which prompted many other brokerages to eventually follow suit. Like the other apps on this list, Robinhood also has no minimums to open an account and users don’t need to reach a minimum to start investing, either.
Investors can easily make stock, options, ETF and cryptocurrency trades, but it doesn’t offer mutual funds and bonds, so you may need another investing app to better diversify your portfolio. Users will also have to look elsewhere for IRAs as Robinhood does not currently offer tax-advantaged retirement accounts.
Investors can get access to IPO shares through Robinhood, as well as to commission-free fractional shares so they don’t have to buy a entire share if they want in on a pricey, big-name stock.
Robinhood offers investors free rein to completely build their own portfolio, so the platform is arguably best for active stock traders who have done their research and know a bit about how the market works. Newbie traders can get in on the action, but just be sure you’re comfortable with the risks.
Robinhood’s app is available to download for free in both the App Store (for iOS), where it has 4.1/5 stars (with a whopping 3 million-plus reviews), and on Google Play (for Android), where is has 3.8/5 stars at the time this article was written.
Webull (Best app for active investing and saving for retirement)
- Minimum deposit and balanceMinimum deposit and balance requirements may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected. No minimum required to open an account or to start investing
- FeesFees may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected. Commission-free trading; regulatory transaction fees and trading activity fees may apply
- BonusGet 2 free stocks: Your first free stock when you open your Webull brokerage account and another free stock when you direct deposit any amount into your account
- Investment vehiclesBrokerage account: Webull commission-free investing IRA: Traditional, Roth, Rollover IRAs
- Investment optionsStocks, ETFs, options trading, fractional shares, IPOs, ADRs, plus certain cryptocurrencies through Webull Crypto
- Educational resourcesWebull blog
See our methodology, terms apply.
Pros
- $0 minimum deposit to open an account and invest
- Commission-free trading
- Access to tax-advantaged IRAs
- Free stock welcome bonus
- Plenty of investment options for active traders
Cons
- Fees outside of commissions may apply
- Users rely on their own knowledge when building their portfolio
- Limited educational tools
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 (traditional, Roth and rollover) 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 (for iOS), where it has 4.7/5 stars, and on Google Play (for Android), where is has 4.4/5 stars at the time this article was written.
Conclusion
The financial market is constantly undergoing changes which means investors need to be up to date with everything happening in order to ensure they don’t experience any losses. However, because of the complex nature of investing, it might be difficult for beginners to understand all the information that is around. The good news is there are many investment applications for beginners which can help you start your investment journey.