College can be a stressful time for students, but investing your money shouldn’t add to the stress. College is typically when people start investing their money and it’s important to find an investing platform that grows with you as your financial needs change.
The best investing apps for college students offer this flexibility, making them powerful enough for long-term use while still simple enough to understand at first glance.
These platforms will also make transitioning from college life easier by providing all of the personal finance tools in one place. Investing doesn’t have to be complicated or scary—these are some of the best investing apps out there!
Best Investment Platforms and Apps for College Students—Top Picks
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Best Investment App for Beginners
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Best Stock Trading App for Beginners
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Best Investing App for Social Media Experience
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4.6
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4.5
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4.2
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Get your $60 account signup and net deposit bonus. |
Free Stock w/Deposit ($5 – $200 value) |
Free Stock w/Deposit ($3 – $300 value) |
What are the Best Investment Apps for College Students?
When looking for the best investment apps for beginners, you will want to consider apps that offer a variety of investment options and allow you to track your stocks as you wish, research and read stock news and grow with your needs.
Investing apps for beginners should also be easy-to-use, mobile-friendly and provide useful features such as automatic rebalancing or the ability to set up recurring investments with just one swipe.
The following list represents the best investing apps for college students starting to invest for the first time.
1. Plynk: Best Investment App for Beginners
- Sign up here
- Price: Start for free. Some features may require a $2 monthly fee in the future. Fees apply to individual crypto trades.
Plynk™ is an app designed to help you start investing and learn along the way, and they’re currently offering up to $60 in bonuses for new accounts.
The Plynk app helps beginner investors put their money into an investment portfolio. Specifically, Plynk offers access to a selection of stocks, ETFs, mutual funds and crypto—all starting at a single dollar.
The platform uses straightforward, easy-to-understand language to explain investing concepts. No jargon. No complex charts and tables. Just simple-language tips and how-tos.
You can use Plynk Explore to find investments based on your interests. Just answer a few questions, and the app will display stock, ETF, and mutual fund investments that mesh with your investment comfort zone.
To assist with building your financial literacy, Plynk offers complete lessons and courses on financial education, including tips, educational content and how-tos.
The Plynk app enables you to make use of a powerful investing technique called dollar-cost averaging through participating in recurring investments. By continuing to buy a fixed dollar amount of investments over time, whether the market is up or down, you can build a disciplined investing habit and lower the stress that can come from market movements.
One of Plynk’s most interesting features involves, of all things, gift cards. Specifically, you can redeem unused gift cards for money that you can use to buy stocks in your favorite companies.
If this sounds interesting to you, consider opening an account with Plynk. To make it more worth your while, they have a few special offers.
Simply open an account and link your bank account to get a $10 signup bonus. Plynk is also offering a special bonus promotion through May 18, 2023. Plynk will give you $50 for making at least $25 in net deposits made to your new Plynk brokerage account between Jan. 31 and May 18, 2023. Customers must have a minimum of $25 in net deposits during the promotional period to receive a match. That means you may be eligible for up to $60 in signup bonuses from Plynk by taking qualifying actions.
Plynk™ Invest | Helping Beginning Investors Get Started
4.6
Get started with the Plynk app for free; some features may require a $2 monthly fee in the future.
- Beginning investors can use Plynk™ to start investing for as little as $1.
- Answer just a few questions, and find suitable investments for your needs.
- Invest in stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds and crypto.
- Plynk™ lets you redeem unused gift cards for money that you can use to invest in your favorite companies.
- Signup bonus: Plynk offers two signup bonuses: matching net deposits up to $50 signup bonus made to your account through May 18, 2023, subject to certain terms. They also offer a $10 in signup bonus for downloading the Plynk app, opening an account and linking a bank account as a new customer, for a total combined bonus of $60.
