12 best investment apps in May 2024

• If you’re willing to stomach a bit more risk, the app can find you investments with a potentially higher return.
• If you need a safer portfolio, Betterment can do that, too.
• A robust (and free) cash management account.
• You can set up Betterment and then kick back while the pros do the rest of the work.
• Betterment charges a much smaller price than you’d pay for a traditional financial advisor.
• The app lets you set goals to invest for, such as a safety net or retirement, and there’s no account minimum.

• You like having a professionally managed portfolio for a low cost, along with a cash management account.

• The fantasy game gives you $1 million in virtual money, and you can use the app’s social network and news feed to source ideas. The month’s top performers win real cash, too.
• If you want to turn some of those fantasy picks into real-life stakes, you can buy fractional shares and whole shares commission-free in the app.

• You want to learn from an investing community, hear why they like certain stocks and play a fun fantasy game.

• Link a debit or credit card to your account, and Acorns will round up the total on purchases to the next dollar and invest that difference into one of a few ETF portfolios.
• The cost is a modest $3 per month for Acorns Personal, which includes the investment account, an individual retirement account (IRA), a metal debit card and more. You’ll be able to open one of three IRA versions: the traditional, Roth or a SEP, and can roll over an existing 401(k) or IRA.
• This tier offers an FDIC-protected checking account, too, with no additional fees and fee-free access to thousands of ATMs.
• Acorns chooses your portfolio based on the targeted time until your retirement (calculated as age 59 ½), becoming more conservative as you near that age – something to consider when choosing the app.
• For a total of $5 per month, you can add Acorns Family, which includes the features of the first tier as well as an interest-bearing bank account.
• For the $9 a month plan, you’ll get the benefits of the lower tiers plus the ability to buy individual stocks and an investment account for kids.

• You like getting automatic investments while you’re spending without worrying about it. You like retirement investing without the hassle.

• The app marries social media with stock picking. You’ll see a feed of stocks your friends are picking, with daily updates of who’s winning, and you can engage in a little friendly “trash talk.”
• The app runs very smoothly — no delays to load, no hiccups. Even if you’re not a huge stock-picker, you’ll have fun here. And you can trade crypto in the simulation as well.

• You like picking stocks and playing games in a social environment with friends and colleagues.

• Wealthfront offers hundreds of ETFs to construct your portfolio and takes into account how much risk you want to take as well as when you’ll need the money.
• As you deposit money, Wealthfront will add it to your portfolio and keep your account balanced and on target toward your goal.
• Wealthfront’s management fee runs 0.25 percent annually, which is the industry standard but also an eminently reasonable price for the features on offer, including tax-loss harvesting, which effectively covers the annual fee for most clients, says the company.
• Wealthfront also brings an attractive cash management account (even if you don’t sign up for the investment account), and you’ll receive early access to direct-deposited paychecks and a debit card – all without a monthly fee.

• All you’ll need to do is add money to the account and Wealthfront manages your portfolio to help you reach your goal. The cash management account is cool, too.

• You can get all your finances in order with one company on one dashboard, and never feel like you’re missing a thing.
• You’ll get solid research on ETFs and mutual funds, tons of articles on budgeting, investing and personal finance and webinars, too.
• If you ever need help, you’ll be connected with a courteous and helpful Fidelity rep in short order.

• You want all your financial accounts under one roof, and you enjoy being treated like a valued customer.

• You can access a stock’s page from a search bar at the top of the screen and then pull up charts and vital statistics.
• The stripped-down app is simple to navigate, and after a while you’ll move intuitively from screen to screen as you trade the market.
• A feed that aggregates stories from news and investing sites, so that you keep on top of what’s going on.
• After you’ve decided what you want to trade and enter the number of shares to buy or sell, swipe up and the order is on its way.

• You like trading stocks (as well as ETFs, options and cryptocurrency) for free and having a simple way to quickly do so.

• The depth of resources here is immense, with data on 10,000 publicly traded stocks in the U.S. and Canada as well as coverage on 3,000 ETFs and tens of thousands of mutual funds. 
• Screen for stocks and funds based on detailed financial criteria, then export data to a spreadsheet.
• Keep your research in order with screeners, watchlists, tags and even create your own financial metrics.

