Stash Invest / DIY Investing and Robo-advisor Portfolios for Beginners

Stash Invest review quick take: A brokerage account for beginner investors to invest for long-term growth.

What is Stash Invest?

Stash Invest makes investing simple for first-time investors with a comprehensive investment app to help you achieve financial goals. With Stash, you get an all-in-one finance app to invest for yourself, your retirement, and your children.

Stash Investments LLC (‘Stash’) is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Advisory products and services are offered through Stash Investments LLC. Stash Capital LLC is an SEC-registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA/SIPC.

Join the over 1.5 million people using Stash to invest.

How Stash Invest Works

Stash shines with its user-friendly interface and educational-centric design. First, you must open one or more of the following:

• An individual taxable account
• A retirement account
• A custodial account for a child

Then, you can choose to invest in two ways:

1. Automated Investing

It’s the simplest way to invest. The Smart Portfolio is a robo-advisor that gives you a diversified portfolio based on your goals that is designed to reduce risk and maximize returns. All you have to do is answer a few questions and get your recommended portfolio.

With Stash Automated Investing you can:

• Use Smart Transactions to add and remove cash from your portfolio.
• Auto-investing allows you to add funds based on your schedule.
• Automatically have your dividends reinvested.

2. Invest Your Way

You can choose how involved you want to be and where to invest. You will also receive personalized advice on stocks and ETFs.

With the Stash Invest Your Way, you can:

• Buy and sell individual stocks and fractional shares.
• Invest in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that allow you to own many companies, bonds, commodities, and other assets.
• Research companies and get personalized recommendations on how to diversify your investments.

Start your Stash of investments because investing is for everyone.

Key Features

Stash’s philosophy is that everyone should have access to investing. They deliver on this idea with robust tools, guidance, and financial education.

• Fractional shares investing: start with any budget or as little as $5.
• Recurring investments: set up how much and how often to auto-invest.
• Automatic rebalancing: ensure your allocation doesn’t drift 5% from your target.
• Dividend reinvestment: compound your portfolio growth by automatically reinvesting dividends.
• Diversification analysis: get guidance on creating a diversified portfolio.

Open an account with Stash Invest and set your investments in auto-pilot.

Pricing

You can choose a plan that’s right for you.

• Stash Growth: $3 monthly for advice, investing access, banking, and $1k insurance.
• Stash+: $9 monthly for advice that includes family finances and market insights, investing access and custodial accounts, banking with 1% in stock on card purchases, and $10k insurance.

Fees

Excluding the monthly subscription fees, the fee structure includes:

• Trading fees: $0
• Statement fees: $0

Please note that additional fees may apply.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• No account minimums
• Simple monthly fees
• Helpful automatic savings and investing feature
• Diversified portfolio

Cons

• No wealth management for bigger investment goals

Who is it best for?

Stash is best for new investors looking for guidance and support. The app is cleverly designed to help beginners build their portfolios. It’s a great app for anyone with minimal investing experience or a small amount of money.

For experienced investors, you have other options available.

Stash Invest Review

Stash is a legitimate company and a trustworthy online brokerage service. Its investing app is rated 4.7 out of 5 stars in the App Store with over 300,000 reviews; however, it has a bad rating on Trustpilot stemming from account opening requirements and confusion around monthly fees.

In our Stash Invest review, we learned how distinct the app is from its competitors. With Stash, the goal is long-term gains and financial literacy. It stands out with its highly integrated educational content.

Like other investing apps, you can buy fractional shares of stocks and ETFs, making it easy for beginners to participate.

The monthly fee of $3 is affordable for those looking for a robust investing and banking app.

Start investing with Stash and build your portfolio starting with $5.

How to Start a Stash Invest Account

Account Requirements

• Must be at least 18 years old.
• Have a social security number.
• Verifiable personal information.

Step-by-Step to Open a Stash Invest Account

The time needed: 3 minutes.

1. Getting started
   • Click “Get Started” to open an account or click this link.
2. Enter your information
   • Submit your personal information, such as name, email, and password.
3. Fund your account
   • Add at least $5 to your investment account.
4. Choose your investing strategy
   • Will you do it yourself or use a robo-advisor to build your portfolio?

Stash Invest Alternatives

When it comes to investing apps, you have options. For newbie investors, consider Stash alternatives such as M1 Finance and Acorns.

You can also find more investing apps in the marketplace.

Bonus: Stash Stock Party

Get bonus stock for attending a digital party. At every Stock party, Stash gives bonus stock to claim in well-known companies, such as Amazon, Apple, Peloton, and more.

How does the Stock Party work? Earning your piece of the stock is simple. All you must do is log in to the Stash app during the posted date and time to earn the bonus stock. Once you’re logged into your account, claim your stock, and it will show up in your investment portfolio within a few days. When you share the stock party link with friends, it helps boost the bonus stock reward shared by attendees.