- Designed for beginning investors
- Redeem unused gift cards to invest
- Helpful educational resources
- Some features may require $2/mo. fee in the future
Related: Best Brokerage Account Bonuses, Promotions and Deals
2. Robinhood (Best Simple Stock Trading App for Beginners)
- Available: Sign up here
- Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)
Robinhood is a pioneer of low-cost trading, jumping into the investing public’s consciousness in 2013 when they rolled out commission-free trading. They remain a standout option for cost-minded investors thanks to their continued $0 commissions on stocks, ETFs, and options, as well as for its fractional trading, which allows people to invest with as little as $1.
More importantly, though, Robinhood has evolved from a bare-bones app appealing to mostly beginner investors to a fuller-featured account suitable for a wider range of experience levels.
For instance, Robinhood now offers individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and Roth IRAs via Robinhood Retirement. Functionally, it comes up short compared to many other IRA providers because of its investment options. It offers just stocks and ETFs; like with its brokerage account, mutual funds aren’t available. Options aren’t currently available, though Robinhood has explicitly stated that options will be made available soon.
However, Robinhood Retirement still stands out from the pack because it’s the only IRA that offers a 1% match on contributions. The match, which typically hits your account almost immediately, applies to any contributions up to the IRS’s annual limits but does not count toward your contribution limit. And while you can choose your investments yourself, Portfolio Builder can provide you with a custom recommended portfolio made up of five to eight ETFs.
(Friendly message from your Young and the Invested tax expert: The reason the IRA Match doesn’t count toward your annual IRA contribution limit is because Robinhood treats it as interest income in your IRA.)
Robinhood has long catered to younger investors with its gamified interface and growing library of educational content. But over the years, it has added a boatload of other features for new and experienced investors alike. Advanced Charts, for instance, provides simple and customizable charts with a variety of technical features. Robinhood’s Options Strategy Builder simplifies the options-trading process by helping you build a strategy based on what you expect your target stock or ETF will do in the future. Robinhood also offers 24/7 commission-free cryptocurrency trading (though you’ll still have to pay a spread), allows extended-hours trading, and lets users earn interest through stock lending.
Robinhood does offer a paid subscription service—Robinhood Gold—with several more features mostly geared toward advanced traders. Benefits include Level II market data provided by Nasdaq, a lower charged rate on margin investing than regular accounts, higher interest on uninvested brokerage cash via the cash sweep program, and bigger Instant Deposits.
If you want to keep your banking and investing close together, you can also add a Robinhood spending account. This FDIC-insured account includes a Robinhood Cash Card issued by Sutton Bank—however, if you don’t want this physical debit card, you do have the option of having a virtual debit card only. The Cash Card is compatible with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay, and also provides you with access to fee-free withdrawals from more than 90,000 ATMs. The card allows you to round-up purchases and invest the money into your brokerage or crypto account.
Sign up for a Robinhood brokerage account or Robinhood retirement account today.
Robinhood | Commission-Free Trades, IRA Matches
4.5
Commission-free trading. Robinhood Gold: $5/mo., free 30-day trial.
- Robinhood is an investing app that became famous for offering commission-free trades on stocks, ETFs, options, and cryptocurrency.
- The platform has added a new innovation in the retirement space: the only individual retirement accounts (IRAs) with a 1% match.
- Robinhood Gold paid subscription service includes Level II market data provided by Nasdaq, higher interest rates on uninvested brokerage cash, lower margin trading rates, and bigger Instant Deposits.
- Special offer: Sign up for Robinhood, link a bank account, and fund your account with at least $10, and receive a randomly selected cash amount between $5 and $200 to put toward fractional shares.
- Good selection of available investments in brokerage accounts
- 1% contribution match on IRAs and Roth IRAs
- Automated portfolio builder in IRAs and Roth IRAs
- Intuitive interface
- Extensive educational library
- Lackluster investment selection in IRAs and Roth IRAs
- No mutual funds in brokerage or IRAs
- No robo-advisor functionality
Related: Best Free Investing Apps to Invest for Free
3. Public.com: Best Investment App for College Students Wanting a Social Media Experience
- Sign up here
- Price: Commission-free trades
Public.com is the social investing app meant to mimic younger generations’ affinity for social media. The app allows you to follow investor influencers and share and like their trades.
