Best for Free Stock Trades: Robinhood
Robinhood is an American based mobile app, which allows regular people an avenue to investing in publicly traded companies such as Coca-Cola and Disney and investment funds. It also gives you access to exchange-traded funds listed on U.S. stock exchanges fee-free, without paying a commission.
Robinhood was one of the first that offers free stock trades and this is the reason it has garnered so much popularity, reaching 5.6 million in funding in just its first year.
Free trades don’t just mean free, it’s a little more complicated than that. Trades with them have 0% commission. It’s really simple to get started too, just download the app, connect to whatever bank you’re with, send some money to your account, and you can trade “fee-free”.
If you want to trade for longer or trade margin accounts, you can upgrade to Robinhood Gold for a reasonable fee.
Best for flexibility: Scottish Friendly
Scottish Friendly is a leading UK mutual life and investments organization. It allows its users to open various accounts, invest into funds and bonds. There are 9 options for investing with various levels of risks and rewards. Which keeps it simple for people to start saving and investing. Plans start from as little as £100 or £10 per month.
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Best for Retirement: Vault
There are more and more options available for self-employed people to invest in their future, but one of the coolest around is Vault.
This investment and savings app is dedicated to those who want to invest in the (much) later future. This is especially pertinent for those who are self-employed and don’t have access to employer pension schemes.?
Best for Stock Gifting: Stockpile
If you are an investor this one isn’t for you. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t great for the average joe.
The stockpile was created so that you could gift shares using gift cards.
A neat way to revolutionize giving gift cards as a birthday present. Which, let us face it, was on the decline.
With stockpile, you may buy fractional shares of thousands of companies. Alternatively, you can gift credit with a gift card. This is the way to light that spark of intrigue in a young person’s mind. Introducing kids to investing and saving can really make a difference throughout life.
There are no monthly fees and all trades are 99 cents, which really sets itself on good footing. Some old school brokerages charge £12 per trade just for the liberty of getting shares. This is just one reason why many of these Free-trade apps are killing it today.
This app is an extremely interesting prospect for parents or grandparents who are looking to get their little ones into investing and saving or young adults interested in investing and learning more about the stock market.
All trades are 99 cents and there are no hidden or monthly fees, this app has and will always be geared towards parents and grandparents who value passing investing onto their children. For instance, instead of $50 birthday money, you can effectively gift $50 of their favorite share. Whether it be Disney or apple or over 1000 others. Don’t worry if a share is $200, you will receive the $50 equivalent. I.e 25% of one share.
Best for All Round: Monzo
Monzo is a digital bank founded in 2015. It has become a very popular alternative to traditional banks. It has a full banking license and is covered by the FSCA.
Monzo is an excellent choice for people looking to switch banks. They were one of the first digital-only banks to raise the bar for all financial apps and services and begs the question of why anyone would still bank with a traditional app.
The app is super easy to use and breaks down your spending into categories, they are very open and even say on their website that they prefer when people don’t withdraw cash, they use their card. Which most people are doing by choice now anyway. You can create savings pots which are tucked away and you can’t use. You can put a time limit on this and lock it, making sure you can’t access them until the date is reached.
