Stash Invest Review: Is It Legit?
Can Stash help make you money? Find out if the investing app is legit and how it compares to apps like Acorns and Robinhood.
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Overall Score | 3.8 | ||
Annual Fee | 3.5 | ||
Minimum Deposit | 5.0 | ||
Customer Service | 3.0 | ||
Pros and Cons
- $1 to invest
- Guidance to beginners
- Automatically invest extra funds
- Fees are high for small balances
- High ETF expense ratio
- Limited research
Bottom Line
Good investment app to guide beginners to invest with as little as $1
Micro-investing seems like it's here to stay. In other words, investing with as little as $1 is a real thing.
It's not the same thing as a robo-advisor, though. Those companies manage your funds for you. Stash guides you but does not invest for you. That's up to you.
Stash makes it possible to invest by helping you choose investments and allocations. It spells things out in layman's terms to help you become an investor (assuming that's what you want).
It's not a hands-off approach to investing. Instead, it's a hand-holding approach. Nothing is too complicated in Stash and if it is, they have more help to push you along.
Keep reading to see if Stash is right for you.
How It Works and Who It's Best For
Stash is mainly for the beginning investor. If you are a truly thematic investor who is passionate about investing in certain themes, it could be helpful too, but the fees might scare you away (see below.)
Stash offers more than 400+ stocks and ETFs, the majority of which hold stocks. But they won't overwhelm you with options. Instead, your choices are narrowed down based on your risk level.
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| Courtesy of Stash |
With Stash Retire, you can save for retirement by opening a traditional or Roth IRA with as little as $1. (Stash doesn't offer IRAs for small businesses or entrepreneurs.)
How To Get Started
- You'll answer a series of questions to evaluate your goals, age and risk tolerance.
- Once you decide to move forward, you link your bank account to Stash, deposit funds, and begin investing.
- Stash then offers approximately 400+ single stocks/companies to choose from. The Stash Coach helps you stay diversified by recommending investments to add to your portfolio.
Sign Up and Get $5
- Sign up, add at least $5 to your account and get a $5 bonus.
- Invest with fractional shares
- Get portfolio recommendations
If you have experience in investing, however, you'll likely find the advice trivial and the fees too high compared to other investment companies.
What Are the Fees?
Stash offers three flat fee plans. Each is designed to fit a range of financial needs, from dipping your toes into the world of investing to maximizing your financial power with every tool.
Stash Beginner charges $1 per month1. It gives you access to a personal brokerage account and banking services2, including the STASH debit card with Stock-Back® Rewards3.
Stash Growth costs $3 per month1. It includes a personal brokerage account, a retirement account (Roth or Traditional IRA)4, and banking services2.
Stash+ is $9 per month1. It offers access to a personal brokerage account, a retirement account (Roth or Traditional IRA)4, two custodial accounts (UGMA/UTMC) for minors5 (age will depend on account-holder's state), and banking services2, with double Stock-Back® Rewards3.
Sign Up and Get $5
- Sign up, add at least $5 to your account and get a $5 bonus.
- Invest with fractional shares
- Get portfolio recommendations
The App
Stash is available on Android and iOS devices, as well as online. The app itself is pretty useful. You can get a snapshot of your account and its potential with the click of a few buttons.
As it pertains to actual investments, you can learn what you need to know about a theme in one screen. In layman's terms, you'll learn about the investment, see a graph regarding its risk level, learn the expense ratios, and see the underlying holdings in each ETF. You can also learn about specific companies/stocks.
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| Courtesy of Stash |
Reasons We Like Stash
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| © CreditDonkey |
- Stash offers many educational opportunities to help beginners learn how to invest. Stash really caters to beginners, which not many investment companies do. Even those that say they are for beginners don't break the lingo down into layman's terms as well as Stash. The Stash Coach does a good job of guiding new investors through every step of their portfolio and encourages diversification.
- There are no investment minimums. You don't need to maintain a minimum balance or invest a certain amount of money when using Stash. This makes it accessible to beginning investors who may not have a lot of money to get started.
- You can buy fractional shares6. If you can't afford a full share of the stock, Stash allows the purchase of fractional shares.
- You can open a custodial account. If you have children or grandchildren with an interest in investing or you want to start an account for them, you can open a custodial account. You must be 18 years or older to open your own account, so this gives younger investors a chance to get things going.
- You can invest in "themes." You won't have to choose from unrecognizable names of ETFs (or "tickers") when investing. Instead, you can invest in themes based on specific industries and your own interests. With each theme, you will see the individual ETF options spelled out in layman's terms.
