Are y'all getting tired of checking all of your financial assets separately? Well, that can all change today by getting an investment app to keep track of your entire portfolio—stocks, mutual funds, bonds, ETFs, IRAs, and 401(k)s all in one location! Keeping tabs on all of your financial assets can be exhausting, and I'm sure if you're a regular investor, you check your financial growth frequently versus once a year to do your taxes.
Fortunately, plenty of mobile apps provide real-time data on all of your investments in one single app! Check out some of the best investment apps—for beginners and advanced investors—that will make your stock portfolio life easier to manage.
The best investment apps for beginners
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Robinhood
Robinhood is one of the most popular stock portfolio apps that everyone is talking about. It's free to open an account, and they have no account minimum. One of their best features is offering free trading for stocks, options, ETFs, and cryptocurrency. It's very easy to function, and they offer Robinhood snacks, a daily financial newsletter to fill you in on financial updates or launches that boost company shares, etc.
Once you get the Robinhood app, you instantly get a stock and also get a free stock for every person you share the app with. If you choose to upgrade your account for the Robinhood Gold membership for $5 a month, you'll be provided research on 1,700 companies from Nasdaq Level II quotes, Morningstar, and access margin loans.
E-Trade
E-Trade is a great app for beginners because they offer several resources and educational pointers, and they have a wide range of no-fee funds. The company has two mobile apps and offers no minimum fee to obtain an account, and it's free to trade stocks. On the E-Trade app, you can move money using the mobile check deposit, and it's really easy to track the market, trading ETFs and stocks. The second app is called Power E-Trade and allows users to enter orders inclusive of complex options trades on a single ticket.
This is a great investing app to start with because they offer extensive educational information for new investors, including articles, videos, and live educational services.
Merrill Edge
Bank of America's Merrill Edge is another great option for beginning investors, especially if you're a Bank of America customer. If you are a current member of Bank of America, you have immediate access to cash transfers to your brokerage's account, and you'll have access to a Merrill adviser in over 2,000 Bank of America locations. There is no minimum needed to open an account, and it's also free to trade stocks.
One of their best features lies in their educational materials; they offer articles and videos explaining college planning, personal finance, retirement, and how to begin investing.
It's better to start small versus not at all!
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Fidelity
Fidelity is known to be one of the most investor-friendly broker apps in the industry, making it an excellent option for new investors. There are no minimums to open an account, and they offer one of the lowest published margin rates at just 4.00%. Fidelity is committed to educating their clients with in-depth research from over 20 independent providers, and they offer zero expense ratio index funds.
The site is easy to navigate, and users have access to various webinars and see previously recorded classes in almost every area of investing.
TD Ameritrade
TD Ameritrade offers a range of services for all level users. It's especially great for new investors because they have interactive courses and webcasts, so no questions are ever considered a dumb question because we're all learning. Beginning investors also have access to over 200 instructional videos and tutorials. There is no minimum to open an account, and they are going to integrate with Charles Schwab investment company in the upcoming future.The best investment apps for intermediate and advanced investors
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Ellevest
Ellevest is an investment app built for women and created by women! Let's go feminine divine! This is an excellent app for goal-based investing in multiple investing categories. Ellevest charges a monthly fee ranging from $1 to $9, based on your financial needs. The primary tier provides you an investment portfolio, banking features like ATM reimbursements, and access to educational services.
If you choose to invest in their higher tiers, they offer goal-oriented planning, executive coaches, and reduced fees on meetings with financial planners. They also provide monthly progress reports to celebrate when you're on track with your financial goals, and they provide suggestions if you're not meeting your financial objectives.
Betterment
Betterment is an automated investment platform, also known as a robo-adviser. They have an algorithm that calculates your portfolio based on your goals and preferences. They create portfolios by investing in expansive market sectors through ETFs — because they are tax-efficient and low-cost. Betterment also uses the data you give them to provide retirement advice by recommending an allocation and advising what amount is safe to withdraw. Your inflation and portfolio performance are factored into their ongoing advice — which is all up to you if you want to take their pointers.
