Best Investment Apps: Top 5 Picks Reviewed (2023)

Acorns has been top in the market for easy savings apps. It is very easy to use once it is set up, and you do not have to pay much attention to it after that. Acorns has a “Round-up” program that automatically invests your spare change, or you can automate your savings or investments right from your paycheck every pay cycle.

Similar to Betterment, Acorns utilizes robo-advisors to automatically manage and adjust portfolios. They offer various types of accounts, including traditional investment accounts, retirement accounts, custodial accounts for your children, cryptocurrency, and ESG portfolios.

The app’s easy-to-use interface allows investors to easily track their accounts on one screen and move funds around as needed. This account costs $3 per month and is FDIC insured.

If you are looking for an easy way to invest your spare change without having to think about it too much, Acorns is the way to go.

Betterment is one of the leading investment apps offering robo-advising services. This app provides professionally managed portfolios using select ETFs that are individually matched with your risk tolerance and targeted cash-out date.

Also integrated with the robo-advising system are socially responsible portfolios geared toward progressive movements in climate change and social impact. To maximize the robo-advising benefits, Betterment asks for an introductory survey to be done to get an idea of your financial goals. They ask questions like how much you want to invest, why you want to invest, and your preferred cash-out timeline.

You will then be prompted to input your investing goal, create a general investing account, and to make your first deposit. Robo-advising will kick into gear and do the heavy lifting for you by customizing your portfolio with low-cost, diversified ETFs and will recommend the best ones for you to invest in at that time while adjusting your portfolio as better funds become available.

Betterment follows many different investing and savings models that focus on different areas of investing, which include:

• Core portfolio: Diverse, low-cost, long-term investing, which includes stocks and bonds.
• Innovative technology: Well diversified portfolio focusing on high-growth potential companies, including clean energy, semiconductors, robots, virtual reality, blockchain, and nanotechnology. 
• Broad impact: This portfolio will invest in companies that rank highly on environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) criteria without impacting potential long-term performance. 
• Climate impact: Invests into companies with lower carbon emissions and the funding of green projects while maintaining long-term goals in mind.
• Social impact: Provides broad, diversified exposure with a greater focus on companies working toward minority empowerment and gender diversity.
• Goldman Sachs Smart Beta: Targets companies that have the potential to outperform the broader market.
• BlackRock Target Income: A 100% bond portfolio with different income yields to help protect you from stock market volatility. 
• Cash reserve: A 100% cash account that earns 1.60% APY (variable), no balance fee and is FDIC insured up to $1M on an individual account and $2M on a joint account.

If you are looking for a reliable, automated investment app, trust Betterment and invest with them.

Fidelity has a few different online apps that can execute many tasks. This was one of our top choices for investment apps because they are all designed for inexperienced investors, which makes it very user-friendly. 

The apps have powerful management tools such as researching, buying or selling stocks, and ETFs, monitoring all financial portfolios on one dashboard, and more. The app also includes streaming quotes and trading support on margin accounts. 

With this app, you can expect that it updates instantly and keeps their research and information up to date. If you want to follow specific trends or market news, you can customize what news can be viewed at the top of your screen. 

A unique feature that Fidelity offers through their app is the ability to view your available tax forms and when you should expect additional tax forms to be added. 

In account activity, you can view your history, and pending transactions, manage your orders, and more. Under the trade+ transact option, you can trade, transfer, deposit checks, and pay bills. Under accounts, you can manage your debit card PIN and lock your card. View a quick snapshot of all your accounts under one screen and much more. 

Also available are podcasts, iMessage extensions, customer service and support, apple watch integration, and a learning center for more information and resources.

If you are looking for an “‘all-in-one” option for investing and overall finances, Fidelity is the app for you.

TD Ameritrade offers two different mobile apps, one of which is standard and a good place to start, and the other is geared toward more advanced traders. If you have both apps, you can link accounts and move funds between. 

With the standard TD Ameritrade app, you can access the basics such as stocks, futures trading, various accounts, etc. You can also explore charts, price alerts, watch lists, and real-time quotes.

With the TD Ameritrade Thinkorswim app, you can access multi-leg options, stocks, futures, forex, and 24/5 trading capabilities. With this app, you can create customizable multi-touch charts with hundreds of technical indicators and 24/7 customer support systems.

For beginners and seasoned traders, TD Ameritrade offers the best of both worlds and is ranked among the top trading platforms. If you are looking for reliability and control over your financial portfolios, TD Ameritrade is the way to go.