- Investing can be risky
and it comes with few guarantees.
The only investing guarantee we can offer is this,
with all things equal,
the less you pay in fees,
the better your returns.
And investing apps are making it easier
than ever to invest commission free.
There's never been a better time
to be a small investor.
And now in today's mobile world,
investing is becoming easier and cheaper than ever.
Plus, there's like this investing price war going on
and it is great for the consumer.
Here are the best investing apps
that let you invest for free, yeah, for free.
Number one, M1 Finance.
This app is best for building a free portfolio
for the long term.
M1 has become our favorite investing app
and platform over the last year.
With commission-free investing,
the ability to invest in fractional shares,
automatic deposits and more,
M1 Finance is top notch.
If you're looking for a way
to create and maintain a free diversified portfolio
of stocks and ETFs,
look no further than M1 Finance.
They provide a pretty revolutionary tool
that allows you to set up a portfolio
and invest into it, correctly allocated, for free.
So what do we mean?
(Andy chuckling)
Well, imagine a portfolio of ETFs,
maybe you have five ETFs at 20% each.
Well, instead of having to do five transactions,
and commissions for each,
when you buy,
you can now simply invest and M1 Finance takes care
of the rest for you for free.
If you don't know exactly how to set it up,
you're more than welcome to use one
of their already set up portfolios as well.
Plus, M1 Finance has a great
investing bonus offer right now.
Depending on how much you bring over,
you can get between 100 and $2,500 as a bonus.
You can access this bonus offer
by clicking our link in the description.
The minimum investment for M1 Finance
is 100 bucks.
Commission and monthly fees are $0,
hence the whole free focus of this video
and you can open taxable accounts
and IRA accounts as well with M1 Finance.
Number two, Fidelity.
Fidelity is best for full-service investing
at $0 trade prices.
Fidelity is one of our favorite investing apps
and it allows you to invest for free.
This surprises most people
because most people don't associate Fidelity with free.
However, Fidelity offers a range of commission-free ETFs
that would allow the majority of investors
to build a balanced portfolio.
Plus, they now offer $0 commission
for stock option and ETF trades.
They also offer fractional share investing,
meaning that you can invest dollar-based,
not just share-based.
This is a big win for people starting out
with low dollar amounts.
Fidelity IRAs also have no minimum to open
and no account maintenance fees.
That means you could deposit just five bucks
and invest it for free.
Furthermore, Fidelity just announced
that it now has two 0.00% expense ratio funds.
Yes, that is free.
So you can not only invest commission free
but these funds don't charge any maintenance fees as well.
Truly free investing.
But to make it a top app on our list,
it has to have a great app.
And Fidelity does.
Their app is the cleanest and easiest to use out
of all the investing apps we've tested here
at College Investor.
They have a ton of features
but it all works together really well.
Plus, you get the benefit
of having a full-service investing broker
should you need more than just free.
Check out Fidelity's app in the link in our description.
To recap, Fidelity's minimum investment is $0.
Their commission on stocks, options and ETFs is $0
and their monthly fees are all $0.
The account types are more plentiful with Fidelity
than M1 Finance with the ability to open a taxable account,
an IRA, an HSA, a 401k and a trust.
There aren't any promotions at this time,
perhaps because of all
the freeness going on there at Fidelity.
(Andy chuckling)
Number three, TD Ameritrade.
TD Ameritrade is best for free options trading.
If you're a trader,
you may have heard of TD Ameritrade
or maybe one of their platforms like Thinkorswim.
With TD Ameritrade's commission-free pricing structure
for stocks, options and ETFs,
they are more compelling than ever
to use as an investing app.
TD Ameritrade offers commission-free ETFs
from industry giants like iShares, Vanguard and more.
Because of the diversity of no load ETF funds,
TD Ameritrade is one of our top brokerages
for people who want to consider tax loss harvesting
on their own.
Remember, TD Ameritrade also offers $0 commission
on stocks, ETF and option trades.
Furthermore, TD Ameritrade also has no minimum
and no maintenance fee IRAs.
TD Ameritrade's mobile app also offers research information
and portfolio analysis
that makes the free investing that much sweeter.
Just remember, TD Ameritrade charges
for some ETFs, mutual funds and equity trades.
So be sure to filter for no load ETFs before you buy.
Its app also isn't as user-friendly as Fidelity's
but we put them as a very, very close second on the list.
The minimum investment for TD Ameritrade is $50.
Commissions on stocks, ETFs and options are $0
and monthly fees are also $0.
Similar to Fidelity, you can open a taxable brokerage,
IRA, HSA, 401k and trust.
Number four, Robinhood.
Now, Robinhood is best for 100% free stock trades
and limited crypto.
Robinhood is an app that lets you buy
and sell stocks for free.
Users can buy or sell stocks at market price.
The app allows you to make limit orders
or stop loss orders as well.
Unless you're an active trader,
this is plenty of functionality,
plus the app comes with a clean user interface
and basic research tools.
Most serious investors should pair Robinhood
with one or more free research tools.
This will help them develop
a more systematic approach to investing.
That said, you can't beat Robinhood's free trades
but its shortcomings here make it fourth.
They also allow options,
fractional shares and cryptocurrency investing
but these are limited as well.
The drawbacks are really limited
but one of the biggest
that the platform has become unreliable in the past
with large outages impacting investors.
If you're curious how Robinhood makes money,
it's through Robinhood Gold.
Robinhood Gold is a margin account
that allows you to buy and sell after hours.
Buying on margin means you double your expected returns.
It also means you double your expected losses.
The result, based on the magic of compounding,
means that trading on margin tends to eat
into your principal.
Robinhood's minimum investment is $0.
Their commission is $0 for stocks, ETFs, options and crypto
and the monthly fees are $0.
You can only get a taxable account at this time.
Number five, Vanguard.
Vanguard is best for low-cost index fund investing.
They were one of the original mutual fund
and ETF companies to lower fees
and they continually advocate
for a low-fee index fund approach to investing.
At Vanguard, you don't pay any commissions
when you buy and sell Vanguard ETFs.
You also pay no account service fees
if you sign up to receive
your account documents electronically
or if you're a Voyager, Voyager Select,
Flagship or Flagship Select services client.
Furthermore, Vanguard recently announced
that they won't charge a commission on a huge amount
of competitors' funds and ETFs as well.
Vanguard also doesn't have an account minimum
and there is no minimum purchase requirement
for mutual funds
but stocks and ETFs, it's the cost of one share.
What holds Vanguard back is that their app
is a little more clunky than the other apps.
It feels a little old school
and it seems to be built for the basics only.
However, it is free,
so maybe only the basics are needed, right?
(Andy chuckling)
Let's talk about Vanguard's personal advisor services
for a bit.
If you're looking for professional help
with your investments and financial planning,
Vanguard offers personal advisor services
to help you build, execute and continue
to manage your financial plan.
These are fiduciary advisors
and will help you create a plan based on your goals
and it's not a robot.
It costs 0.30% assets under management,
which is one of the lowest you'll find out there.
So Vanguard's minimum, to recap, is $0.
Their commission is $0 for stocks, ETFs and options
and their monthly fees are also $0.
Account types include taxable brokerage,
an IRA, a 401k, a solo 401k
and many, many more.
Well, everybody, that's our list
of the five best free investing apps.
Have you heard of any of these apps?
Which one is your favorite?
Please let us know in the comments below.
Thanks for hanging out today.
This is Andy from The College Investor
and we will see you in the next video.