Apps are awesome for helping you learn something new or master an existing skill. For new investors, owning a collection of useful apps could be the key to learning the trade quickly and making your fortune.
Investing comes in all shapes and sizes, and there are apps to meet any of your needs. Whether you’re interested in futures trading or simply saving more for retirement, here are a few apps worth adding to your repertoire.
Acorns
A modern approach to saving money and letting interest work for you is automated investing. Acorns is among the most popular of these investment apps. It rounds up every dollar you spend in your debit and credit transactions and invests the spare change. So, if you spend $3.86 on a cup of coffee, Acorn will take the remaining $0.14 and invest it for you.
It’s perfect for beginning investors who don’t have a lot of money to spare. It’s also free to transfer funds and trade securities, so you have a low-risk platform for further investing.
Stash
For beginners, one of the best apps for learning the industry is Stash. It’s loaded with tips and articles specifically geared towards your investment interests, so you can learn all you want about certain types of investing. You can also get a personalized investment coach.
Stash also allows you to practice investing with little risk attached. You can begin trading and investing through the app with as little as $5, so you’ll learn from mistakes without losing a lot of cash.
Stockpile
Many parents want to start investment funds for their kids’ college education or their wedding. Stockpile is a great app for buying and selling stocks and gifting them to others. You can purchase single shares or buy fractional shares for a very low trading fee.
It’s also a great way to get your kids excited about investing. You can illustrate simple investments and their investment growth over time. Kids who are immersed in investing practices at a young age are more likely to succeed financially later in life.
TradeHero
TradeHero is another fantastic app for teaching kids or learning to trade yourself. You might not feel ready to invest real money in the stock market, so TradeHero uses a simulation with fake money to let you practice with zero risk.
TradeHero is set up like a game. You have a fake $100,000 in your portfolio to begin with, and your job is to maximize it as much as possible. It’s only a simulation, but it tracks real stock market prices, so you can learn about trading in the real market without financial risk.
Buyer beware: There’s also an app called TradeHero LIVE, which is a platform for trading real money and virtual currency. Don’t mix up the two.
SigFig
When you’re ready to finally start investing, you’ll want an app to track, manage, and optimize all of your portfolios. SigFig lets you do just that. Investments are displayed on a single dashboard in real time, so you can have eyes on each investment at all times.
Vault
Unfortunately, saving for retirement among American employees is minimal. According to a recent Bankrate survey, 65 percent of Americans save very little or nothing at all. The survey projects that more than half of all Americans will struggle during retirement as a result.
Vault is a simple retirement investment app that hopes to change things. Designed as a tool for self-employed individuals, Vault helps you open a Roth IRA, IRA, or SEP IRA account to save for the future. It’s very similar to an employee investment account, but with a little more flexibility.
Betterment
You can invest in 13 different ETFs with Betterment. The app works to understand your risk tolerance and goals, creating a personalized portfolio that rebalances itself during market shifts.
It’s a great tool for automated investing, and you have access to real financial advisors. You can also link your bank accounts and monitor all investment activity on one app.
Robinhood
Considered one of the best free investment apps on the market, Robinhood is great for working with stocks and ETFs, whether you’re using real cash or Bitcoin. Although there are limitations to the types of trades you can do, it’s perfect for beginners who want to learn to trade without commissions or trade fees.
Any of these apps could be your ticket to a more financially secure future. Those who learn and exercise the power of investing early on tend to be the wealthiest, but they all started where you are now. Don’t miss your opportunity to build your wealth through apps!
