Make Investing Simple Whether you’re putting away your first $1,000 or have been saving for the future for years, you’re going to want to consider investing your funds at some point. Doing so will allow you to maximize returns and exponentially grow your savings. Unfortunately, the investment process can be pretty intimidating, especially if you are starting out on your own. It’s hard to know how to begin, where to invest, how to balance your portfolio and even what sort of fees you should expect to pay along the way. That’s where the convenience and ease of today’s best investment apps can come into play. [youmaylike] What are Investment Apps? Once upon a time, your only choice for investing was to pick up the phone and call your stock broker to initiate a trade. You were charged for the service, either based on commission or as a flat fee per transaction. While stock brokers are still an option, you can take investing into your own hands these days, without ever needing to talk to another human. And it’s all thanks to investment apps and platforms. Today’s apps offer a range of services and features. With them, users can: Research funds and individual stocks. View fees and expenses related to investment choices. Invest funds on the go, and even automate regular contributions. Automatically reinvest earnings on current investments. Adjust portfolio for personal risk tolerance. View performance projections. Choose funds or individual stocks that align with personal beliefs, through portfolios based on socially-responsible missions. The best part? Investing through trusted apps is usually cheaper and faster and you’ll have instant access to your portfolio/reports at any time of day. Not only that, but you’ll also be able to set your investment risk tolerance, rebalance your portfolio and even reinvest earnings automatically. Who are Investment Apps Designed For? Whether you’ve been playing the market for ages or are ready to invest your first $100, the right investment app is worth considering. For those new to the stock market, apps will simplify the process and put the power of investing at your fingertips… literally. From your phone or computer, you can easily see portfolio recommendations based on your own goals, savings plans and even risk tolerances. The right app will tell you upfront how much you can expect to spend in fees throughout the year, and can even allow you to automate many of the more confusing aspects, such as picking well-performing stocks or even rebalancing. While investment apps are ideal for beginners, newbies aren’t the only ones who will see the benefits. Even seasoned investors will find the process easy to use, and may even learn that these platforms can maximize returns (and save them money in fees) along the way. Not to mention, many investment apps offer additional insight into specific funds, so you can choose to invest in companies that align with your own passions and beliefs. Now that you know why you should consider using an investment app for your own savings, let’s take a look at some of the best ones available today. Best Investment Apps Great for Beginners: Acorns Fees and expenses: For investors with less than $1 million invested, fees are between $1-3 per month depending on the account option you choose. Acorns is also free for college students. Beginning investment requirement: At least $5 to start Types of investments available: ETFs (exchange-traded funds) Portfolio options: Conservative, Moderately Conservative, Moderate, Moderately Aggressive, Aggressive Automatic investing?: Yes Automatic reinvesting?: Yes Automatic rebalancing?: Yes If you want an easy, hands-off approach to investing that won’t leave your head spinning, Acorns is a great first choice. This app not only simplifies investing for beginners but allows investors to completely automate the process from start to finish. After connecting the app to your debit card, the app will “round up” each of your daily purchases, putting the savings into an investment holding account. Once you reach the minimum required, Acorns will invest this money on your behalf, based on your account preferences. The app will also reinvest your earnings, as well as rebalance your portfolio when necessary. Great for Truly Free Investing: Robinhood Fees and expenses: Robinhood is a free investment platform in every sense of the word, pledging to never charge company fees or commissions to customers. Beginning investment requirement: You’ll need $2,000 to get started. Types of investments available: ETFs, stocks, cryptocurrency and options. Portfolio options: Interest-based options such as Fashion ETF, Tech ETF and Energy ETF, as well as a standard S&P 500 ETF, all with personal risk tolerance settings. You’ll also find “collections,” which are individual stocks grouped according to specific interests — such as companies with female CEOs or that are in the social media sector. Automatic investing: No. Automatic reinvesting: No. Automatic rebalancing: Yes. A great option for beginners and experienced investors alike, Robinhood makes the process both easy and affordable. How affordable? Well, it’s entirely free. By offering a truly free experience, Robinhood saves investors some serious cash over time. Additionally, the platform makes it easy to