Published in · 6 min read · Mar 2, 2017
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Investing can be an intimidating thing if you’re not intimately familiar with the inner workings of the stock market. But, it’s something almost all of us know we should be doing more frequently—and better. Where’s the best starting point? How do you dip your feet into the world of investing if you’re not (yet) worth millions of dollars, and have limited understanding of the best way to invest your money thoughtfully?
We scoured Product Hunt for some of the best online investing tools out there to help you get started. These range from site that help you understand the market, to investment management platforms. Happy investing!
Robinhood
$0 commission stock brokerage.
Robinhood is a $0 commission brokerage firm that makes it easy for anyone to invest without having to pay the typical fee of up to $10 for every trade you make. The company makes money in two ways: (1) With a Robinhood Gold membership, which gives members up to 2x their buying power and access to after hours trading; and (2) Earning revenue via collected interest on the cash and securities in Robinhood accounts, much like a bank collects interest on cash deposits. You can find more details about trading on the Robinhood platform here.
Hello Money
Design your own portfolio from 24,000+ funds and stocks
The idea behind Hello Money is simple: Wouldn’t it be great to pick and choose different funds and stocks to create our ultimate portfolios one piece at a time — kind of like LEGOs? Hello Money allows you to do just that. Currently, the platform allows you to pick and choose from over 24,000 different funds and stocks, and they are adding new ones every day.
If you aren’t a savvy investor, this app may not be very intuitive at first. Nonetheless, it’s a fun way to get to know the market and better understand investment strategy. We think Hello Money is a great tool for getting a peak at how others are investing their money, experimenting with how different holdings influence your returns, and improving your financial portfolio.
Wealthfront
An automated, low cost investment service.
Wealthfront is an automated investment management service that maximizes the “net-of-fee, after-tax, real investment return for each client’s particular tolerance for risk.” In other words, it’s an investing platform that helps you invest to maximize long-term returns. In the past, sophisticated investment management services were available only to wealthy investors through advisors who charged high annual management fees. But, with this software-based solution, build by best-in-class financial experts, now anyone can use this investment manage service at a much lower cost.
The company just launched a service called Path, which helps you plan your personal financial path for retirement and other major costs, like buying a house or saving for college tuition. It’s worth checking out, especially if you are looking for a simpler way to understand the investing world.
Betterment
They’ll manage your investments so you don’t have to.
Betterment is an online investment management company designed to achieve optimal returns at various levels of risk. The company helps generate 2.9% higher returns than an average DIY investor through portfolio diversification, automated rebalancing, and lower fees (which range from .25% to .50% annually for a Standard, Plus, or Premium account). Through their Tax Loss Harvesting system, the company finds capital losses to lower the taxes you pay on your investments and increase after-tax returns. Betterment uses a goal-based investing framework to help you stay on track to reach your long-term goals.
StockTwits
Tap into the pulse of the markets.
If you’re looking to better understand the pulse of the markets, StockTwits is a good resource. This app allows you to catch up on market trends and specific stocks you care about. You’ll also get insight and analysis from thousands of real investors and traders, helping you understand what’s happening in the markets at any given point in time. On the app, you’ll find a “Treding List,” which lists stocks that are in the news or popular among top investors. You can also use the platform to connect and collaborate with other traders to help you make better investment decisions. This is an interesting tool for anyone who’s looking to keep a closer eye on markets.
Acorns
Automated portfolio management monitoring your investments.
Acorns was built to help people save and invest much earlier in life through a simplified investment experience. When you invest with the company, you’re investing directly into index fund portfolios from major firms like BlackRock, PIMCO, and Vanguard. Every dollar you invest will automatically be diversified across over 7,000 different stocks and bonds. On this platform, there are no minimums or trade fees. Pricing is pretty straightforward: you pay $1/month once you start investing, and accounts over $5,000 pay .25% per year. This is a great tool if you’re just dipping your feet into portfolio management and want to understand it better before you fully dive in.
Finimize
Financial news explained in 3 minutes in a daily e-mail
If you’re just getting started with the markets or if finance is not your area of expertise, this is for you. Finimize’s newsletter summarizes the top financial news of the day in three minutes or less. They also add their own commentary, possible implications of the top news stories, and a few extra features like an interesting quote. It’s like having a cheat sheet to the Wall Street Journal arrive in your inbox every day.
Stockflare
Helping you pick great stocks to invest in.
Stockflare is the ultimate investment research tool. The company’s goal is to cut away the complexity and noise of Wall Street. You can explore various stocks by category (some of the titles are kind of funny, including: Healthy Tech, Hated by Wall Street, Little Winners, Tob Job, and Tide Turning). For each stock, you can see key metrics, such as: PE ratio, projected long-term growth, Earnings-per-Share forecast, Dividends-per-Share forecast, and expected investment growth over a seven-year period. This is a fantastic way to better understand the market and invest in even a single share of a company if that’s all you want to risk.
Tiingo
High-end financial tools, now available to everyone.
Tiingo is a financial data portal that gives you access to the same kind of tool that professional traders use every day. The company asks you to pay $7/month (subscriptions are their only monetization channel), but they don’t enforce this currently. The company’s explanation? “Finance seems to have this habit of screwing people over. We don’t like that. By allowing you to set the price, our mandate becomes to serve you.” With a subscription, you’ll get access to a series of high-end tools that will help you explore the latest trends in data and finance. It supports 35,000+ tickers, including over 3,000 Chinese equities. You can find a full list of the tool’s features here.
Openfolio
The sharing economy meets personal investing.
Openfolio’s goal is to democratize access to financial information. They let users benchmark their investments against others “instead of investing along in a vacuum.” The app makes financial profiles super easy to digest, and gives you percentage investment allocations of people you know and trust. You can also easily compare the performance of your investments to groups of people around you, allowing you to assess the strength of your portfolio in real-time, as well as long-term. You can connect all of your other accounts to this platform, including Betterment, Robinhood, and Wealthfront.
The Best Investing Books Ever
The 30 best finance books.
While exploring new online investing tools is fun, it never hurts to pick up a few beloved investment books. But, how do you choose from the hundreds of books on the market? The Best Investing Books Ever provides you with a list of thirty of the most influential investing and finance books ever written, giving you a solid starting point. Find one that piques you’re interest, and start reading today.
Interested in exploring even more online investing tools? Check out a few of our favorite collections on Product Hunt:
Disclaimer: Product Hunt is not associated with any of the financial tools mentioned in this article, and we highly recommend seeking the advice of professionals before making investment decisions. We’re not advocating for any form of investing, nor offering any specific investment advice.