- Stash names the ETFs based on their theme. Beginning investors often can't decipher the ticker tape language used. Stash changes the names to things like American Innovators or International Leaders. This gives you a better idea of what to expect within the theme. Clicking on the desired theme will give you examples of the holdings within that theme to help you even further.
- You can see your portfolio's historical performance right in the app. The Stash Coach continually encourages habitual investing or saving to increase your portfolio and future earnings.
![]( "Courtesy of Stash")
Courtesy of Stash - You can track your progress with Stash's Milestones. Stash sets certain milestones for you and then helps you recognize/celebrate them when they are met. You'll see the milestones when you first sign up and then be congratulated when you meet them. This is another way Stash helps to motivate you to keep investing.
- Stash can automatically transfer "extra" funds into your investment account. If you opt-in, the Smart Stash option automatically transfers additional funds after monitoring your checking account for a while. If they see a chance to save a little extra money, they transfer it right into your Stash account. They do keep a specific and "safe" cushion in your checking account, though.
- You can withdraw funds. Stash doesn't charge you to withdraw your funds. You can do so at any time without penalty.
Note: Funds are not immediately available. If your funds are invested in stocks or ETFs, you must sell the assets before withdrawing your funds. It takes 2 business days to execute an order, as this is an SEC regulation. You must wait 5 business days after selling the assets before you can withdraw the funds.
Reasons You May Want to Look Elsewhere
- The fees are high for small investors. We discussed this above, but it's worth mentioning again. Small investors (investors with less than $5,000 invested) can pay a large portion of their investments in the fee. $12 a year doesn't sound like a lot, but when you only invest around $100, it takes away from your investment potential.
- The ETF expense ratio can be high. ETFs within Stash have an average expense ratio of 0.23%. However, that is only the average. Some of Stash's investments have an expense ratio of less than 0.15%, while some are closer to 0.95%.
- There isn't a lot of opportunity for research. If there's one thing that's important when investing, it's research. Even though Stash is for beginners, they have very little to offer in the way of research. They offer plenty of education, but it's basic terminology rather than true industry research.
Check out our comprehensive guide on best discount brokers for beginners.
Apex Clearing is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC)6. This means investments in your account are protected up to $500,000 total (including $250,000 for claims for cash).
For uninvested funds, Stash accounts are enrolled in something called the Apex FDIC-insured Sweep Program. Deposits to the Sweep Program are covered by FDIC up to $250,000 limit per customer. Once the cash is deposited with the participating banks under the Sweep Program, the cash is no longer covered by SIPC.
How it Compares
Stash vs Acorns: Acorns helps you invest "spare change" by rounding up your purchase to the nearest dollar. Once you reach $5, they withdraw the funds from your linked checking account and invest the funds for you. It's a micro-investor and robo-advisor all in one, whereas Stash is a micro-investor, but not a robo-advisor.
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Stash | Acorns | |
|---|---|---|
Sign Up and Get $5 - | $10 Sign-Up Bonus - | |
Benefits and Features | ||
| Stock Trading |  | Part of service fee. No add-on trading fees. |
| Options Trading | ||
| Annual Fee | STASH Beginner ($1/mo) STASH Growth ($3/mo) STASH+ ($9/mo) | $1/mo for Acorns Lite (taxable account only) $3/mo for Acorns Personal (includes IRA and checking account) $5/mo for Acorns Family (includes investment accounts for kids) |
| Minimum Deposit | ||
| Mutual Fund Trading | ||
| Phone Support | Yes - normal business hours, plus Sat & Sun 11a-5p ET | |
| Live Chat Support | ||
| Email Support | ||
| Human Advisors | ||
| Assets Under Management | ||
| Tax Loss Harvesting | ||
| Goal Tracker | ||
| Automatic Deposits | ||
| Online Platform | ||
| iPhone App | ||
| Android App | ||
| Banking | All users get a cash account with a debit card. No minimum balance, no overdraft fees, and free ATM access at 19,000+ ATMS. | $3/mo for Acorns + Acorns Later + Acorns Spend checking. Free debit card, no minimum balance, no overdraft fees, and unlimited free or fee-reimbursed ATMs nationwide. |
| Mobile App | ||
| Fractional Shares | ||
| Taxable Accounts | ||
| 401k Plans | ||
| IRA Accounts | ||
| Roth IRA Accounts | ||
| SEP IRA Accounts | ||
| Trust Accounts | ||
| 529 Plans | ||
| | |
Blank fields may indicate the information is not available, not applicable, or not known to CreditDonkey. Please visit the product website for details. Stash: Pricing information from published website as of 08/14/2019 Acorns: Pricing information from published website as of 09/28/2020. | ||
Stash vs Robinhood: Investors use Robinhood primarily to trade stocks without paying commissions. Unless you sign up for their Gold subscription, you don't pay any fees. Like Stash, though, they don't manage the investments for you or have robo-advising capacity. It's up to you to choose the investments and do the actual trading; they just guide you along the way.
