Investing in the stock market is a fast-paced, pivot-on-a-dime interest. It takes constant monitoring and split-second decision making, no matter what else is going on. Now that smartphones have become a staple in everyone’s lives, they and the apps that come with them are making investing easier than it has been before. Even those who are new to investing will quickly find themselves at ease with all the options available for investment via smartphone.
Here are the eight best apps for 2016 that will help you make investments with ease.
Betterment
Betterment is an app that uses screenshots to give you reports on account balances and overall performance. Just create your online profile by answering simple questions like your age and investment goal (e.g. “build wealth” or “safety net”), and then let the app invest the money for you in a diversified investment portfolio. Fees range from 0.15 to 0.35 percent of your annual balance.
Acorns
Acorns is a foolproof app that you can set up once and then forget about. Link a credit or debit card to your profile and the spare change from purchases on the card will be rounded up to the next dollar and invested in a diversified portfolio of six different funds based on your set risk tolerance. Fees range from one dollar per month to 0.25 percent of your annual assets.
Kapitall
Kapitall treats investing as the game it’s so often compared to. By moving a company’s icon in and out of your live portfolio, Kapitall makes trades as simple as dragging and dropping. Created in part by video game entrepreneur Gaspard de Dreuzy, the app features a user-friendly interface among the easiest out there to understand, so it’s great for new investors. Kapitall will even give you a $100,00 “practice portfolio” to play around and hone your skills with before you go live. Fees sit at $7.95.
Robinhood
Robinhood is a simple brokerage service geared towards those who are just dipping their toes into the investment water. Robinhood was designed for the handheld mobile world and offers free trading.
Who doesn’t love free?
FinMason
FinMason is a free app that gives you unbiased views of investing and the market without actually selling stock advice. Their goal is to help investors understand what’s best for them by using simple graphics to compare portfolios and give users a simple look at portfolio recommendation. Although this app won’t let you do any actual investing, it can significantly help newer investors with their portfolios.
Openfolio
Openfolio is an app that leverages the influencing power of social media networks. As a user of the Openfolio app, you can observe how people you know invest their money and which strategies they take, while also sharing your own investments. No dollar amounts are used — all portfolio sharing is done in terms of percentage allocations. Link your Twitter and Facebook accounts to Openfolio to follow all the important people in your life. On top of that, it’s free. You can also use investing social media sites like Seeking Alpha to find financial experts to follow and see what kind of advice they have to offer. Then share your own strategies as well.
Wealthfront
Wealthfront is a simple investment app that bases investments on a portfolio you create, letting their automated algorithms do the rest. This site manages over $1.5 billion in assets and is fully automated, truly blazing a trail into the future. Investment accounts are fully diversified, periodically rebalanced and tracked minute by minute to keep the client’s interests at the forefront of investing. Easily accessed online or through a tablet or smartphone, Wealthfront combines the best in technology with the best in investing. Fees range from zero to 0.25 percent.
BlackGold
Looking to invest in oil? The BlackGold app gives you all the up-to-date information you could possible need. Oil prices fluctuate pretty rapidly, and you need to be able to be alerted for any major changes. BlackGold gives you “price-watching power in the palm of your hand” for six different price watch options.
Investing doesn’t have to be scary, especially for first-timers. With so many apps using great technology and offering great investment advice, you can easily find the one that’s right for you along with the investments that will work for you.