choose individual stocks or ETFs based on personal interests. If you want to invest in cryptocurrency or options, you can also do so through Robinhood. One of the biggest limitations of the platform, though, is its automation. While you can set up automatic deposits into your account, you will need to manually invest those funds and then reinvest (or withdraw) your dividends. Stash Fees and expenses: $1 per month fee for those with less than $5,000 invested, or $2 per month for retirement accounts with less than $5,000. For users under 25, fees on retirement accounts are waived. If you have more than $5,000 invested, your fee will be 0.25% annually. Beginning investment requirement: You’ll need at least $5 to begin investing (fractional shares are available) Types of investments available: ETFs (exchange-traded funds) and fractional stock shares Portfolio options: Too many to name, ranging from things you Want (portfolios that are conservative to aggressive mixes), things you Believe (such as groups of companies that believe in clean energy, LGBT rights, etc.), and things you Like (tech, retail and social media companies). Automatic investing: Yes. Automatic reinvesting: No. Automatic rebalancing: No. The closest competitor to Acorns, Stash seeks to make investing easy for everyone, regardless of your goals and passions. They have three account options to choose from, allowing you to manage your investment and retirement accounts, or even a child’s education savings through custodial accounts. With Auto-Stash, you can set any number of automatic investment options and transfers. However, Stash will not rebalance your portfolio for you, nor will they reinvest dividends on your behalf. Wealthfront Fees and expenses: 0.25% annually. Beginning investment requirement: $500 minimum initial investment. Types of investments available: ETFs (exchange-traded funds), individual stocks, retirement accounts (401k, IRA), 529 savings plans and trusts. Portfolio options: 11 asset classes to choose from, including natural resources and real estate. Automatic investing: Yes. Automatic reinvesting: Yes. Automatic rebalancing: Yes. Wealthfront’s investment platform is designed to be friendly for users of all experience levels. If you’re a seasoned investor, you’ll enjoy all of the options available to you, including the ability to manage your retirement accounts, education savings and even non-profits or trusts. If you’re a newbie, their free financial expertise center is the perfect place to learn all about investing and your future. TD Ameritrade Fees and expenses: The managed, automatic portfolio investment option (called Essential Portfolios) is available with a 0.30% advisory fee. Beginning investment requirement: $5,000 minimum for managed portfolios (no minimum requirement for traditional trading). Types of investments available: Stocks, ETFs, options, mutual funds, futures, bonds/CDs, Forex and cryptocurrency. Portfolio options: Essential Portfolios (EP) offer investors a range of options from Conservative to Aggressive, based on your passions, preferences and tolerances. Automatic investing: Yes, with EP. Automatic reinvesting: Yes. Automatic rebalancing: Yes. A more traditional brokerage app, TD Ameritrade is one of the most recognizable names in the industry. You can easily educate yourself on all things financial, thanks to their free videos and posts. If you want a traditional experience, you can choose your trades and pay per transaction. Prefer a more streamlined, automated approach? Opt for their Essential Portfolios, a hands-off investment option (robo-advisor) that charges a flat monthly fee and requires little-to-no oversight from you. Plus, their app makes the investing process easier than ever with a user-friendly interface, price alerts and no minimum to get started. If you prefer a desktop experience, this is also available to you through TD Ameritrade. Bottom Line Getting started with investing can be intimidating. With all of the terminology and account options out there, it’s easy to want to run and hide. Thanks to some of today’s best investment apps, though, you can not only get started with your first portfolio but also watch your money quickly grow… no matter how much of a beginner you may be! It’s important to choose an app that offers you the portfolio options and features you want most, with fees and deposit minimums that match your financial needs. The five apps above are our favorites for beginners, making that first foray into investing easier than ever before. The hardest part will be choosing the one you love most!
How to Pay off Student Loans Fast
You’ve worked hard, done all the essays, pulled countless all-nighters, and it has all worked out. Congratulations on getting that well-earned degree. You deserve it!
There’s just one problem. College is expensive, and chances are you had to take out some loans to get there.
Student loans are a huge problem in America today. Collectively, there are 45 million current and former students that owe creditors a whopping $1.5 trillion. The average student emerges from university with more than $28,000 in debt, a figure that is weighed down by the thousands of students who have scholarships or wealthy parents helping them out. Your debt might be even higher than the average.
