Best Investing Apps For Beginners In 2021

Overall, stocks have only trend upwards over the years, although they sometimes move up or down in price depending on the market. When done correctly, investing in stocks will help grow your money. Buying socks may seem complicated but it is not. Before buying a stock always do some research on the company and how their stock has performed over the years. All investing apps recommended below are equipped with the necessary tools you will need for your research.

If you don’t know where to start here is a list of some of the most recommended investment apps you should look into.

1. Robinhood

Robinhood Markets, Inc. is an American financial services company located in California. They provide a free app with no hidden fees or extra charges. If you are on a low budget, then this app should be right for you. This investing app offers one free stock for every new account sign-up, commission-free trades for stocks, and ETF’s, with as little as $1 investments. This app also offers a way to reinvest dividends into fractional shares and the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies as well.

Robinhood Gold is paid option that costs $5 per month. It provides new opportunities with in-depth research and data, bigger instant deposits, and access to invest with margin.

	Robinhood	Robinhood Gold
Cost	Free	$5 per month
Deposit limit	Up to $50,000 per day	Up to $50,000 per day
Instant Deposit limit	Up to $1000	Up to $5,000
Research Tool	Basic	Professional
Invest with Margin	No	Yes

Pros

• No account minimum
• Fractional Shares
• Cryptocurrencies trading
• Fractional dividends reinvestment

Cons

• No retirement accounts
• No mutual funds or bonds
• Limited customer support

2. Stash

Stash makes investing easy for beginners by offering multiple investing tools such as portfolio builder, a diversification analyst tool, retirement calculator, automatic reinvestment of dividends, and more.  There is no cost for downloading and signing up for this app! Depending on your investment type Stash will charge a monthly fee of $1 to $9. One great option for this app is that it allows the purchase of fractional shares for pennies.

Stash offers three different plans to choose from with a monthly fee as follows:

• Beginner – cost $1 per month
• Growth – cost $3 per month
• Plus – cost $9 per month

Pros

• Educational content and support
• Fractional shares
• Dividends reinvestment
• Value-based investment offerings
• Traditional and Roth IRAs
• Online debit accounts
• Custodial accounts

Cons

• No investment management
• High ETF expense ratios
• Account management fee

3. WeBull

Webull offers an impressively smooth interface for both mobile and desktop devices. This app is mostly used by casual investors but it is also a great app for new investors as well. Webull offers $0 commissions and no deposit minimums to start. This app also offers options to trade between stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies. The Webull app provides an in-depth analysis tool. New investors get four free stocks for investing $100 or more within 30 days of signing up.

Pros

• No Fees
• Easy-to-use platform
• Advanced tools
• Access to cryptocurrency

Cons

• No mutual funds for retirement
• Little educational support

4. Acorn

Acorn allows micro-investing through investing spare change. The app rounds up any purchases made from a linked credit or debit card to the next dollar and only invest it when your round up reaches $5. This app offers a diversified portfolio, automatic rebalancing, and a way to save for retirement. There are three different low-cost subscription plans to choose from.

Acorn Low-Cost Plans

• Lite – cost $1 per month
• Personal- cost $3 per month
• Family – cost $5 per month

Pros

• Automatically invests spare change
• Cashback from select retailers
• Offers Educational content

Cons

• Small investment portfolio
• High fee on small account balances

5. E*Trade

E*trade investment app offers $0 commission trades with a $0 minimum to start. The app allows dividends to be reinvested into ETF’s and stocks that are only trading above $5 per share. You can get $50 or more cash credit when opening a new account and fund it with 5000 and more within 60 days using pro code: WINTER21. This offer is only valid until 1/31/2021.

Pros

• Easy-to-use tools.
• Large investment selection
• Excellent customer support
• Access to extensive research
• Advanced mobile app
• Commission-free stock trading
• Commission-free ETF trading
• Fractional dividend reinvestment

Cons

• E*Trade website can be complicated to navigate.
• Does not allow the purchase of fractional shares

6. TD Ameritrade now Charles Schwab

TD Ameritrade has recently merged with another popular investment company called Charles Schwab in October 2020. The app offer a powerful marketing platform for investing and trading a large selection of online stocks and ETF’s.  This investing app offers educational tools such as webcasts and online interactive courses. No commission fees on online trading. TD Ameritrade and Charles Schwab does not offer a way to purchase fractional shares but allows you to reinvest dividends earned into new shares of that company’s stock.

