5 Popular Apps for Investing in Stocks


After working hard for your money for the best part of your life there comes a point in time when you have saved sufficiently to invest so that your money can work equally hard for you.

Some of the investing apps in the market today are nothing short of revolutionary, making it possible for anyone to invest in the financial markets.

Shortlisting an investment app that can handle your routine financial tasks, track your spending, lets you trade stocks, and shuffle your money into investing accounts, can be nothing short of tricky.

Here are five of the top investing apps available today.

Betterment

Fees: 0.25 – 0.40 percent annually

Minimum balance: $0 for digital service; $100,000 for premium service

There are plenty of good reasons that make Betterment one of the most popular investing apps around. This app calibrates your risk tolerance and liquidity requirement, finding you appropriate investments that are commensurate with your risk appetite.

Once you set up Betterment, you can sit back and relax while the pros do the rest of the work. The app charges are much lower than a traditional financial advisor with a management fee of 0.25 percent for the basic account, making it a very competitive player in the robo-advisor segment.

Robinhood

Fees: No commissions for stock, options, ETF, or crypto

Minimum balance: $0

Robinhood has pioneered commission-free investing, being a full-service app that provides investment accounts with no trading fees or commission. The smooth interface of the app helps you trade stocks, options, ETFs, or crypto; with no trading commissions.

The stripped-down app is not only easy to navigate but also offers fractional trading, making it affordable for you to own a piece of blue-chip stocks like Tesla or Apple.

In-app push notifications and customized news, allow you to cultivate financial knowledge while keeping an eye on your assets.

Acorns

Fees: $3 or $5 per month

Minimum balance: $0

The ease of use of this app makes it one of the more popular choices in the market. Once you set it up, your work is practically done, as the app takes over from there. When you link a card to your account, be it debit or credit, Acorns rounds up the purchases to the dollar and invests the difference into your portfolio.

An Acorns Personal account includes an individual retirement account (IRA), an investment account, a debit card, and more; while costing just $3 every month. You can rollover an existing IRA or 401(k), and open Roth, SEP, or traditional IRA.

Fidelity

Minimum balance: $0

Fidelity covers the whole gamut of financial market and investing services, offering you a savings account, a checking account, bill paying, an investment account, an IRA, a robo-advisor account, a business retirement account, and even credit card accounts.

Fidelity mobile investing app, with no account minimums or commissions, allows you to open both retirement and trading accounts. The more experienced investors among you can watch the market in real time, with Fidelity’s Active Trader Pro desktop platform.

Wealthfront

Fees: 0.25 percent

Minimum balance: $500

Wealthfront is considered one of the best apps for portfolio management that can manage your money, whether in an IRA or a taxable account, for a very nominal fee. One of the biggest independent robo-advisors, Wealthfront factors in your liquidity needs and risk appetite while using ETFs to build your investment portfolio.

With an industry-standard annual management fee of 0.25 percent, Wealthfront offers multiple features, including tax-loss harvesting, a cash management account, access to a debit card, and direct-deposited pay checks.