Stash Invest Review: The Pros And Cons

Stash Invest is a multifaceted financial services company that provides investing, banking, and retirement planning services.

Founded in February of 2015 by Brandon Krieg, Ed Robinson, and David Ronick, the company has grown to 3.5 million users as of July 2019.

If you are looking for a swiss army knife of sorts for all of your financial affairs, Stash Invest is positioning itself to be that one company to which you can turn.

In this Stash Invest review, we are going to examine the services Stash Invest offers and assess how those services stack up against the competition, on the one hand, and Stash Invest’s stated mission, on the other.

What Is Stash Invest?

Stash Invest, according to its founders, is an investment platform founded on the goal of remediating a fundamental unfairness smaller investors experience when investing in the stock market.

Although the founders did not elaborate on what that fundamental unfairness was, it is easy to surmise that the high entry-barrier to investing in the stock market might be the culprit.

Before platforms like Stash, Robinhood, and Acorns, it was normal for Wealth Managers to charge exorbitant commissions and fees to smaller investors — causing them to lose a significant portion of their returns paying those fees. Not anymore, thanks to companies like Stash Invest.

With Stash Invest, you can start investing in the stock market for just $1 a month, as a beginner investor. This price deeply undercuts conventional pricing structures on Wall Street.

Stash also tackled the intimidating and cumbersome logistics of hiring a Wealth Manager. With Stash Invest, you can start investing immediately from your mobile phone. You don’t have to visit a large investment firm and tell them everything about your finances. The Stash Invest mobile app eliminates the necessity for that.

Finally, thanks to Stash Invest, you don’t need thousands of dollars to purchase expensive stocks. Stash Invest allows the purchase of fractional shares — the act of buying a fraction of stock rather than the entire stock.

For example, if a stock costs $100, you purchase a fifth of that stock for just $20. Talk about looking out for the small investor! Thanks to this move by Stash Invest, you can start investing in the stock market with just $5 to your name.

How Does Stash Invest Works?

Stash Invest is a mobile investing platform that gives investors the option to invest in Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), bonds, and individual stocks–all from their smartphones.

Here’s how the platform works:

• Sign up online or download the app to your phone
• Open an account in under 2 minutes.
• Receive a FREE $5 from Stash to kick-off your investment journey
• Use your FREE $5 to purchase stocks or ETFs of your favorite companies.
• If the stock price is too high, don’t worry, you can buy a fraction of the stock for just a fraction of the price.

There’s also the option to open an online bank account with Stash Invest. The account comes fully equipped with a debit card, money management tools, and the ability to earn rewards.

The account has many of the services offered by major banking institutions. Services like bill pay, mobile check deposit, e-wallet integration, and budgeting tools are all available for Stash Invest account holders.

Therefore, if you’re not actively investing, you can still use the app for banking and budgeting.

Types Of Stash Invest Accounts And Services

In addition to being an investment platform, Stash Invest also offers an array of other services. For instance, you can open a bank account with Stash Invest. You can also do retirement planning and open custodial accounts with Stash Invest.

Below are are the primary types of accounts that Stash Invest offers.

Investing With Stash Invest

Stash Invest core business is stock market investing. The company gives members the option to invest in Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), bonds, and individual stocks–all from their smartphones.

ETFs are themed groups of individual stocks and or bonds bundled into one fund. Using Stash’s platform, investors can purchase either ETFs or individual stocks. What’s more interesting is that investors can also buy fractional shares of companies whose stocks may be expensive.

Many of the bigger investment firms do not provide for the purchase of fractional shares — a feature that might be appealing to smaller investors.

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Banking With Stash Invest

Stash Invest also provides online banking services. Investors can open a bank account that comes fully equipped with with a debit card and other amenities you’d typically get with the big banks.

For example, Stash Invest’s bank account comes with bill pay, mobile check deposit, and cash back on purchases.

What people might find most appealing about banking with Stash Invest is the ease with which investment transaction.

Rather than using a third party bank to invest through Stash, Investors can simply invest without leaving the Stash Invest platform.

Here are some of the highlights of opening a Stash Invest bank account.

• No overdraft fees.
• No monthly maintenance fees.
• Zero minimum balance fees.
• Access to thousands of fee-free ATMs
• No debit card replacement fee

Auto-Stash: What Is It?

Auto-Stash is when you set up your bank account to automatically transfer money to your Stash investment account to invest in the stock market automatically.

You can decide how much you want to save and how often you wish to save it. The money will seamlessly transfer from your bank account to your investment account based on the set schedule–every time; unless you cancel it.