Pros

• Commission-free stock and  ETF trading
• Free research tools
• High-quality trading platforms
• No account minimum
• Offers Educational content
• Very good customer support
• Large investment selection
• Fractional dividend reinvestment

Cons

• Cannot buy fractional shares
• Does not allow credit/debit cards or electronic wallet for money transfer

7. Sofi

Sofi first debuted in 2011 as a student loan company. In February 2019 Sofi launched its investing platform. This investing platform is fairly new and does not have a track record, which is why investors may prefer other brokerage apps over Sofi. Sofi investing app is a good choice for beginners and experienced investors as well. Sofi offers to invest in stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies. Investing with this app requires no minimum balance with no transaction fees for trading. Sofi also provides free financial counseling.

Pros

• Commission-free stock and ETF trades
• Commission-free Cryptocurrency trading
• Fractional shares available
• Fractional dividend reinvestment
• No account minimum to start
• Free financial and career counseling

Cons

• Limited track record
• No retirement investments
• Small selection of tradable securities

Besides Investing Sofi offers other services as well:

• Student Loan Refinancing
• Medical/Dental Resident Refinancing
• Parent PLUS Refinancing
• Private Student Loans
• Undergraduate Student Loans
• Graduate Student Loans
• Law & MBA Loans
• Parent Student Loans
• Personal Loans
• Home Loans
• Mortgage
• Mortgage Refinance

8. Fidelity

Fidelity offers trading for investors through its mobile app, website, and desktop platform. There is no minimum investment or stock trading cost. This investing app offers more than 7000 stocks and ETF’s to choose from. Fidelity also offers fractional shares, bonds, mutual funds, and options.

Pros

• Commission-free stock, ETF, and options trades
• Large selection of research providers
• Excellent customer service
• Expense-ratio-free index funds.
• Highly rated mobile app and desktop platform

Cons

• High broker-assisted trade fee
• High fees on mutual funds

9. Merrill Edge

Merrill Edge is an investing app from Bank Of America. Anyone can use this app to invest in stocks, bonds, ETF’s and Options. Bank of America customers will benefit from using this app more than anyone else. Merrill Edge offers in-person supports to Bank of America customers at most of their locations. They also offer larger cash bonuses for members of their preferred reward program.

 Merrill Edge Promotions

In order to claim Merrill Edges’s promotion, you will have to make a qualifying deposit on a new account within 45 days of signing up and maintain your balance for at least 90 days.

Investment	Bonus
$20,000	$100
$50,000	$150
$100,000	$200
$200,000+	$600

Pros

• Commission-free stock, ETF and options trades
• No account minimum to start
• Bank of America Integration
• Provides third party research tools

Cons

• Best for Bank of America customers
• Fewer securities for advance traders

10. Interactive Broker (IBKR Lite)

Interactive broker is an American brokerage firm with the largest electronic trading platform in the U. S. Interactive broker offers two plans, a pro and lite plan. In this post, we will mostly focus on the Lite plan. Interactive broker Pro is for advanced investors worldwide, while Interactive Broker Lite is for all investors living in the U.S. Interactive Broker Lite (IBKR Lite) is offering their retail clients $0 commissions on US stocks, ETF trades with no account minimums and no inactivity fees. Here is a comparison video of IBKR Pro and IBKR Lite.

IBK Lite Tradable Securities:

• Stocks
• Fractional shares
• Bonds
• Mutual funds
• ETFs
• Options
• Futures
• Forex
• Metals

Pros

• Commission-free stock, ETF and options trades
• No account minimum to start
• Large investment selection
• Advance research tools

Cons

• Website can be difficult to navigate
• Inactivity fees on IBKR Pro plan

There are many other apps that investors prefer over these mentioned above. One such app is Zacks trade. Zacks Trade is an excellent investing app but did not make my top 10 list because of a $2,500 minimum requirement to start.

Investing in stocks and ETFs can earn investors a lot of money but you should also know that there is always a risk in investing. Always remember to do your research before investing your hard-earned money.