Additionally, the app enables users to share real-time investing activity with friends and family via public posts or private messages.
Public.com is a great way for new investors to learn how stocks work by following more experienced traders. Further, you don’t need to commit significant amounts of money to get started through this micro investing app.
The downside of Public is that it lacks some of the advanced features offered by other apps.
Read more in our Public.com investing app review.
Public.com | Commission-Free Themed Investing
4.2
Basic: Commission-free trading. Premium: $10/mo.
- Public.com offers zero-commission trading on thousands of stocks and ETFs, available as fractional shares. The app also allows you to invest in cryptocurrency, and it’s one of the rare brokerages that allows its users to buy alternative assets.
- Uses a social feed where members can share why they believe in certain companies (or don’t) and can post comments on others’ trades.
- Can invest in curated lists of stocks and ETFs for people to aggregate investments by interest area or values.
- Subscribe to Public Premium for features such as advanced company-level data, Morningstar insights, and exclusive audio content from Public.com’s expert analysts.
- Special offer: Transfer investments from another broker to Public.com and earn between $150 and $10,000.*
- Fractional shares
- Allows you to trade alternative assets
- No payment for order flow (PFOF)
- Creative social investing features
- Doesn’t support mutual funds
- Limited investment research and other tools
4. Webull: Best Stock Trading App for Intermediate Investors
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: Commission-free trades
Webull is a new free stock trading app, offering a better platform of investing tools than Robinhood.
The Webull investing app offers a variety of investing strategies including “Instant Orders.” This allows Webull users to make trades within seconds.
Further, the app also offers a high-quality trading platform that is easy to use and understand — even for beginners.
Consider signing up with Webull if you’re looking for an investing solution free from fees or overly complicated features.
For opening an account and making an initial deposit, the service also offers free stocks for signing up.
Webull | No Minimums, Free Trades
4.8
Commission-free trading.
- Webull is a low-cost trading and investing app that allows you to invest in stocks, ETFs, options, and crypto, and participate in initial public offerings (IPOs).
- Commission-free trades on stocks, ETFs, and options.
- Trading features include charting tools, technical indicators, customizable screeners, real-time stock alerts, and group orders.
- New users also get one free month of Nasdaq TotalView’s Level 2 Quotes service. (That subscription costs $2.99/mo. thereafter.)
- Special offer: Open an account and deposit any amount to receive 12 free fractional shares, collectively worth between $52-$36,000.
- Good selection of available investments
- Fractional shares
- Powerful technical analysis tools
- Accessible to beginning and intermediate users
- Voice commands
- Does not support mutual funds
- No robo-advisor functionality
5. Acorns: Best Micro-Investing App for Beginners
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: Acorns Personal: $3/mo, Acorns Family: $5/mo
Acorns is an investing app for minors and young adults specifically designed for beginners who want to start investing in stocks. While helpful to introduce investing for kids, it also works beyond childhood.
Acorns rounds up your everyday purchases on your debit card to the nearest dollar, invests that money for you and then charges a small fee each month depending on your plan.
Users can invest over time without having to think about it consciously or set aside any capital upfront while still making significant returns on their investments by using what they already spend each day.
The company offers a linked banking product that allows users to deposit their paycheck and then invest all or part of that money automatically into the Acorns portfolio, making it a truly hands-off investing solution.
Acorn’s recent partnership with CNBC allows investors access live market coverage during trading hours including breaking news alerts, stock charts and financial literacy resources.
Learn more in our Acorns review.
Acorns | Invest, Earn, Grow, Spend, Later
3.6
Acorns Personal: $3/mo. Personal Plus: $5/mo.
- In under 5 minutes, Acorns allows you to get investment accounts for you and your family, plus retirement, checking, ways to earn more money, and grow your knowledge.
- Famous for investing spare change automatically through Round-ups, this all-in-one financial app helps younger generations start investing earlier.
- Invest in expert-built portfolios made up of diversified ETFs.
