4 Easy-To-Use Investment Apps for Beginners To Help You Make the Most in 2022

At the end of every year, we tend to look at our bank balances in the hope of better savings next year.

Investing is an option that one should explore to add a few more dollars to their bank account.

With every passing year, trading is becoming an important investment option. In some way or another, trading is becoming a part of everything we invest, for example, even Insurance companies have started to link policy values as a derivative product of the market.

Figuring out how, when, and where to invest sounds like an added burden to the plate for beginners.

 

“Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing.”

-Warren Buffet

 

Lack of knowledge is one of the major risk factors in investing as the expert himself states.

There are several apps these days that educate you, help you make decisions, guide you on how to invest, show your portfolio and its growth with just one click. 

There is an app for every person from a fresh graduate pass-out to an expert.

 

Let’s find out 4 Easy-To-Use Investment apps for Beginners to help you make the most in 2022

 

1. M1 Finance

This app helps you deal with stocks and ETFs.

M1 Finance gives you an option to Invest, Borrow, and Spend.

Invest

M1 Finance app uses a Pie-based user interface. You have an option to choose from more than 6000 stocks and funds to build custom pies. You also have an option to select from nearly 100 pies professionally designed by Experts to meet different financial goals.

There are four account types available to accommodate your needs- Individual, Joint, IRA, and Trust.

Borrow

You can borrow from M1 if you’ve margin accounts with a balance of at least $10,000*

Users can borrow from M1 at as low as 2%(if you’re subscribed to M1 Plus) otherwise, 3.5%. One can use margin to access a portfolio line of credit and borrow up to 35% of their portfolio’s value.

*It doesn’t apply to retirement accounts.

Spend

It is their digital banking option with no minimum balance requirement to open an account along with several perks.

 

Features Of M1 Finance

1. Diversification made Easy

One of the most difficult things about trading is maintaining a well-balanced and diversified portfolio. 

With the pie-based UI, you can maintain a diversified portfolio even with a smaller amount of investment. To simplify, you can select a percentage of the amount for a particular stock which will be maintained throughout.

2. Investing in Fractional shares

M1 Finance allows you to invest in fractional shares for free. This means you can invest for as little as $1 in stock. By purchasing a little as 1/1000th of a share, this app allows you to remain fully invested.

3. Dynamic Rebalancing

Dynamic Rebalancing is a feature that allows you to withdraw or deposit funds without disturbing your set asset allocation ratio by buying or selling securities for you.

When you withdraw funds, M1 will automatically sell the securities in your portfolio that are trading at the highest price at the time of withdrawal. 

When you Deposit Funds, M1 will buy securities in your portfolio that are trading at the lowest price at the time of purchase.

4. Smart Transfer Option

This is a new feature only available for M1 Plus members which lets you set maximum and minimum amount limit for your M1 Spend account. 

Members can also choose to transfer the access amount to other M1 accounts. Several such options will make the user experience extremely convenient.

To read more about this amazing feature, click here

5. Tax Efficient Strategies

This is the only free investing platform that I’ve come across so far that has built-in tax-efficient selling strategies.

If you withdraw funds from your M1 Finance account, M1 will sell stocks/ETFs in the following order:

1. Investments that will result in losses can offset capital gains.

2. Investments that will result in long term capital gains because it has lower tax rates.

3. Investments that will result in short term capital gains that have higher tax rates.

If you want a complete Robo-advisor where you just contribute and the app invests for you, explore Acorns app.

 

2. Robinhood App

This app is specially designed for beginners who want an easy to use interface with no commission costs.

Robinhood permits you to trade in stocks, options, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies commission-free.

There are no minimum balance requirements and opening an account on Robinhood is free.

Robinhood has also announced a Fractional Shares feature that will allow you to invest as little as you want in any stock of your choice and you’ll get fractional ownership of that share.

Robinhood provides you free access to more than 2,000 ETFs.

Users can also upgrade to Robinhood Gold @$5 per month and get:

1. An option to Trade Pre and Post market timings i.e you can trade from 9 am to 6 pm.

2. Access to Morningstar research reports and Level II market data.

3. Trade on margin and Bigger instant deposits access.

 

Features of Robinhood App

1. Commission-free investment app

2. It allows you to trade in stocks, options, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies commission-free compared to most apps that permit trading in stocks and ETFs only.

3. Fractional shares trading feature is added.

4. Real-time quotes are available.

They also give you free stock just for signing up!

This app is currently accepting applications only from US citizens.

Robinhood is hugely popular for it has changed the game for all by changing the target audience and making trading available and easy for all age groups.

This is a no brainer choice for beginners learning to invest.

 

3. Public App

This is an interesting one. Public is a mobile app available on Google Play Store and Apple Store. Public is a combination of social media and investing app features making it a social investing app.

Public allows you to invest in stock and funds, commission-free. You can follow people, join or start group chats to discuss a particular company or trend, send a direct message to an investor, and strike a conversation.

You don’t need any minimum balance to start investing.

In fact, if you sign up, Public gives you free stock of any amount up to $50.

 

Features of Public App

1. Gift 

You can gift your friends with free stocks for the holidays! Just select the stock, send it, and your friends will receive up to $50 of free stock. Currently, you don’t even need to sign up to do so! 

2. Themes

Public themes are designed to let you discover companies with missions that might match yours. You can invest in more than 30 themes ranging from gaming, saving environment companies to female-led companies that are in the S&P 500.

These themes help you understand the stocks and ETFs behind your favorite industries and trends.

3. Fractional shares

Public also allows you to invest in fractional shares or micro invest, making it affordable for all.

4. Group chats

You can start or join chats to have conversations about companies, trends, or investing in general. You can also add a stock ticker that will insert a real-time chart of that stock. How cool is that!

 

 

5. Follow Investors

You can follow other investors, share insights with different people, and build your financial literacy online through a community. 

6. Watchlist

You can track companies that interest you and watch the latest news about the company by adding it to your watchlist. 

To read a more detailed review of the Public app, click here

 

4. Zerodha Kite App

Zerodha is available for both Android and iOS devices, and available on the web.

Zerodha allows you to deal with 0 rs brokerage for investments and flat rs 20 for F&O trading. To invest in this app, you need a Demat account

It provides you with real-time market-watch sector-wise, advanced charts, and lets you manage your portfolio with ease.

This app allows trading through the chart at any point of time with the trade from charts feature.

Night/Dark mode is also provided for user convenience.

 

Features Of Zerodha Kite App

1. Universal Instrument Search

This feature allows you to search across 90,000+ stocks and F&O contracts across multiple exchanges instantly.

2. Brokerage Free Trade

Zerodha provides you with brokerage free trade transactions except for intraday transactions.

3. Easy User Interface

Zerodha Kite has a sleek easy to use interface making trading convenient for beginners.

4. 20 Market Depth or Level III data

Exclusive access to level III data, or 20 market-depth data which gives you deeper insights into market liquidity and allows you to develop sophisticated intraday trading strategies.

5. Advanced Charting

Zerodha provides several indicators, studies, tools with a customizable charting interface. 10 years of historical data for stocks are also available.

6. Multi exits

This is one of the key features of this app that are not yet available on many apps. This feature allows you to do multiple exits on trade options at the same time.

This one is especially recommended for Indian readers.

 

To conclude, all the above apps have an easy to use interface suitable for beginners with different features catering to various investment needs. Which app suits your financial goals the best should be solely your decision to make. Almost all apps have educational blogs and market news that help beginners make informed decisions. A large aspect of profitable investing is understanding how your decisions can impact your potential return. 

 

Let me know in the comment section below if you want me to add any other app to the list.

 

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