You can open several different investment accounts with Betterment, like a Roth IRA, trust account, SEP IRA (single participant only), and Betterment for business (this is their 401(k) for small employers). They charge a minimum of 0.25% annual fee.
SoFi
SoFi is an all-in-one investing service that provides robo-advisers and investor-friendly service. They provide goal-based planning to assist your financial objectives and offer automatic rebalancing. There is no management fee, and the company's account minimum is $1. SoFi provides access to financial advisors, career services, and discounts on other SoFi products for no extra fee.
The company also provides a unique option that allows you to choose the stocks, crypto, ETFs you'd like to invest in, or they provide the option to create a portfolio for you with automatic investing. And if you're on a budget, investing they have a stock bits option which lets you invest in your favorite companies without committing to purchasing a whole share.
Choose from the best investing apps
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Personal Capital
Personal Capital is a free mobile and online personal finance and investment management app. It's available on iOS and Android, and it lets you analyze your entire investment portfolio visually regardless of where you store your assets(401k, Fidelity, etc.). They even suggest stocks you should sell and invest in alternate assets.
And of course, that's a basic example but a helpful one; they also analyze your portfolio by market cap, industry, and a ton of other variables. Personal Capital has a feature called "You Index", which keeps track of your holdings and assesses their performance against leading market indices, so you can easily see how you're doing across cash, stocks, mutual funds, and ETF.
Stash
Stash is a great investment app for first-time investors and advanced investors. They offer three different plans ranging from paying $1-$9 a month, which makes it affordable and easily accessible to build wealth. Stash provides an option to invest what you can afford with their fractional shares; you have the opportunity to choose how much to invest.
Their $1/ month plan includes their stock-back card, personal investment account, personalized advice, and $1,000 of life insurance coverage through Avibra. The company's higher tier approach is $9/month including a stock-back card that earns double stock, a Roth IRA or Traditional IRA retirement account, investing for children, and $10,000 of life insurance coverage through Avibra.
The bottom line
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Guys, any of the investment apps you choose, y'all are all winning and saving time and money! Stock portfolio apps help you keep track of all your investments on the go. All of the listed apps are iOS and Android friendly. Some apps require you to manually pop in your data versus other apps syncing your existing apps. All of the apps give great tips to read in less than a handful of minutes and provide tools to make your financial dreams become your financial reality!
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While an evolution is a natural progression that happens as businesses grow, a rebrand is a total change. Lola tells xoNecole, "A total rebrand is necessary when a business’s current reputation/what it’s known for is at odds with the business’s vision or direction.
"For example, if you’ve fundamentally changed what your product is and does, it’s likely that your brand is out of alignment with the business. Or, if you find your company is developing a reputation that doesn’t serve it, it might be time to pump the brakes and figure out what needs to change.
She continues, "Sometimes you’ll see companies (especially startups) announce a name change that comes with updated messaging, visuals, etc. That usually means their vision has changed or expanded, and their previous branding was too narrow/couldn’t encompass everything they planned to do."
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The Brand Doula was born in 2019, and its focus is on putting "the experiences, goals, and needs of women of color founders first," as well as brands with "culture-shifting missions."
According to Lola, culture-shifting is "the act of influencing dominant behavior, beliefs, or experiences in a community or group (ideally, for the better)."
"At The Brand Doula, we work with companies and leaders that set out to challenge the status quo in their industries and communities. They’re here to make an impact that sends ripples across the market," she says.
"We help the problem solvers of the world — the ones who aren't satisfied with 'this is how it's always been' and instead ask 'how could this be better?' Our clients build for impact, reimagining tools, systems, and ways of living to move cultures forward."
The Brand Doula has worked with many brands, including Too Collective, to assist with their collaboration with Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty and Balanced Black Girl for a "refresh," aka rebrand. For businesses looking to rebrand, Lola shares four essential steps.
1. Do an audit of your current brand experience — what’s still relevant and what needs to change? Reflect on why you’re doing the rebrand in the first place and what success would look like after relaunching.
2. Tackle the overall strategy first — before you start redesigning logos and websites, align on a new vision for your brand. How do you want your company to be positioned moving forward? Has your audience changed at all? Will your company have a fresh personality and voice?
