Here at Investor Junkie, the writers and I test many financial services. In the confusing array of investment tools, we want to tell you from our research what we think is the best of the best. In most cases, we not only recommend these investment tools, but we use them ourselves.
In selecting these financial tools or investment services, we had the requirement that they must either help increase your investment returns, decrease expenses and/or improve asset allocation.
We’ve created the following as a shortcut for your investing needs, but this doesn’t mean we didn’t fully test out these services. With most of the services listed, we’ve done an in-depth review. So please also read the full review to know why these services are on our recommendation list.
We not only share which ones are the best, but we explain why they’re the top in their industry and what makes them so helpful. This is of course from our perspective and personal experiences.
| Feature | Recommended App |
|---|---|
| Best Personal Finance App | Personal Capital |
| Best Investing App for Beginners | Betterment |
| Best Budgeting App | YNAB |
| Best Microsavings App | Acorns |
| Best Overall Brokerage Firm | Fidelity |
| Best Discount Broker | Ally Invest |
| Best Banking | Ally Bank |
| Best Accounting Software | QuickBooks Online |
Best Personal Finance Software – Personal Capital
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If you are looking for a free web-based app that focuses on investing, then Personal Capital is the best option. This app not only allows you to track expenses, but it also helps review your investing plan.
Personal Capital gives you a holistic view of your finances, showing you the “big picture” of your financial life. With excellent customer service, robust security, and reporting capabilities that its competitors just can’t beat, Personal Capital is an excellent tool in your financial arsenal. Also, Personal Capital’s premium service offers financial advisors to guide you with your investment planning needs.Sign up to Personal Capital
Best Investing for Beginners – Betterment
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Quick Summary
- Minimum Investment: $0
- Fees: Digital – 0.15-0.25%/year; Premium – 0.30-0.40%/year
- 401(k) Assistance: Yes
If you are concerned about high fees, proper asset allocation and whether a financial advisor has your best interest at heart, Betterment is the best solution to make investing easy. This service is excellent for investors who want investment guidance in an automated fashion, and at a much lower annual fee than traditional financial advisors.
Betterment focuses on your investing goals and hides the technical details on how to invest. This kind of focus is perfect for beginners who don’t want to mess around with stock picking and wants to invest for retirement.Start Investing with Betterment
Best Budgeting Software – YNAB
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As of 2016, YNAB is now an online app, which does one thing and does it well — budgeting. It is an easy to use personal finance management tool that links all your accounts in one place, tracking your spending over time. Though if you are looking to track your investing, Personal Capital is a better bet.
Previously we recommended Quicken but have decided to recommend YNAB instead because they had many synchronization issues with banks, and share of poor customer support issues over the years. Plus the future of personal finance is online, and not tied to a desktop. Get Started with YNAB
Best Microsavings Service – Acorns
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Quick Summary
- Minimum Investment: $0
- Fees: $1/month under $1 million; 0.25%/year over $1 million; FREE for under 24 and in college; IRAs are an additional $1/month; $3/month for Spend and Later
- Website Access: Yes
When you are just starting off saving you typically don’t have enough money. To get you on the path of not only saving but investing you need a service that makes it as painless as possible.
Acorns is that service. Once you link up your credit card Acorns will round-up each transaction to the nearest dollar and invest the difference. While not as ideal when compared to Betterment, Acorns primarily is targeting Millenials just starting with little money to save.Start with Acorns
Best Overall Brokerage Firm – Fidelity
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Quick Summary
- Minimum Investment: $0
- Stock Trades: $4.95/trade
- Options Trades: $4.95/trade
Fidelity offers a large selection of mutual funds, retirement accounts, discount brokerage services, retirement services, wealth management, banking, life insurance, and investment advice.
As a one-stop shopping for your investment and banking needs, Fidelity has pretty much every service you could look for. Fidelity even has its own credit card with cash-back rewards that can be directly deposited into your brokerage account. Fidelity’s Full View program allows you to link third-party accounts and get a full snapshot of your finances, similar to Mint.com or Personal Capital.
Best Discount Broker – Ally Invest
Rating:
Quick Summary
- Minimum Investment: $0
- Stock Trades: $4.95/trade
- Options Trades: $4.95/trade
At $4.95 a trade, Ally Invest is one of lowest cost brokerage firms with no hidden fees. Previously the service was named TradeKing and now merged with Ally Bank, Ally Invest has all of the same features before, plus banking.
When they were TradeKing, they were ranked #1 by SmartMoney for customer service. I have found it to be among the most helpful customer service experiences I have had with a discount broker. Ally Invest also offers a comprehensive education center with helpful webinars and information on all the investments it provides.Sign Up to Ally Invest
Best Investment Research – Morningstar
For those looking to research mutual funds, ETFs or stocks, Morningstar is a great resource! The website does not offer technical charts advising when you should buy and sell, but instead provides you with information about proper asset allocation, low fee investment vehicles, and investments that generate consistent returns.
With any Morningstar review, they analyze investments to give you the pros and cons for each one. It has a super useful X-ray tool that ensures you aren’t over-allocated in a specific sector or stock and a Cost Analyzer to help you choose one mutual fund or ETF over another. Free membership is available, but we believe the premium membership is well worth the cost as you will likely make it up quickly in investment returns. Its Portfolio X-ray tool is second to none for usefulness and has some of the best investment research available.
Best Banking – Ally Bank
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Quick Summary
- Accounts: Checking, Savings, Money Market, CDs
- Access: Website, iOS App, Android App
- Online Deposits: Yes
Ally Bank offers a wide variety of finance options including checking, savings, and CDs. You can check the balances of your accounts, transfer funds and even make deposits with their easy to use a mobile app.
Because Ally Bank doesn’t have expensive physical locations, it’s able to offer perks that brick-and-mortar banks cannot — like free ATM withdrawals at any ATM nationwide and no hidden fees. There is no minimum deposit requirement so you can start banking with Ally today! They have some of the best CD rates available and excellent customer service.
Best Accounting Software – QuickBooks Online
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QuickBooks Online is very easy to use and is perfect for most small business owners. My company has used it QuickBooks for over ten years. In my opinion, the features where QuickBooks shines are in payroll, invoicing, collections and banking.
Surprising when compared to other Intuit products, QuickBooks customer service is outstanding. Which is especially helpful for the small business owner without an accounting background. The online version may be better than the desktop version, with full capabilities and a vast array of features.
Not sure if Quickbooks is right for you? QuickBooks Online has a 30-day free trial.
QuickBooks is the most popular accounting software for a good reason. It supports 18,000 different financial institutions and easily syncs with your business checking account.
