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!
What’s the Best Accounting Software for Small Business?
Ask any small business owner and they’ll tell you the same thing; running your own show is no easy task.
Business owners are required to wear many different hats. First and foremost, you’ve got to be good at your craft. If you can’t cook, for example, good luck owning a local restaurant. Then there are several other skills that are required, depending on the scale of the business, and these include human resources, customer management, sales and keeping the operation running efficiently.
And that’s just on the operational side. A business owner must also have a solid long-term business plan, be aware of any expansion opportunities, have at least a little marketing skill and, perhaps most importantly, keep the books up to date. After all, you don’t want the IRS to pay you a visit. You can also learn how to file your business taxes as a small business owner here.
Sure, you can always pay for an accountant to manage your books for you — but that costs money — cash that comes right out of your bottom line. Besides, unless you’re a relatively large business, it might not even make sense to pay someone for this. With a little help, you can easily do up your own books.
If you’re interested in doing your own accounting, then a big part of that is having the correct accounting software. Let’s take a closer look at what exactly accounting software does and some of the advantages and disadvantages of the leaders in the space.
What Exactly Is Accounting Software, Anyway?
Essentially, accounting software is a computer program that helps a business keep track of its revenue, expenses, assets, liabilities and equity. It can also help business owners generate invoices, do payroll, decrease accounts receivable, and just generally keep a better eye on the total financial picture of the business.
The beauty of accounting software is that it automates many of the processes that a business owner would normally have to do by hand. For instance, based on the information on file, accounting software can generate a real-time balance sheet or show you how the rest of the year will play out.
If you have a simple business, then a basic version of accounting software is best. This is for an organization that doesn’t have employees, or many sources of revenue. If you’re a one-person organization, you’ll likely only need a bare-bones version.
If your business is a little larger, or more complicated, then you’ll have to upgrade to a better model. It’s not that hard to find free accounting software if you just have basic needs, but you’ll be stuck having to pay if you need premium features. However, unless your business is complex, accounting software is affordable. You won’t pay much more than $10-$25 per month.
How Accounting Software Will Benefit Your Business
The big benefit of accounting software is that it makes doing your books a whole lot easier than using a spreadsheet or using a paper ledger. It improves accuracy, makes the administration side of the business much simpler and enables a business owner to get a better overall picture of the financial state of the business.
Essentially, accounting software is a cheaper version of hiring your own accountant. And since the average small business only needs an accountant for just a few hours a month, the software provides an excellent solution.
So, Which One Should You Choose?
Here are three of the best accounting software choices for your business; these are companies that already boast thousands of happy customers.
Let’s start with QuickBooks, North America’s most dominant accounting software provider. The company is the undisputed king of this space; it must be doing something right.
Advantages to QuickBooks include the software’s easy-to-use interface, a major plus for those with zero accounting knowledge. All information is also stored online, meaning you can access it from anywhere in the world. It has all the functions a typical small business would ever need. Plus, you can also link it to your bank account.
However, there are some disadvantages. The first is the cost; some of QuickBooks’ competitors offer free versions for simple businesses. QuickBooks does not, with even a basic plan costing around $25 per month. Some users also think the program could be streamlined a bit. You also must use the online feature, something that made a lot of long-time users angry when the change was made a few years ago.
FreshBooks is another leading accounting software provider. Unlike Quickbooks, which is geared more towards small and medium sized businesses, FreshBooks is focused more towards freelancers and other one-person types of businesses.
Where Freshbooks really excels is in invoice management. The software allows a freelancer to easily submit an invoice to up to five different clients on the lite package. It also monitors when the client opens the invoice and allows either credit card or direct deposit to bank account billing.
One main issue with FreshBooks is its limitations; many users report that it isn’t a great option for larger businesses or ones with a lot of moving parts. If you’re running an e-commerce site, for example, FreshBooks probably isn’t your best choice. And like Quickbooks, there’s no free option. You’re stuck paying a monthly fee.
If you’re looking for a (mostly) free accounting software program, your best bet is Wave. The company’s main accounting functions — like invoicing and general bookkeeping — are completely free, while it does charge a fee for things like payroll and processing payments. Like the others on this list, all the info you put in is stored on the cloud; you can access it from anywhere. It’s also easy to use and has an interface most users love.
Wave’s major downfall is much like FreshBooks’s main issue. It struggles to provide adequate service to complex businesses with needs a little higher than sending out a few invoices every month. And although it’s free, Wave offers many additional services for a fee. Some people find these offers a little annoying.
The Bottom Line
If you’re still using an antiquated paper system for your business, it’s time to take the next step. Accounting software can simplify your bookkeeping system while giving you easier access to your business’s important data. Whether you choose a paid option like QuickBooks or FreshBooks, or software that’s free like Wave, your business will ultimately be more successful if you use the proper tools.