3. Bring your audience along the journey — there’s no need to move in secret. Inviting your current audience into the journey can actually help them feel more connected to and invested in your story, enough to stick around as changes are being made.
4. Keep business moving — one of my biggest pet peeves is when companies take down their websites as soon as they have the idea to rebrand, then have a Coming Soon page up for months! You lose a lot of momentum and interest by doing that. If you’re still in business and generating income, continue to operate while you work on your rebrand behind the scenes. You don’t want to cut existing customers off out of the blue, and you also don’t want so much downtime that folks forget your business exists or start looking for other solutions.
While determining whether the rebrand was successful may take a few months, Lola says a clear sign that it is unsuccessful is negative feedback from your target audience. "Customers are typically more vocal about what they don’t like more than what they do like," she says.
But some good signs to look out for are improvements in engagement with your marketing, positive reviews, press and increase in retention, and overall feeling aligned with the new branding.
For more information about Lola and The Brand Doula, visit her website, thebranddoula.com.
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I remember calling my grandmother, who has since transitioned, and hearing the passion in her voice when she explained how she’d never thought she’d see something like this happen and how much it meant to her. As I reflect, I realize it’s a combination of memories like this that undoubtedly encouraged my will to vote.
However, as an adult, my reasoning behind the practice has developed. It’s no longer just about “the right thing to do.” I feel a responsibility to myself and my future to know the issues, how they impact me, and make a difference for others.
In the times we’re in, there's so much “news” everywhere. It’s hard to distinguish fact from opinion and bias from beliefs. This is why it was such a pleasure speaking with Jara Butler, Chief Impact Officer of Supermajority. Supermajority is an organization focused on making women the most powerful voting bloc in the country. During this authentic and informal conversation, we talked about so much.
I learned about her time working with the Obama campaign and how she masterfully worked in multiple industries, and we shared some of our favorite female rap moments. However, in the snapshot you’ll read, we focused on the issues. Jara walked xoNecole through what’s most affecting women of color in this election and what we can do to be more aware. Whether you’re a politics girlie or like me, just trying to gain more insight, hopefully this convo connects with you.
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xoNecole: Let’s just jump right in. What are some of the most popular issues that you hear Black women discussing related to this election?
Jara Butler: Our sister organization, the Supermajority Education Fund, recently did some research specifically looking at young women in the age group 18 to 35, and young Black women identified their economic well-being as a priority. Right now, we're in a place where a lot of us, especially young Black women, are finding that meeting those basic needs are harder and harder.
Secondly, is Project 2025. I think Black women see it as not just something that could happen, but actively happening. For example, we’ve all been watching the case with the Fearless fund, and how it's been targeted. We know Black women are very entrepreneurial. We can go back to Madam C.J. Walker and others who have opened the door for all of us to achieve. But if those barriers are in place, we're just not going to be able to meet that.
Lastly, Repro is a very big issue. But I think looking at it holistically and not just about abortion is important. Black women are more likely to talk about this from a perspective of our reproductive health care and the lack of access due to medical racism. As a Black woman myself, who's over 40, a lot of the changes that I am making in my life are because I have to do everything I can to put myself in a position, because I know no matter what my economic status is, if I walk into a medical office, there's a good chance I'm gonna face medical discrimination. Breast cancer screenings, colon cancer screening, ovarian cancer screening, cervical cancer screenings - all of those are part of that network of reproductive health.
xoN: Another issue I’d love your insight into is our missing girls. I think it's so unbelievable how much this is swept under the rug. There are so many stories about Black women that are continuing to go missing; I don’t understand how that’s not a bigger conversation. Is this something that can be pursued on the government level and what can we do to bring more attention to this issue?
Jara: We have this list of majority rules on our website, and my favorite one is: that our government represents us. I think that we have to continue to apply pressure to our government to meet our needs. And again, women are the majority of voters. Black women, especially, are the most reliable voting bloc across all groups, and our interests right now are not being met. So yes, there is something that we can do, but I also am a big proponent of us having these conversations.
