Investing is a great way to take your finances from mediocre to professional.
You might have never invested before because it seems like a big complicated hassle. But it's not!
Investing is a way to make your money grow. You can also use investments to help you fast track savings for important things in life like retirement, a home, to guard you against inflation, or to start your own business.
With an investment app, you can start investing today, in small amounts, all from your phone.
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What is Investing?
Investing is when you put money into something that can return even more money to you sometime later in the future.
You might put money into a business, a project, real estate, or in stocks. The purpose of these investments is to grow your initial monetary investment into a profit later on.
Why Should You Invest?
It's important to have a diverse financial portfolio. A diverse financial portfolio means having a healthy savings account, an emergency fund, assets, and investments.
This gives you multiple sources of income, future capital, and emergency capital. Investing can grow your wealth and help prepare you for future expenses.
Best Investment Apps for Beginners
Not all investment apps are created equal.
Some are great for beginners while others are great for investors who are already professional.
Many beginners to investing should try any of the micro-investing apps because they usually have little to no fees and allow beginners to start small.
Another great option for beginner investors is to see if the financial provider you already use has any investing options.
Many financial institutions have investment accounts and even apps you can use to easily manage your bank account right alongside your investment accounts.
Here's a list of some other investment apps that are great for beginner investors:
- Acorn Investment App
- Robinhood Investment App
- Stash Investment App
- M1 Finance Investment App
- Betterment Investment App
Micro Investing Apps
Micro investing is just what it sounds like. Instead of investing large amounts of funds, you invest small amounts of money.
Many investing accounts have minimum amount requirements and service fees that are too high for the average person.
But with micro-investing, you can invest just a little. If you have even a few cents to spare, you can invest what you can and start building this part of your financial portfolio.
Below are some apps you can download today to start investing your spare change.
- Acorns Investing App
- Stash Invest App
- WiseBanyan Investment App
These apps like Acorns, Stash, and Robinhood might suit your specific purposes.
This is why it's important to sit down and consider what your goals are before you invest. Then you can enact a strategic plan for your investments.
Don't go into investing alone.
Bring the proper tools with you by researching and committing to one of the best investment apps.
Free Investing App
Some investment apps come with management fees.
These are because professionals are helping you handle your financial portfolio through the app. But there are some free investment apps too. Don't be afraid to ask around too, like on helpful finance subreddits, for which investing apps people prefer.
Below are just a few examples of some free investing apps you could jump on and start using today!
- Personal Capital
- Betterment
- Acorns
- WeBull
- Robinhood
- Ally Invest
- M1 Finance
- Fundrise
Best Stock Investing Apps
Each investment app comes with its own features. So some investing apps are better for stock investing, free investing apps, and micro investing apps.
The best stock investing apps will help you buy, sell, and trade stocks from your phone. Some great stock investing apps include:
- TD Ameritrade
- Fidelity
- Webull
- SoFi
- tastyworks
- Ally
Best Real Estate Investing Apps
Real estate is its own sector of investing. The market has different rules and guidelines to follow when investing in properties.
Real estate investing can also be a really popular way to invest all while getting into the real estate business.
When investing in real estate though, you don't just need a place to keep and manage your brokerage accounts.
You also need apps like Zillow to help you find properties for sale that you can invest in and other apps that help you manage the residents at your rental properties.
- Fundrise
- Alpha investment app
- Rentometer
- Personal Capital
- Landlord Studio
- Zillow
The cash app is a finance app that can help you manage all your money. You can pay people you know, get a free debit card that comes with discounts when you use it, and get faster direct deposits for your paycheck!
The Merrill Lynch Edge app has all the features you could ever need.
You can get alerts, move money, deposit checks, utilize the secure message center, use touch ID, and even customize your dashboard.
Make a seamless portfolio for each business if you're juggling multiple investments and see important data about your finance portfolios, all in one spot.
TD Ameritrade is one of the best trading apps you can find.
It's so easy to trade with the TD Ameritrade app too because there aren't a million fees for everything you do.
You can trade stocks, ETFs, and keep easy tabs on the market. Just set up alerts and you'll always be the first to know when the stock market changes in your favor.
On the E Trade app all you need to do is follow 4 simple steps to get into the market and start investing like a pro.
E Trade will help you build your portfolio so you don’t have to figure it all out on your own.
