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The 8 Best Investing Apps for Beginners or Pros in 2021

There are hundreds of investing apps in the Apple App store and Google Play Store, how could anyone know which to choose? We have made…

There are hundreds of investing apps in the Apple App store and Google Play Store, how could anyone know which to choose? We have made the choice easier by testing and trying out our team's favorites and then narrowing them down to come up with this list of the top investing apps. Whether you are a looking for investing apps for beginners or if you are looking for something new, take a look at this comprehensive list and you will be sure to find an investing app that works best for you.

robinhood investing app

Robinhood

Currently, there is a massive boom in average people getting interested in investing in the stock market. Between the Game Stop drama and the Coronavirus, people are turning to the stock market to try their hand at playing the stocks. Robinhood was one of the apps users flocked to and for good reason. It makes investing simple for anyone and even includes the ability to invest in crypto, as well as traditional stocks.

The summary tab shows exactly what you’d expect — the real time status of your portfolio. See what you’ve invested, how you’re doing for the day, and the percentage change. You can adjust the live graph to also show the day, week, month, three month, year, or full history. It is also home to your invested stocks, crypto, and any stocks you’re watching for potential investments.

The browse tab is full of research potential and curated lists. Stocks with upcoming IPOs, daily movers, big pharma, and more. Watch video from Reuters, Bloomberg, and others. Read news from major organizations, and deep-dive into stocks you want to learn more about.

Robinhood also has an Apple Watch component as well. With the simple app that embraces that deep-black OLED display, you can view your current portfolio status as well as all your tracked stocks.

It may not be the most robust app that professional day traders will rely on, but for any average users it is a great place to get started.

acorns investing appAcorns

Acorns isn’t the first and certainly not the only app to take this approach to investing. The idea is that little acorns can grow into a big tree. In other words, many small investments over time will yield large returns. It accomplishes this via tiny roundups on daily purchases as well as optional weekly lump sums.

Take the roundups first. Every time you make a purchase with your linked debit or credit card, say that $7.68 Frappuccino you required. Acorns will automatically round that up to an even $8, taking the extra $.32 and depositing it into your Acorns account for investing. That is put into a diversified ETF portfolio built by Acorn’s experts. Choose how safe or aggressive you want your portfolio to be — then wait. Over time, those tiny investments add up to a large amount with a decent return.

If you’d like, you can choose to contribute a set amount each week too, maybe just $5 and that will be invested for you as well. If you’d like to go further, Acorns offers a physical metal debit card you can use which makes investments instantly as you purchase. It is all dead-simple and doesn’t require any investment know-how.

There’s much more to Acorns too such as investing for kids, rewards, no hidden fees, and a sleek green-accented design that looks fantastic and is easy to use. Start early and plan for your future by setting aside a little each time with Acorns.

stash investing appStash

Like many other permeating our list, Stash is designed with beginners in mind though don’t let that turn you off if you have experience. With Stash, you get a bank account, an investment portfolio, shopping rewards, and more. All in one app! I know, it’s pretty outstanding.

Because Stash blends your bank and investment accounts with smart, modern investing, it is one of the easiest ways to get your money to work for you. You are entirely welcome to invest on your own in Stash — it has thousands of individual stocks as well as ETFs. If you prefer, you can use the Smart Portfolio that does everything for you and is personalized to your own risk profile.

When using the Stash debit card, you’ll earn stocks — albeit fractional shares — from popular companies like Tesla, Starbucks, and Amazon among others. It is a more streamlined version of the “round up” method employed by other apps.

What I like most of all though, is the ability to create child accounts. You’re able to set up, track, and manage your kid’s investment portfolios setting them off on the right foot. Most of these apps I’ve tried, focus on you by yourself, but Stash gives you that added guidance and control on improving your children’s futures as well.

If you need a new bank, a new way to invest, a retirement plan, or you want to do something for your kids — Stash is a solid option to consider.

twine investing appTwine

Twine is yet another savings-style app that aids you in reaching your goals. It does a great job in this by setting an overarching goal — be it something large like retirement or something soon like a wedding or new car — then connecting your bank account to save regularly. Your savings will be invested into a portfolio to help those savings grow, and sooner than you realize, you’ll hit your goal.

