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Our articles, interactive tools, and hypothetical examples contain information to help you conduct research but are not intended to serve as investment advice, and we cannot guarantee that this information is applicable or accurate to your personal circumstances. Any estimates based on past performance do not a guarantee future performance, and prior to making any investment you should discuss your specific investment needs or seek advice from a qualified professional.
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Looking for the best investing apps to get your financial life back on track? A solid finance app can handle routine financial tasks, shuffle money into investing accounts, and track spending. But the best investment apps can also let you quickly trade stocks, follow your account in real time, help you learn about the markets and more. Because they can do so much, investment apps have become increasingly popular.
Here are some of the top apps for getting your finances organized and invested. All of these apps are great for beginners, and they make it easy for those just starting to invest or looking to play a stock-picking game for fun.
Betterment is one of the largest and most popular robo-advisors, and for good reason. The app provides professionally managed portfolios using a selection of ETFs that’s calibrated against your own risk tolerance and when you need the money. Betterment can create socially responsible portfolios focusing on climate change or social impact.
Why we like it:
Who is it best for? You like having a professionally managed portfolio for a low cost, along with a cash management account.
Minimum balance required: $0 for digital service; $100,000 for premium service
Fees: Management fee of 0.25 – 0.40 percent of assets annually
Invstr is what you get when you mix learning, real-life investing and community into an app that’s 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:
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.
Acorns remains one of the most popular of the new breed of savings apps, because of how easy it is to use. You really don’t have to pay much attention once you’ve set it up.
Why we like it:
Who is it best for? You like getting automatic investments while you’re spending without worrying about it. You like retirement investing without the hassle.
Minimum balance required: $0 for savings account
Fees: $3 or $5 per month depending on the service tier
Wealthbase is a newer entrant into the world of stock market games, and it may be the most user-friendly investing app out there for having fun and picking stocks. You can set up games with friends to last however long you want — a few weeks, days, even just until the end of the day.
Why we like it:
Who is it best for? You like picking stocks and playing games in a social environment with friends and colleagues.
Minimum balance required: $0
Fees: $0 up to 5 players. $20 game fee up to 1,000 players.
Wealthfront is one of the largest independent robo-advisors, and for a small fee it can manage your money, whether that’s in a taxable account or an IRA. (UBS is purchasing Wealthfront in 2022 and will continue to operate it under the Wealthfront banner. )
Why we like it:
Who is it best for? All you’ll need to do is add money to the account and Wealthfront manages your portfolio to help you reach your goal. The cash management account is cool, too. As a Bankrate user, get $5,000 managed for free when you open a Wealthfront investment account.
Minimum balance required: $500
Fees: Management fee of 0.25 percent of assets annually
If you wanted to live your whole financial life on Fidelity Investments, you could do it with little issue – and have the top integrated experience. At Fidelity, you can get an investment account, a checking account, an IRA, a business retirement account such as a SEP IRA, bill paying, a savings account, a robo-advisor account and even credit card accounts, to cover the big ones.
Why we like it:
Who is it best for? You want all your financial accounts under one roof, and you enjoy being treated like a valuable customer.
Minimum balance required: $0
Fees: $0 for stock/ETF trades, $0.65 per contract on options.
Robinhood is the app to have if you like a smooth interface and avoiding trading commissions, whether you’re trading stocks, ETFs, options or cryptocurrency. You’ll get to do it all with no commission and using a slick mobile interface that makes smooth work of it all.
Why we like it:
Who is it best for? You like trading stocks (as well as ETFs, options and cryptocurrency) for free and having a simple way to quickly do so.
Minimum balance required: $0
Fees: No commissions for stock, ETF, options or crypto trades
Charles Schwab does well for experts, but it’s also a great app for beginners, because of all the resources it provides. Schwab provides tons of research and education, helping newer investors get up to speed on topics such as investing and personal finance.
Why we like it:
Who is it best for? You like investing with a friendly company that starts off in the right direction and then helps you along the way.
Minimum balance required: $0
Fees: $0
Ellevest is one of the top-ranked robo-advisors, but it’s also the top app for socially responsible investing. Ellevest’s mission is to help women investors make smart investing decisions (though, of course, anyone can become a client).
Why we like it:
Who is it best for? You want a socially responsible portfolio that can offer attractive returns and also makes it easy for you to invest.
Minimum balance required: $0
Fees: $1, $5, or $9 a month (or discounted annually)
When it comes to investment apps, think about how you’ll plan to use them. Do you need an educational tool or are you looking to actually trade and invest? Some apps charge fees that can eat into your investment returns, while others have very low costs and offer commission-free trading. If you’re interested in trading things like cryptocurrencies, you’ll want to make sure that’s a feature offered by the app or broker – not all brokers offer crypto trading.
The good news for investors starting out today is that it requires very little money to get started. Fees are so low or even non-existent that you can start with virtually any amount of money. In fact, what you start with matters much less than your saving and investing discipline over time.
The key to achieving ongoing investing success is to add money regularly over time. So you’ll want to add cash to the account and keep investing in your positions regularly over time in order to build wealth.
How much you actually invest depends on your own financial situation and needs. And today’s low-fee brokerages and apps leave more money in your pocket to actually invest.
Some investment apps allow you to trade stocks and other securities, but that depends specifically on the kind of app and what it’s designed to do:
So the ability to buy stocks with an app depends on the app itself.
If you’re investing money in the market, then it’s not insured and you could lose some or all of your investment. Market-based assets include stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, options and cryptocurrency. These kinds of assets fluctuate over time, meaning you could make a lot of money or lose a lot, depending on how the market swings.
If you need a highly safe asset, you’ll need to turn to guaranteed accounts such as a traditional savings account, high-yield savings account or CD at an FDIC-insured bank. These accounts insure your money up to $250,000 per account type per bank.
Some apps provide special features or focus more on education, while others focus largely on executing trades. For example, Wealthbase is a great app for playing stock market games, but it won’t execute trades for you. In contrast, Wealthfront and Betterment will both invest your money for you, so you don’t have to do much but deposit money in your account.
And those apps differ from brokerage apps such as Robinhood, Charles Schwab and Fidelity Investments, where you need to know what you want to buy. These brokers also allow you to buy different securities, such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds and more. Robinhood and Invstr allow you to buy cryptocurrency commission-free, too.
So the investment apps can provide a variety of different features and benefits, and you’ll need to select which ones meet your needs.
If the app is an online broker such as Robinhood, Fidelity Investments or Charles Schwab, you’ll be able to trade securities such as stocks, bonds, ETFs and options. Other apps that are more educational in nature, don’t typically offer the ability to trade (with real money) at all, such as Wealthbase.
Some investing apps are popular with active traders, but you’ll want to pick one that offers trading in the type of assets you’re interested in. Active traders might want to turn to Robinhood, Fidelity or Charles Schwab for their low-cost trading in everything from stocks and ETFs to cryptocurrencies (at Robinhood) and options.
Editorial Disclaimer: All investors are advised to conduct their own independent research into investment strategies before making an investment decision. In addition, investors are advised that past investment product performance is no guarantee of future price appreciation.
Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. Bankrate is compensated in exchange for featured placement of sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. This compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear. Bankrate.com does not include all companies or all available products.
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