- Special offer: Get $10 to start*.
- Robo-advisor with affordable fees (on larger portfolios)
- Fixed fee model
- Round-Ups
- High fixed fees for small balances
- No self-directed investing options
- Limited investment selections
Related: Best Acorns Alternatives: Micro-Investing Apps to Use
6. M1 Finance: Best DIY Robo-Advisor
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: Commission-free trades
M1 Finance is an all-in-one personal finance solution that allows new investors to set up an account in seconds.
The service offers investors the ability to create Portfolio Pies, or a diversified portfolio that rebalances to help you achieve your money goals and make progress towards a list of things to save up for down the line.
M1 Finance is a service designed for self-directed investors by offering flexible, customizable and automated financial solutions. The platform manages your money intelligently based on how you want, for free.
Users can open a personal banking account with free instant transfers of cash between accounts based on your preferences.
You can even purchase stock in fractional shares, meaning you don’t need to save up $3,500 to buy one share of Amazon or some other high-priced stock.
The company offers both taxable and tax-advantaged accounts, making this one of the great options for those who qualify as a Roth IRA investor. They even have offer a Roth IRA for kids!
Consider signing up for an M1 Finance account today and earn a free sign up bonus.
Read more in our M1 Finance review.
M1 Finance | Smart Money Management
4.3
Basic: Free. M1 Plus: $125/yr.
- M1 Finance’s Smart Money Management gives you choice and control of how you want to invest automatically, borrow, and spend your money—with available high-yield checking and low borrowing rates.
- Basic account includes an FDIC-insured checking account and an M1 Visa debit card.
- Upgrade to M1 Plus and unlock perks including 1% cash back, 4.50% APY, ATM reimbursements, and 0% international fees.
- Invest in stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies.
- Special Promotion: Open an account and get 3 months free of M1 Plus* ($31.25 value).
- Robo-advisor with self-directed investing capability
- Attractive cash-back and APY opportunities with M1 Plus subscription
- Doesn’t support mutual funds
- Doesn’t allow trading throughout the trading day (1 trading window for Basic, 2 for M1 Plus)
- High cost for M1 Plus service tier
*Your free trial (a $31.25 value) begins the date you enroll in the M1 Plus subscription, and ends 90 days after (“Free Trial”). Upon expiry of the Free Trial, your account is automatically billed an annual subscription fee of $125 unless you cancel under your Membership details in the M1 Platform.
7. Stash: Best for Approaching Finances for the First Time
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: Growth: $3/mo. Stash+: $9/mo.
Stash is another all-in-one investing solution that offers users the ability to invest in individual stocks as well as ETFs.
Many parents love the investing app for kids because they can use a custodial account to begin investing even earlier than college. However, many teenagers and young adults like the app for the control it offers them over their money and investments.
Like Acorns, Stash offers a bank account and linked Stock-Back® Card1. Stash offers a considerable library of financial literacy articles meant to improve your financial knowledge.
Further, Stash offers their Stock-Back® rewards program2, which allows users to earn stock on qualifying purchases made on their linked Stock-Back® Card1. Over time, these additional stock contributions can build your portfolio.
Consider signing up for Stash if you’re looking for a simple investing and banking solution. Stash grows with the user and makes your money work for you.
Stash | Investing Made Easy
3.7
Growth: $3/mo. Stash+: $9/mo.
- Stash is a personal finance app that simplifies investing, making it easy and affordable for everyday Americans to build wealth and achieve their financial goals.
- Invest in stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrency.
- Earn Stock-Back® rewards on every eligible debit card purchase.
- Special offer: If you sign up and make a $5 deposit, Stash will also provide a $5 sign-up bonus.
- Robo-advisor with self-directed investing capability
- Fractional shares
- Offers values-based investment options
- Get paid up to two days early when you direct deposit pay into your Stash account
- Charges monthly fee
- Smart Portfolios don’t offer tax-loss harvesting
8. Vanguard: Best Fund Company Offering an Investment App
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: Commission-free trades
I can’t create a list of the best investing apps without mentioning Vanguard. Their service has led the way in reducing investing fees and empowered the index fund movement.
