6 Best Investment Apps for 2018 (Available for Android & iOS)

The stock market isn’t just for those employed on Wall Street anymore. With the use of mobile app development, anyone with a smartphone has the ability to invest in stocks. The most significant decision to make is which app you commit to and finding out what are the differences between different investment apps. The six apps below are all popular choices. All have various benefits to use them whether it’s their ease of use or the return on investment received.

1) Robinhood: Free Stock Trades

Offering minimal risk on your investment is the Robinhood app, the name is influenced by the famous thief who steals from the rich and gives to the poor is an app that provides the user with the ability to trade stocks for free.

Robinhood isn’t entirely free, but it’s the cheapest you’ll find. The Robinhood platform offers stock trades that don’t charge fees from the app owners. It’s a simple app to download and connect to your bank account, and then you’re ready to start trading. Because the app doesn’t take a cut of the profit, it’s not the most sophisticated software to use and doesn’t offer as much function like others in comparison. It’s a low-budget company and app that gives its savings to the intended users by avoiding the charge of any fees. The Robinhood apps trading hours are limited, and there are margin accounts. However, there is an option to pay for the full unlimited use of the app, which is how Robinhood makes some money.

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2) Acorns: Automatic Investments

An intelligent choice for those who don’t want to spend a considerable amount of time staring at the app and making changes. Acorns is an investment app with a “spare change” selection, after downloading the app, adding your bank details, and selecting the stocks you’re interested in, you can choose the spare change option which optimizes the excess change from your bank transactions in investments that you have pre-selected. If you spend $2.80 on a drink, it will use the remaining 20 cents in your investments without you needing to change anything. So, you don’t need to put money into the app intentionally, and over time, the change adds up.

It’s a low-budget app to use. Users with a balance less than $5000 are only charged $1 per month for use. Anything over $5000 pays a competitive 0.25% fee.

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3) Stash: Beginners App

If you’re not in sync with all the investment jargon and you want to create a robust investment portfolio, Stash is a great option for those new to the investment world. Stash is an app that helps the user make decisions while teaching them about investing. Stash can be customized on the level of help it offers and what stocks it shows.

It’s not just for beginners either, because of its customization, you can delve deep into the investment world or keep it all simple and avoid all the technical aspects of the app.

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4) Vault: Retirement App

If you’re self-employed, you won’t have access to an employer’s retirement fund. Vault an option for those looking to put a little bit extra away for retirement. Vault has options for most people to open accounts to save up on their investments. The app is designed to help users save up depending on their income and maturely enables you to make a decision based on your plans. For the self-employed and contractors, when a client sends you money, the app is notified and asks for permission to invest some in the app. Or you can set it up to take a percentage without permission. Vault has a similar pricing structure to Stash and Acorns.

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5) Stockpile: The Gift App

An alternative take on buying and selling stock to the other apps available. The user can purchase shares from the majority of companies and give a stock gift card to a friend or family starting from $5. There are no monthly fees on the app, and stock prices start from 99 cents. It’s an exciting gift to give someone, a child or grandchild that’s beginning to mature; you can give it to them and see if they choose to keep investing or withdraw it.

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6) Personal Capital: Experienced Level

For those who adapted well to the stock exchange world, Personal Capital is a brilliant finance tracking tool. If the user has multiple investment accounts, this app can be used to be an overview of them all and keep track at a much more manageable level. The “You Index” can track the performance of different accounts and even compare them to help optimize other investments.

This high-level app gives you the option to use a financial advisor, for an annual fee. The advisor will help you manage your assets if they become more demanding and you can’t invest as much time into your chosen stocks. They tend to offer a free consultation to introduce the user to services and break down everything available.

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Final Words

There isn’t a best or worst on the list; it’s all about what’s most convenient for your lifestyle and what you find most comfortable to use. If you do enough reading up on investments, you might find most of the apps reasonably easy to operate.

This article is written by Richard Meadow. He is a freelance writer interested in technology and enjoys researching new subjects to write about. Currently, his research revolves around UK app development, the handling for everyday users, and what people like to have built into the software. He uses www.apadmi.com as an influence on his work. You can follow him on Twitter.

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