• You invest in stocks and like to get into the fine details, access stock research reports and screen for stocks and funds.

• Schwab also offers fractional shares, meaning you can invest all your money into your stocks, rather than have idle investment money sitting around.
• Commission-free stock and ETF trades.
• Schwab is also great for mutual fund investors, with more than 4,000 no-transaction-fee funds, one of the largest selections in the industry.
• You’ll also get highly responsive customer service that gets your questions answered quickly.
• As if that weren’t enough, you’ll get one of the best sign-on promotions around, with a cash bonus that starts with just a $25,000 deposit.

• You like investing with a friendly company that starts off in the right direction and then helps you along the way.

• Ellevest creates investment portfolios and plans that take into account the differing circumstances of women, such as lower lifetime earnings.
• Ellevest allows clients to build portfolios that incorporate up to 53 percent of their portfolio in ESG or social impact funds – what it calls its Impact portfolio. These funds invest in companies that have more women leaders, support affordable housing and community services, and have higher standards for sustainability.
• The Impact portfolio costs only modestly more than Ellevest’s low-cost core portfolio, just $13-$19 per year on average for every $10,000 invested.

• You want a socially responsible portfolio that can offer attractive returns and also makes it easy for you to invest.

• The app offers no-commission stock and ETF trades and also allows you to trade cryptocurrency, though with a commission.
• Public makes education a key part of its platform.
• Public does not accept payment for order flow, the somewhat controversial practice of directing trades to certain exchanges for payment.

• You’re a beginning investor who is looking to learn about businesses and discuss investments with others.

• You can invest in commercial real estate without the huge financial commitments usually involved in doing so.
• Attractive track record on deals sourced through the platform, with a 63 percent total return over eight years for the average investor.
• You can get access to deals that aren’t generally available or otherwise accessible to less well-heeled investors.

• You’re looking to invest in real estate using deals sourced and managed by an expert without having to make massive financial commitments.

Some investment apps allow you to trade stocks and other securities, but that depends specifically on the kind of app and what it’s designed to do:

• For example, brokerage apps such as Robinhood and Fidelity Investments allow you to buy stocks and ETFs.
• Other apps such as those from robo-advisors Wealthfront and Betterment will buy stock funds and create a portfolio on your behalf.
• Still other apps such as Wealthbase and Invstr allow you to learn about investing or play investing games.

So the ability to buy stocks with an app depends on the app itself.

If you’re investing money in the market, then it’s not insured and you could lose some or all of your investment. Market-based assets include stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, options and cryptocurrency. These kinds of assets fluctuate over time, meaning you could make a lot of money or lose a lot, depending on how the market swings.

If you need a highly safe asset, you’ll need to turn to guaranteed accounts such as a traditional savings account, high-yield savings account or CD at an FDIC-insured bank. These accounts insure your money up to $250,000 per account type per bank.

Some apps provide special features or focus more on education, while others focus largely on executing trades. For example, Wealthbase is a great app for playing stock market games, but it won’t execute trades for you. In contrast, Wealthfront and Betterment will both invest your money for you, so you don’t have to do much but deposit money in your account.

And those apps differ from brokerage apps such as Robinhood, Charles Schwab and Fidelity Investments, where you need to know what you want to buy. These brokers also allow you to buy different securities, such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds and more. Robinhood and Invstr allow you to buy cryptocurrency commission-free, too.

So the investment apps can provide a variety of different features and benefits, and you’ll need to select which ones meet your needs.

If the app is an online broker such as Robinhood, Fidelity Investments or Charles Schwab, you’ll be able to trade securities such as stocks, bonds, ETFs and options. Other apps that are more educational in nature, don’t typically offer the ability to trade (with real money) at all, such as Wealthbase.

Some investing apps are popular with active traders, but you’ll want to pick one that offers trading in the type of assets you’re interested in. Active traders might want to turn to Robinhood, Fidelity or Charles Schwab for their low-cost trading in everything from stocks and ETFs to cryptocurrencies (at Robinhood) and options.