E Trade also has an easy to follow, step-by-step guide to help you trade when you're ready.
What's more, E Trade offers zero commissions, so your transactions on E Trade won't be loaded with tons of fees.
The Robinhood app's goal is to make investing easy and accessible to everyone.
Robinhood charges a monthly fee for its margin-lending service, Robinhood Gold.
But Robinhood also doesn't have commission fees to block you from getting on the investment wagon today.
Acorns is an investment app that rounds up your expenses to the nearest dollar and invests that spare change.
Acorns costs $1 a month for accounts under $5,000.
Once you have invested more than $5,000, Acorns charges an annual fee of 0.25 percent of your assets.
This is how many investment managers charge for their services, but something to consider nonetheless.
On the Stash app, you can start investing with whatever funds you have to spare.
This is because Stash lets you invest in fractional shares, so you don't have to pay the larger expenses of an entire share to start investing today.
Stash charges a monthly fee of $1 to $9 depending on the type of plan you choose.
While Stash offers several learning tools, and its unique search method helps you find ETFs that match your goals or values, the app doesn't actually manage money for you as robo-advisors do.
You can invest and so much more with the SoFi app. Pay off debts sooner, get the loans you need, or refinance your mortgage!
The base service costs at Sofi are $0 for anyone with an existing SoFi loan or anyone with less than $10,000 in assets invested at SoFi.
If you have more than $10,000 to invest or if you aren't a current SoFi borrower the cost is a rate of 0.25% per year.
At Ally invest, you can actually choose between self-directed trading and a managed portfolio.
Ally also provides beautiful charts and graphs to help you in your investment and finance portfolio endeavors.
Another great aspect about Ally Invest is that you can start investing in a managed portfolio for just $100.
With Schwab trading services you can enjoy $0 commissions and $0 online options and trades.
Your satisfaction is guaranteed with some of the best trade prices around.
The platforms available to Schwab users are award-winning with fast execution speeds.
The Schwab investing app also gives users unlimited access to all kinds of trading platforms and trade support.
The Fidelity investing app is a useful choice for investors who want to trade a lot and a little.
The Fidelity app also includes decision-making technology. So if you aren't sure how to proceed in the investment world, the Fidelity app can help you make smart investment decisions too.
Choose from a broad range of investment opportunities and stocks available to you through Fidelity.
On the Wealthfront app, you can manage up to $5,000 for free!
Most other investment apps will charge different fees depending on how much of your funds you have invested.
On Wealthfront, you can also earn 0.35% APY with a Wealthfront Cash Account.
This APY percentage is almost 5 times the national APY average according to the FDIC.
Start growing your savings exponentially through the Wealthfront app.
Betterment and Wealthfront both charge an annual fee of 0.25% for digital portfolio management.
For those who want human interaction, Betterment has a second tier, Betterment Premium.
It includes a team of financial advisors available via phone and email and costs 0.40%, with a minimum $100,000 investment.
Use the M1 finance app to make more money, save more money, and invest your money for free.
The M1 app is also an easy-to-use platform with a user-friendly design.
There are also two different kinds of accounts you can start with the M1 app. The basic M1 account and the M1 plus account.
Invest.com is following the two-and-twenty structure often seen in hedge funds.
This means they charge you a flat 1.5% annual fee for accounts under $10,000, and a 0.99% fee on accounts over $10,000. You will then pay 15% on profits.
Get market quotes in real-time all on your phone! Investing.com can give you updates on more than 30,000 different financial instruments.
The My Wall St app is designed to show you how to succeed on the market.
On My Wall St, an analyst team will handpick the best investments for you. You can also easily link your brokerage accounts with your My Wall St account.
Vanguard lets you design a portfolio with ETFs, mutual funds, individual stocks, CDs, and bonds.
If you're new to investing, they can even help you decide what your first steps should be.
They also offer lower investment minimums and have transparent pricing. You can also enjoy easy, commission-free online trading.
Are you looking for fixed-income opportunities in the investment world? Because you can find them at Putnam investments.
Putnam also has a great Fund Visualizer that helps advise you on all your investment decisions.
Build your private equity with Alpha Investments. Alpha offers a private capital network where you can build important financial relationships.
Get access to high-class investors and exclusive sponsors.
If you're interested in real estate investments, Alpha is a great choice for you. They offer top-tier investments in multifamily rental housing, student housing, and senior housing.
