Investing is a great financial choice, but it’s not necessarily an easy one. It’s something that takes a lot of time and preparation.
And if you’re not someone who is that well-versed in the world of finance, then it’s probably not something that you should go alone.
To know what stocks you should be investing in, how much and any other important information, it’s worth seeking out the help of someone in the know.
This could be a financial advisor, someone who has basically dedicated their careers to helping others make these kinds of decisions, but that’s not for everyone.
You might not have the money for a financial advisor and it’s also hard enough to find a reputable one.
But you could always go the remote route and try out some investing apps. There are some great ones and it’s less of a commitment than hiring an actual advisor.
Here are three reliable investing apps that you could try out.
- Acorns
Acorn is a great little app that will work wonders for someone who doesn’t have much personal knowledge about investing.
This app will do all of the work for you. How Acorns works, is that it will monitor your daily spending and it invest using a system called ‘round-ups’.
Essentially this means that if you spend something in the amount of like $2.50, it will round up that extra 50c and invest it for you.
This is useful for a number of reasons, chief among them the fact that you don’t actually have to do any of the research yourself.
You don’t have to make the difficult decisions of where you want to invest your money and you will also only be investing these small amounts.
It will add up as the days go by of course, but it’s not going to be putting a massive dent in your bank account.
As for where the money actually goes, well Acorns will distribute the investments from your account into Exchange Traded Funds, or ETFs as they’re known.
The prices of these ETFs tend to fluctuate on the daily, but Acorns will keep track of this and will spend your money appropriately.
You do have to put your trust into this app, and that might not be something that everyone wants to do, but for the most part, it’s a minimum risk service.
It will cost just $1 per month
- M1 Finance
M1 Finance is what’s called a Robo-Advisor service. It’s a new step in investing that takes advantage of the rise of Artificial Intelligence.
AI investing is going to change the game in a big way, and making it possible for people to access advisors without meeting them in person is one part of that.
With M1 Finance you will set up your own personal portfolio of ETFs and stocks without having to pay any fees on it.
You’ll record your goals in the app and decide what type of plan you want to put in place, whether it’s for your retirement or just income based.
The app will use an algorithm to determine which stocks are most relevant for your goals and then will track any investments that you decide to make.
Sources like the Russell Stocks list will come into play here to give a good indication of the current stocks that will work best for you.
For this app, you will have to make an initial investment of $100 or more and then your first $1,000 will be handled by the app free of charge.
Thought it might not sound like it, the app actually does give you a lot of control and unlike Acorns, there won’t be any investments made without your consent.
It’s a great service for beginners who are genuinely serious about making big investments.
- Betterment
This is also a robot-advisor service but it will cost you a lot less to get started with. You can invest as little as $1 to start with.
This is actually the largest independent robot-advisor in the world right now and it’s extremely user-friendly so it’s perfect for people that are new to investing.
Betterment will allow you to enter factors such as your time horizon, your risk tolerance and any personal goals you have.
From there it will build you an investment portfolio that is primarily made up of ETFs. You’ll have a maximum of 13 ETFs that will cover both stocks and bonds.
The advantages of this app are endless. It will be an all-in-one investment platform that will track your investments and be updated constantly with the latest information on the market.
It also offers excellent account protection as well as great customer service and will take just a tiny percentage of your earnings.
This is arguably the best app for long-term investors and it’s, of course, great for beginners too.
Conclusion
If you want to invest, it’s a daunting task to go at it alone. But that’s okay because there are tons of resources out there that you can access.
These apps will provide you with a great stepping stone into the world of investing and will hopefully serve as a reliable tool throughout your entire investing career.
