Engineers love investing right? Maybe. Even though engineers are known for their proficiency in finance and especially personal finance, a study back in 2016 indicated that up to 80% of all American people do not invest in the stock market. 34% shockingly said that they do not know how to invest while another 40% stated that they did not have the means to invest. Investment apps were created for this very reason. They allow you to have exposure to the market regardless of you resources or investment experience. This is why we have put together a list of the 5 best investment apps for engineers out there right now!
Investment brokers are no longer needed to trade. Companies like Vanguard and Charles Schwab have brought out their own apps for iOS and Android devices, but their apps do not come close to the educational and intuitive apps on the list below. These apps are very powerful as they provide every user, regardless of their prowess in investing, the ability to make educated investments right from their phone, on the couch, or on the toilet!
Lets go through the best investment apps for engineers, and delve into where each app shines and what type of investor it suits.
What Are the Best Investment Apps for Engineers?
1. Acorns
The Best Investment App for Those Interested in Automating Their Savings
Acorns is known for its feature that rounds up your purchases to the nearest dollar, and then invests that money for you in the stock market. They are mostly a Robo-advisor that invests your money for you in investing packages that are sorted by how aggressive you would like to invest. It acts as a savings tool as it takes just the spare change from your purchases but it then invest that for you, giving you some money in the market.
Acorns is simple to set up and use. It takes about five minutes to set up and links straight to your bank account, while also asking for details like your age so it can calculate your risk tolerance.
Acorns basically rounds up every purchase that you make on the credit or debit card that you have linked up to the nearest dollar, and sends that spare change to your Acorns account.
This money will then be invested into the portfolio that you choose, again depending on the amount of risk you would like to take. There is also the “Found Money” plan, which works very similar to the way that Swagbucks does.
Fees:
- Lite: $1 per month (Lowest plan available)
- Personal: $2 per month (Investing and IRA plan)
- Family: $3 per month (Investing, IRA and debit card/checking account)
There are also three account types with Acorns. A retirement account, taxable account and a checking account that has a debit card.
The main draw to this app is how simple it is. You barely even notice your spare change being rounded up and you can see how that little bit of saving can build up over time. If you are younger than 24 and/or in college, you can obtain a free account for 4 years!
Their IRA fees are a little bit more than others, and their portfolio options are limited when compared to other apps, whether that is a pro or a con that depends on the person.
All in all, Acorns is a great tool, especially for new investors. It is absolutely a worth entry into our list for the best investment apps for engineers.
Start investing with Acorns today.
2. Robinhood
The Best Investment App for Those Looking for Free Stock Trades
Robinhood is a very popular app that offers trading for cryptocurrencies and stocks. The app is also free for those who are interested in options and ETFs. The app was created in 2013 and has grown hand over foot to more than 4 million users!
It allows a zero minimum balance and the user interface is quite easy to use. It might not compete with all of the features that you get when you use a full-service broker, but it is a handy investing tool that has a very low cost.
Robinhood does not charge commissions on trades, it creates a no-stress way of trading on your mobile phone.
While brokers usually jus give you access to a number of different accounts, Robinhood gives its users access to over 2,000 ETF’s, still with no fees.
A few notes:
- It often has issues syncing to personal finance apps like Personal Capital
- It carries a $5 per month charge to access their tools and guides
- There is no desktop program
- If you need to move your account to another platform/broker, its a $75 fee
Robinhood changed the game when it came to mobile investing and was the first app to introduce no-fee trades. It is simple to use and it allows people to easily track and monitor the stocks and cryptocurrencies that they are invested in and that interest them.
Again, if you are new to investing and want the easiest way to get involved in the market, with a low entry barrier, Robinhood is hard to look past.
Start investing today with Robinhood.
3. M1 Finance
A Great Investment App for Those Looking for Commission-Free Trading
M1 Finance is definitely in the elite tier of investment apps. It combines Robo-advisor and brokerage features to produce a great product. It is widely known for its ease of use, and its focus on low fees. It is a free app ad allows its users to choose from a wide range of portfolio options and templates.