My great-grandmother was enslaved, my grandmother was born into Jim Crow, and I watched my mother face economic insecurity. I say that because, as a Black community, we have to have an internal conversation to talk about these issues, and we have to do it upfront. I think we have to get into a position of realizing that we do have power, and how we activate that power.
Our power comes from being Black folks because Black people organizing has been enough to shake up and scare people. There were laws that prevented us from congregating together, even at church, because they knew what would happen when we got together. We have to get back into that. It's not that we are not doing it, but the urgency needs to be greater. And finally, we have to get away from depending on one individual to take us there. It's gonna take all of us.
"Our power comes from being Black folks because Black people organizing has been enough to shake up and scare people. There were laws that prevented us from congregating together, even at church, because they knew what would happen when we got together. We have to get back into that. It's not that we are not doing it, but the urgency needs to be greater."
xoN: I agree completely. Now, when we started, you mentioned money. So let’s talk about it. So many of us are starting businesses and getting degrees, and I love to see it. But everyone seems to still be having a lot of the same issues around finances. What are some of the underlying reasons behind this debt that we're dealing with, and how can voting influence these challenges without getting into the individual candidates?
Jara: Hello! Let’s talk about the money! Black women have been told that if we want to move ahead, we have to have that master's degree. We have to be twice as good. So we met that measure, right? But in order to do that, we have to pay for it. Up until about the 1970s college was absolutely affordable. You could work one job and pay for college with some money left over. That has changed.
Realistically, student loans are a barrier. They are a barrier to access housing. They impact our credit, and really and truthfully, depending on how much your loans are, they could affect you paying rent. It basically creates a cycle of debt. And I have real problems with people who say, get a degree in something that's going to make money. It’s about your skills, and if you have the skills, you should be able to earn a living. That covers that.
But the fact is that student loan debt continues to increase, and there have been attempts, more than once, to try to relieve some of that pressure. The reality is that this is a squeeze. It is a conundrum, and we see efforts by the current White House administration to try to alleviate those things, even when they are stopped.
But truly, Congress needs to step in and support this, but I would take it a step further. We should be considering and looking at what it would look like if we had free community colleges. Because what we have now is two generations of borrowers, because older millennials’ children are beginning to age. Black women have the highest degree of second-degree secondary education, but we carry like 1.7 trillion in debt or something like that. I can't remember the exact number, but basically, the majority of the student loan debt is ours.
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xoN: Speaking of college, obviously there’s a lot of discussion around affirmative action in the schools and the undergoing changes. How important is it to consider this topic, and are there any new laws or policies being proposed around this that we should be aware of?
Jara: Oh my goodness, affirmative action is one of the things that we saw that our sister site, the Supermajority Education Fund, found last year as a number two issue for young women. I actually hypothesized that it was a real thing, and it was. And the reason for that is that affirmative action as a whole has been something that benefited white women more than any other group.
However, what is happening is that we’re using the word DEI in a way that is derogatory. I’ve heard people refer to it as: “didn't even earn it.” And as a Black woman who attended an amazing school, I remember being in class and having someone make that comment, knowing my grades were higher than theirs.
The fact of the matter is that we would not need these policies if we lived in an equal and equitable society. It doesn't do us any harm for us to face the facts that this country was built off the backs of enslaved people and the blood of indigenous people, and off the sweat and the tears of immigrants. But because we are unwilling to face that, we now are demonizing programs that are actually meant to create some symbol of balance.
xoN: Finally, I’ll close with this, what can we do to provide information to young people, and how do we combat all of the less than researched info?
Jara: One thing I encourage is to look at the source. At Supermajority, our social channels are information-based. We strive to provide up-to-date accurate information that is digestible to all. Media literacy is something I believe in, and unfortunately, it is something that we have a responsibility to continue to share with the community at large. So much of our world is centered on immediate info, a lie spreads faster than the truth.
We just saw that with the Olympic women's boxers, and we have to ask ourselves often: is this information accurate? Who is telling the story? Most importantly, how am I an original contributor? Not everything said needs to be shared, and not every thought needs to be public.
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