Auto-Stash is a way to ensure that you are continually investing and not deterred by short-term fluctuations in the stock markets.

Auto-Stash and Round-Ups are also painless ways to save money.

We all know we need to save money for the rainy days, but it’s easier said than done. With Auto-Stash, you can automatically put money away for future use.

Round-Up is a feature that lets you round up the dollar value of your purchases to the nearest whole number, saves the difference. For example, if you purchase a cup to frappuccino for $4.50, Stash Invest will round up the purchase to $5 and save the $0.50 change.

With this strategy, over time, you will build up robust savings.

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What Stash Invest Could Improve About Its Banking Services

Stash Invest banking services are generally good; however, they charge 3% for foreign transaction fees. Three per cent fee on the amount spent is relatively high and may add up to a significant amount if you are a frequent traveller using your card overseas.

There’s also a cash deposit fee of at least $4.50 depending on the retailer. Stash Invest bank does not have local branches as they are an online-only bank. Depositing cash into your account will require you to visit a local retailer with which Stash Invest has an agreement.

While this might be an inconvenience to some people, Stash Invest compensates by providing alternative ways to deposit into your account. You can, for example, deposit by wire transfer, ACH, direct deposit, or mobile check deposit. You can also use Paypal and Venmo to deposit into your account.

Retirement Planning With Stash Invest

Stash Invest offers two types of retirement accounts: Roth IRA and Traditional IRA.

Retirement accounts on Stash Invest are like investment accounts but with potential tax benefits.

For example, with Roth IRA, You pay no tax on
investment earnings, and with Traditional IRA, You can deduct contributions
from taxable earned income

Stash Invest knows that retirement planning can be complicated; therefore, they have people on staff to help you navigate the process.

They also have innovative tools like Stash Spotlight to help you calculate how much you’ll need to save for retirement, Stash Learn where they offer helpful tips on to manage a retirement account, and Stash Coach, a tool that offers retirement-specific guidance designed to get you ready for the long haul.

You can open a retirement account with Stash for as little as one cent ($0.01), and start investing for just $1.

Custodial Accounts With Stash Invest

If you have kids, grandkids, nieces, and nephews, or just younger people you care about, Stash Invest has just the tool to help you give them a head start in life: the custodial account.

A custodial investment account is just like a regular investment account except you will be investing on behalf of a minor, and they can take over when they are old enough.

Here Are Some Of The Features Of the Custodial Account

• You don’t have to be the parent to open a custodial account for a child
• Open a custodial account for only $1
• The beneficiary can take over the account when they turn 18 years old

How To Get Started With Stash Invest

Now that you know a lot about Stash Invest, here’s how to get started. First, you’ll have eligible to open an account. That is, you’ll have to 18 years old and above, and a US resident.

If you meet those requirements, head on over Stash Invest’s website and open an account. Using this link, Stash will give you a free $5.00 welcome reward.

Since investing in the Stock Market with Stash starts at only $1, you can go right ahead and start researching stocks in which you might be interested, and then use your FREE $5 to invest.

Once you find a stock in which you’re interested, go ahead a make the purchase. Remember, you don’t have to purchase the entire stock. With Stash, you can buy fractional shares.

Stash Invest Pricing

Pros And Cons Of Stash Invest

There isn’t much to criticize about Stash Invest. The company caters to a niche market of smaller investors, and it has done an excellent job in meeting their needs.

Who Should Use Stash Invest?

Any investor can use Stash Invest. However, more advanced investors may find the platform too rudimentary.

For example, the platform does not have a robust trading platform like, say, TD Ameritrade, or E-Trade, or Fidelity. The platform is marketed towards beginner investors who just need to get their feet wet investing in the stock market.

Companies Like Stash Invest

• Acorns
• Robinhood
• Stockpile

Stash Invest – Final Thoughts

Stash Invest is an excellent platform for beginner investors who want to get a gentle introduction to investing in the stock market. The company has learning resources and people on staff to make the learning process easy.

Stash Invest is also an excellent choice if you want to manage all of your finances in one place. The company’s innovative investing, banking and budgeting app makes the process of synchronizing your finances quick and simple.

Finally, there are hardly any downsides to using the Stash Invest app, except maybe if you are a Day Trader, in which case, Tradestation, TD Ameritrade, or E-Trade might be better options.

Signing up with Stash Invest is quick and straightforward, especially since they’ll give you a FREE $5 to kick off your investing journey.

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