What makes Twine so great in my eyes, is this app isn’t just useful for solo individuals but couples as well. You and your partner can have a joint account, each with your own deposits that contribute to your goal. You can easily see how much you each put in, your ongoing balance, target, and the estimated completion date.

The soft yellow UI is soothing and its animations are charming which makes it feel unintimidating. Investing and savings app can often feel scary and overwhelming so this was a great choice from the Twine team.

Twine is entirely hands-off, has a variety of goals you can save for and is better suited for a variety of use cases compared to other apps here on my list. Especially short-term goals rather than retirement.

coinbase pro investing appCoinbase Pro

There are several options for investing in crypto, but Coinbase Pro is one of the best around. Coinbase is devoted to crypto currencies and offers two apps — the basic Coinbase app and Coinbase Pro. The former is great for beginners though Coinbase Pro can help you conquer the crypto market.

The biggest differences between the two are more currencies supported, additional transaction types, advanced features, crypto-to-crypto trading pairs, and unlimited trading amount. If none of that makes sense to you — stick with the basic app. but if some of that sounds like what you’re looking for — go pro.

Unlike many of the stock apps I’ve looked at, this crypto-oriented trading app is all about that dark mode. It has a jet-black background with red and green colors to make those gains and losses stand out. Trade more than 50 currencies including BTC, ETH, and of course Dogecoin. It is the most full-featured crypto trading app we’ve run across and has the ability to cash out with nothing more than a PayPal account. Learn more using this online broker UK website.

This app is fast, reliable, and competitive. If you want an app designed just with crypto currencies in mind, then Coinbase is where you need to be.

public investing appPublic

Public is the biggest alternative to Robinhood and differs in a few ways. You can certainly invest any sum you’d like — down to a buck. But there’s much more. It is also about social features, news, and insights.

You can follow various users in the app and see their portfolios as well as any insights they have. You can create your own news alerts to get notified of anything you need to be aware of for the stocks you follow. And on the summary tab you have a running list of what those you follow have done. See when someone invests in a stock and maybe you get inspired to invest in them yourself.

They also don’t sell your trades as part of larger trades to market makers. This is one way smaller stockbrokers make money by routing your orders to a market maker. They may receive a compensation such as a penny per share sold to that market maker. That’s how free apps — like Robinhood — are able to make a profit. But payment for order flow, or PFOF, creates a misalignment of benefits between the broker itself and and you, as the investor. Public has been loudly touting that it is PFOF-free since early this year.

The app is overall very well designed and laid out, mixing a social network with a real-world investing platform that prioritizing long-term growth over short-term day trading. It is clean, light, and easy to navigate.

If you’re especially green to the stock market but want to earn some green yourself, Public may be a solid first go as you can follow and learn greatly from its massive community.

stocks+ investing appStocks+

Apple includes the basic Stocks app on every iPhone, but it can be limiting. Stocks+ is essentially a much more powerful version of Apple’s. This iPhone and iPad app has real-time stock quotes, gains and losses calculation for tracking your investments, and support for multiple portfolios.

This app is gorgeous, simple, and should just replace what you already have installed. It does nothing frilly and doesn’t allow you to make any trades within the app itself.

marketsim investing appMarketSim

Stock trading can be fun and all — especially when you come out on top — but that isn’t always the case. Whether you invest that $100 from your birthday you have your life savings diversified across a dozen different blue chip standbys, there is always that chance that those stocks plummet before you extract your return. MarketSim is a great way for users who are curious about the stock market try it for themselves without risking any real money. That includes kids, who should understand the market before investing any of their own cashola.

So yes — MarketSim is basically a simulation game. But it is one where you use your in-game currency to invest in real-world stocks. You may not see any real-world cash but you won’t lose any either. The summary page looks just like Apple’s own Stock app. See your text “investment” balance at the top, how much it is up or down for the day, and then a running list of any apps that you’re actively tracking.

As this app does want to encourage learning and research, there are copious research options available. Choose any company and learn about it, see recent news, and view key facts. Use this information to see if it is worth an investment or not. If you’ve “invested” in a stock, you can see how many shares, your average cost, your current equity, and how diverse your portfolio is. As a side benefit, it can also be used to track any paper shares that you own that live outside of any modern app.

If you’re curious or you want to teach your kids, MarketSim is a great opportunity to see real results without real money.

But enough about other people's apps.

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