While apps like Robinhood have slashed trading commissions to $0, Vanguard has led index fund investors to virtually $0 fund expenses as well. When combined, you invest for almost nothing.
Talk about a great accomplishment for the small investor looking to invest steadily over time.
Vanguard excels as a stock trading platform for college students when you wish to buy and sell Vanguard securities like index fund ETFs. You pay no commissions on their products like VTI or VTSAX or VFIAX.
The app comes with a clunky interface compared to other newer apps, but it includes the ability to invest in their index funds automatically.
The app’s simplicity and lack of features can serve one goal: making you less interested to check in on your money.
Perhaps counterintuitive, but one of the biggest mistakes investors make comes from making adjustments to their diversified portfolios during market volatility.
Often, they end up selling at the market lows and and getting back in on the way up.
The app is available to both iOS and Android users.
How to Start Investing in College
When starting your college career, you’re likely more focused on your course load, making friends and getting adjusted to a new environment than investing.
However, it’s important not to neglect your financial future and start investing in college (even including building credit as a college student) so that you have an even stronger footing when starting the rest of your life!
Investing doesn’t need to be complicated or scary – here are some tips on how you can best get started as a student:
- Start with small amounts of money: Building up your investments with small amounts of money is a smart idea when you’re starting out. You can then build it up over time and turn investing into an automatic habit
- Pick a simple investing platform: There are lots of different platforms to choose from, but what’s important is that the one you pick should be simple enough for you – and have all the features you need to make investing an easy process.
- Have the platform grow with you: You can set up automatic investments, choose how much risk you’re comfortable taking on (and what percentage of your budget to put towards it), and even see where all of your money is invested – so that managing everything as a student becomes easier with time
What Should College Students Invest In?
When you just start investing with little amounts of money, you should consider investing in lower-risk investments. This will help you get used to the investing process without risking too much of your money if something goes wrong with it.
By this, I don’t mean certificates of deposit or short-term bonds, but rather investments that don’t carry risk tied to a specific company or sector.
Because traditional students begin college as teenagers and can start investing young, they should favor riskier asset types like stocks rather than bonds.
When you are investing at 18, these will have the greatest overall upside potential and take advantage of college students’ greatest asset: youth.
In general, college students should focus on what they are best at learning and enjoy before looking into investing in anything else. For example, the best investments for young adults is an investment in themselves by attending college.
As for how to invest their money in the stock market, they should likely start with investing in index funds. Index funds are investments that mimic the performance of a market index like the S&P 500 or Nasdaq and do not require any active trading on your part.
So, if you’re just beginning to invest, it’s a good place to start.
These low-cost, diversified investment options allow you to buy stocks but don’t require you to do any of the research into what those stocks are.
When selecting an investing platforms for beginners, they should grow with the user and make their money work for them.
For example, if a college student starts with index funds as an investment, when they graduate from college they’ll be able to invest in other more complex or riskier investments like individual companies.
For the more engaged investor, you can identify these individual stock opportunities with the best stock picking services, stock advisor services or through stock investment newsletters.
Likewise, you can conduct your own stock research and analysis with apps and find undervalued stocks before the market has caught on.
At the same time, if you’re not sure what to invest in, index funds are a good place to start. They’re also a good place to invest for your entire life.
They require no active trading and provide diversification for even just $500 or less with very little effort involved from you. They do the heavy lifting for your portfolio automatically.
Best Investment Apps for College Students Beginning to Invest
These apps help college students begin to invest and grow their money.
The investing platforms grow with the user and make their money work for them, teaching students how to invest in stocks, bonds, ETFs – even how to start a Roth IRA account!
These apps are designed from the ground up to be easy-to-understand but still powerful enough to handle college students’ long term investing needs. Hopefully, college students choose to invest in appreciating assets over the long-term.
Consider opening an account with one of the above online discount brokers and see if it works for you.
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