|  | |
| | |
Stash | Robinhood | |
|---|---|---|
Sign Up and Get $5 - | Get a Free Stock (worth between $2.50 and $225) - | |
Benefits and Features | ||
| Stock Trading | | |
| Options Trading | ||
| Annual Fee | STASH Beginner ($1/mo) STASH Growth ($3/mo) STASH+ ($9/mo) | All trades are commission-free. No platform fees. |
| Minimum Deposit | ||
| Mutual Fund Trading | ||
| Phone Support | Yes - normal business hours, plus Sat & Sun 11a-5p ET | |
| Live Chat Support | ||
| Email Support | ||
| Human Advisors | ||
| Tax Loss Harvesting | ||
| Goal Tracker | ||
| Automatic Deposits | ||
| Online Platform | ||
| iPhone App | ||
| Android App | ||
| Banking | All users get a cash account with a debit card. No minimum balance, no overdraft fees, and free ATM access at 19,000+ ATMS. | No service fees for Robinhood Cash Management account. Free debit card with no in-network ATM fees or foreign transaction fees |
| Mobile App | ||
| Fractional Shares | ||
| Taxable Accounts | ||
| 401k Plans | ||
| IRA Accounts | ||
| Roth IRA Accounts | ||
| SEP IRA Accounts | ||
| Trust Accounts | ||
| 529 Plans | ||
| | |
Blank fields may indicate the information is not available, not applicable, or not known to CreditDonkey. Please visit the product website for details. Stash: Pricing information from published website as of 08/14/2019 Robinhood: Pricing information from published websites as of 04/18/2020. | ||
Stash vs Betterment: Betterment is one of the leading robo-advisors, but with no required minimum, it can be good for beginning investors as well. If you are looking for human advice and a more hands-off approach to investment, Betterment would be a better option.
|  | |
| | |
Stash | Betterment | |
|---|---|---|
Sign Up and Get $5 - | Get 1 Month Managed Free - | |
Benefits and Features | ||
| Stock Trading | | |
| Annual Fee | STASH Beginner ($1/mo) STASH Growth ($3/mo) STASH+ ($9/mo) | 0.25% for accounts under $100,000; 0.40% for accounts $100,000+ |
| Minimum Deposit | ||
| Phone Support | Yes - normal business hours, plus Sat & Sun 11a-5p ET | |
| Live Chat Support | ||
| Email Support | ||
| Human Advisors | ||
| Assets Under Management | ||
| Tax Loss Harvesting | ||
| Goal Tracker | ||
| Automatic Deposits | ||
| Online Platform | ||
| iPhone App | ||
| Android App | ||
| Banking | All users get a cash account with a debit card. No minimum balance, no overdraft fees, and free ATM access at 19,000+ ATMS. | |
| Mobile App | ||
| Fractional Shares | ||
| Taxable Accounts | ||
| 401k Plans | ||
| IRA Accounts | ||
| Roth IRA Accounts | ||
| SEP IRA Accounts | ||
| Trust Accounts | ||
| 529 Plans | ||
| | |
Blank fields may indicate the information is not available, not applicable, or not known to CreditDonkey. Please visit the product website for details. Stash: Pricing information from published website as of 08/14/2019 Betterment: Pricing information from published website as of 04/04/2018 | ||
Bottom Line
Is Stash the choice for you? It depends if you are a true beginner and only have small amounts to invest.
If you really want to get the hang of investing, this can be a great starting point. If you are more of a hands-off investor, this may not the best choice for you as you make all of the decisions and manage the funds. A robo-advisor could be a better option for those looking for a more hands-off approach.
Donna Tang is the head of purpose and audience at CreditDonkey, a personal finance comparison and reviews website. Write to Donna Tang at donna.tang@creditdonkey.com. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for our latest posts.
Note: This website is made possible through financial relationships with some of the products and services mentioned on this site. We may receive compensation if you shop through links in our content. You do not have to use our links, but you help support CreditDonkey if you do.
CreditDonkey is a paid Affiliate/partner of Stash. Investment advisory services offered by Stash Investments LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. This material has been distributed for informational and educational purposes only, and is not intended as investment, legal, accounting, or tax advice. Investing involves risk.
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