This is suited to investors that would like to be more passive, that is to say that they would like a “hands-off” approach where they “set and forget.” This management comes from M1 Finance without the cost of expert advice. Which is a lot. Trust me.
M1 Finance prompts its users to create a “pie”, this pie is the make-up of your desired investment options and goals. You can choose from stocks, bonds or ETFs, and M1 Finance will then determine how to spread your money over these options relative to your investing goals.
M1 Finance has a great system, its different to pretty much everything else that is out there at the moment. We absolutely could not leave it out of our list of the best investment apps for engineers.
It is totally free, there are no hidden fees giving its users a conscience-free wat of fractionally investing. You can also obtain small business and personal loans against your investment portfolio. M1 Finance delivers all this by having powerful Robo-advisors to distribute and re-balance your funds when needs be.
Some of the downsides of M1 Finance is they do not offer tax-loss harvesting, and you cannot invest in mutual funds.
This is a perfect options for those looking for passive investing and zero fees for trading!
Start investing with M1 Finance.
4. Betterment
The Best Investment App for Those Looking for Long Term Investing
Betterment is a little different from the investment apps that are already mentioned on this list. They utilize full-service Robo-advisors to help you reach your investing goals. Once you provide them with some information, that create an entire portfolio based on your age and risk tolerance. One of the technologies that they use is their Tax-Smart Technology.
They also take care of rebalancing your portfolio, so that it always matches your goals and does not become over-weighted in one are or another.
One great feature that Betterment has is they allow the user to track all of their external assets and investments in the Betterment app. One place to track them all!
Their accounts have a zero-minimum, a 0.25% fee is all you have to pay per annum for their services. The premium service, Betterment Premium gives the user access to in-person interaction with financial advisors. You must have a balance of $100k and it carries a 0.40% fee per annum.
There are four acounts available on this platform:
- Smart Saver
- Taxable Investment
- Trust
- IRA
This app is quite similar to Wealthfront in that they both are totally operated by Robo-advisors, with long-term investing in mind. Betterment is (in our humble opinion) the better option, you obtain access to their tax-loss harvesting tools, retirement calculators, low fees and intuitive asset allocation.
Start investing with Betterment today.
5. Stash
The Best Investment App for Those Looking for Value-Based Investing.
Stash was created in 2015 with the aim of getting the everyday person investing in stock market. It is extremely simple to use and is great for people interested in value investing. Fractional shares are also available on the Stash platform.
They require just $5 to open an account, they carry a 0.25% annual fee if you have a balance below $5k and you can make automated deposits into your account all the way down to $5 per week.
Stash has three types of accounts on offer:
- Custodial
- IRA
- Taxable
There are over 150 stocks on offer on Stash’s platform. These should allow most if not all investors to find options that match their interests and goals. Investment “themes” are also on offer for those who would like to invest in certain groups of companies rather than individual companies.
A $1 per month charge is incurred if the account balance is below $5k. Stash is an app that we would recommend to engineers that would like to build a strong portfolio of stocks and ETF’s, but may not have a great amount of capital to start with.
Start investing with Stash.
So, What is The Best Investment App for Engineers?
As you can determine from the options that we have listed above, and as with everything in life, it depends. It depends on what you are looking for as an investor, and your experience level with investing. Any of the apps listed will help you towards your specific goals in personal finance.
In our opinion, if you are looking for mostly automated savings that are invested in the stock market, choose Acorns.
If you are looking for free trades in the market, Robinhood is your best bet.
If a more full-featured service that is more akin to an actual brokerage, M1 Finance is the invest app for you.
Thank you very much for being here – we appreciate you taking the time to read our content. What are your opinions on the best investment apps for engineers? Do you have any experience with them? Or do you have an app that you think deserves to be on this list?
Maybe you have come rich from one of these apps, if you have, please let us know! Feel free to leave a comment down below – we would love to hear from you! And sign up to our newsletter for more of the same!
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