The good news is there are certain paths you can take that will help you eliminate your student loans faster than you ever thought possible. Here’s how you can pay off student loans fast.
Get the Best Job You Can
The easiest way to have more cash to throw towards student loans is to earn as much money as possible. This starts with getting the best job you can.
Most people search for jobs the same way. They fire up their computers, scroll through the various job sites and send half-hearted cover letters for jobs they only just kind of want.
There’s a lot to gain by doing things a little differently. Leverage your network — including former bosses, classmates and friends — to get your resume in front of people who matter. Have these people vouch for you and aim a little higher than the typical entry level job.
This advice will not apply for some people who end up in more standardized jobs. If you’re a nurse, teacher or police officer, you are making pretty much the same no matter where you end up working. To make a little extra cash, these folks should embrace a side hustle. There are a million things you can do that offer the possibility of enjoyable work and flexible hours. Any cash earned can go straight towards your student loans.
Live Like a College Student
You likely already have plenty of experience with this, so it should not be much of a sacrifice.
Ultimately, much of your spending comes down to three categories — housing, food, and transportation. Minimize those, combine the effort with a decent income, and you will be well on your way to making a big dent in your student loans in a hurry.
The easy way to save money on housing is to embrace living with other people. You can rent a room for far cheaper than it costs to even rent a bachelor apartment. Roommates also come with other perks too, like instant socialization and the sharing of household responsibilities. You can even take the concept to the next level and live for free — by renting a large house yourself and subletting the rooms to others.
Next, it is time to cut back on food expenses. The easy way to do this is to live off ramen and store brand mac n cheese, but that might not be the best for your body.
One big concept that will save you loads of money on food is to embrace cooking at home versus eating out. A fat juicy steak might only cost you $10 to make at home, but $40 at a restaurant. You can get your per-meal cost far lower than that by embracing sales at the grocery store, and then planning your meals around what was for sale.
The easy way to decrease transportation costs is to embrace public transport. This might not be possible depending where you live (especially if it is the suburbs), which means you will be forced to drive. Remember, there is no need for a brand-new car as a recent college grad. Something much cheaper will do the trick.
Use Smart Payoff Methods
You’ve likely heard of the debt snowball method, which advocates paying off the loan with the lowest balance first. This is a move that creates momentum that can be carried over to the next loan, culminating with finally becoming debt free.
There’s just one problem; math often disagrees with this method.
For the sake of simplicity, let’s assume you owe $30,000 in student loans broken down as follows:
- $5,000 at 1.5% interest
- $15,000 at 5.7% interest
- $10,000 at 4.2% interest
In this situation, it makes the most sense to tackle the biggest loan first. The smallest balance should be paid off last, since it has such a small interest rate.
You’ll pay just $75 per year in interest on the smallest loan, while forking out $855 in annual interest on the largest loan.
Or, to put it another way, paying off the largest loan gives you a guaranteed 5.7% return on your money. You’ll earn just 1.5% if you pay off the smallest loan.
Another thing to keep in mind when you first start paying off your loans is the grace period. Federal loans come with a six-month grace period, while private loans vary. Some will give you a little extra time to get on your feet, while others will not. Read the small print on your loan contracts and take any grace periods into consideration when creating a student loan repayment plan.
Learn About Your Options
It’s worth spending a little time to see if you can decrease the interest rate on your student loans or if you qualify for deferment. Forbearance is also an option, but it’s more short-term in nature.
Deferment would likely be your first option. Keep in mind you’ll need to apply for deferment and you’ll only get it in certain situations. Typically, you are not getting deferment unless you are unemployed or can prove financial hardship. Deferring is often only an option on federal loans, too. The savings can be significant though, so I would take some time to see if you can qualify.
There are also deferment programs if you go and work for certain parts of the federal government, like the armed forces.
Something that has a far better success rate would be to refinance your student loans. You’ll take numerous student loans and consolidate them into one, which should reduce your interest. This ultimately saves you money and makes your financial life a lot easier.
How to Pay Off Your Student Loans Fast: The Bottom Line
Your student loans might seem daunting, but they do not have to be.
If you make paying off these loans a priority, then that is half the battle. Embracing tips like maximizing your earning potential, living frugally or using deferment and refinancing strategies, will make your life much easier as well.