An investor application (or investor app) is a mobile application designed to distribute information about publicly traded companies. It can provide general investor information or be company-specific. There are two types of investor apps: Native investor apps and HTML5 investor apps. Most investor apps offer access to public company content such as stock quotes, corporate materials, fact sheets, presentations, and marketing materials as well as information sharing through social media channels and email.
Mobile apps for investor relations appear to be an emerging trend as more corporations are expected to move in this direction. The popularity of investor apps began to rise in 2011 as their usage became more prevalent and new investor app developers. Nearly 116 million Americans will use a smartphone by the end of 2022, up from 93.1 million in 2011 – and by 2022, nearly three out of every five consumers will have a smartphone.
A. Investment definition is an asset acquired or invested in to build wealth and save money from the hard-earned income or appreciation. Investment meaning is primarily to obtain an additional source of income or gain profit from the investment over a specific period of time. Why Should You Invest? Investing ensures present and future financial security. It allows you to grow your wealth and at the same time generate inflation-beating returns. You also benefit from the power of compounding.
What is Investment?
An investment is something of value purchased to make more money. While the term “investment” is often applied to stocks, bonds, and other financial instruments, investments also commonly include real estate, artwork, collectibles, and even wine. There are often risks involved with investing, but those risks regularly pay off for countless investors worldwide.
While you are likely to lose your money at a casino, a well-planned investment strategy can help you reach important long-term goals like adequate retirement savings, homeownership, or sending your kids to college debt-free. Keep reading to learn what investments are, how investments work, and how you can start investing today with less than $10.
According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an investment is “something you spend money on that you expect will earn a financial return.” While we will focus on financial market investments like stocks, bonds, and investment funds, you could buy many more types of investments with the expectation of making money.
How Do Investments Work?
Investments are an important part of the economy and an important part of personal finance. For individual investors, investments can allow you to grow your wealth over different periods. One of the most important parts of investments is compounding. Compounding is a term for how your investments increase in value over time.
To get a better understanding here’s an example: Let’s say you have $1,000 and invest it in a stock market index fund that earns 10% over the first two years. While quick math might say you would earn $100 per year, you would actually earn more with compounding.
After the first year, your $1,000 investment would be worth $1,100. But after another year growing at 10%, your original $1,000 grows by 10%, and the $100 you earned last year grows at 10%. By the end of the second year, your $1,100 investment would grow to $1,210. The extra $10 you earned is from the compound growth of your investment. If you leave that investment alone and it continues to grow at the same 10% rate, you would have $17,449 after 30 years.
You can’t plan on earning 10% every year forever
Of course, you can’t plan on earning 10% every year forever. There are some good years and some bad years. You may come out, in the end, making 5% or 50%, or more or less, depending on the investments you choose and the timing of your purchase and sale. Some investments may even lose money, which is why it’s important to understand what you’re investing in and why.
To protect investors from predatory investment companies acting in bad faith, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and other agencies enforce important laws, regulations, and industry standards related to publicly available investments.
When you decide to invest, it’s important to only work with reputable investment companies that follow investment regulations and work to protect your best interests.
Types of Investments
While the universe of investments is a vast one, here are the most common types of investments:
1. Stocks
A buyer of a company’s stock becomes a fractional owner of that company. Owners of a company’s stock are know as its shareholders and can participate in its growth and success through appreciation in the stock price and regular dividends pay out of the company’s profits.
2. Bonds
Bonds are debt obligations of entities, such as governments, municipalities, and corporations. Buying a bond implies that you hold a share of an entity’s debt and are entitled to receive periodic interest payments and the return of the bond’s face value when it matures.
3. Funds
Funds are pooled instruments managed by investment managers that enable investors to invest in stocks, bonds, preferred shares, commodities, etc. The two most common types of funds are mutual funds and exchange-traded funds or ETFs.
Mutual funds do not trade on an exchange and are valued at the end of the trading day; ETFs trade on stock exchanges and, like stocks, are valued constantly throughout the trading day. Mutual funds and ETFs can either passively track indices, such as the S&P 500 or the Dow Jones Industrial Average, or can be actively managed by fund managers.
4. Investment trusts
Trusts are another type of pooled investment, with Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) the most popular in this category. REITs invest in commercial or residential properties and pay regular distributions to their investors from the rental income received from these properties. REITs trade on stock exchanges and thus offer their investors the advantage of instant liquidity.
5. Alternative investments
This is a catch-all category that includes hedge funds and private equity. Hedge funds are so-called because they can hedge their investment bets by going long and short on stocks and other investments. Private equity enables companies to raise capital without going public.
Hedge funds and private equity were typically only available to affluent investors deemed “accredited investors” who met certain income and net worth requirements. However, in recent years, alternative investments have been introduced in fund formats that are accessible to retail investors.
6. Options and derivatives
Derivatives are financial instruments that derive their value from another instrument, such as a stock or index. An option is a popular derivative that gives the buyer the right but not the obligation to buy or sell a security at a fixed price within a specific time period. Derivatives usually employ leverage, making them a high-risk, high-reward proposition.
7. Commodities
Commodities include metals, oil, grain, and animal products, as well as financial instruments and currencies. They can either be traded through commodity futures—which are agreements to buy or sell a specific quantity of a commodity at a specified price on a particular future date—or ETFs. Commodities can be used for hedging risk or for speculative purposes.
Best Investment Apps Of 2022
Investment apps permit each new and experienced trader to control their investments inside the inventory marketplace and different monetary markets. With an expansion of handy offerings at low prices, these investment apps—the pleasant we’ve visible which can be available these days—might also help buyers save cash and improve their portfolios.
Even as you used to need to pick up a smartphone and make contact with a stockbroker to make a trade (after which pay a steep fee), you may now choose up your smartphone, tap your display screen some times, and trade nearly right away—often free of charge or at a tremendously low value.
After reviewing several apps for value, ease of use, investment alternatives, and different key factors, we rounded up the excellent investment apps to be had nowadays.
- Best Overall: TD Ameritrade
- Runner-Up: Fidelity
- Best for Beginners: Acorns
- Best for Free Investing: Webull
- Best for Automated Investing: Betterment
- Best Easy-to-Use App: SoFi
TD Ameritrade
TD Ameritrade is a broker that offers an electronic trading platform for the trade of financial assets including common stocks, preferred stocks, futures contracts, exchange-traded funds, forex, options, cryptocurrency, mutual funds, fixed income investments, margin lending, and cash management services.
The company receives revenue from interest income on margin balances, commissions for order execution, and payment for order flow. The company is a subsidiary of Charles Schwab Corporation and its services and accounts will be integrate with those of Schwab by 2023. Its operations are in the process of being move to Schwab’s headquarters in Westlake, Texas.
The company was establish as Ameritrade in 1971. In 2006, it acquire the U.S. operations of TD Waterhouse from Toronto-Dominion Bank and was rename TD Ameritrade. It was acquire by Charles Schwab Corporation in 2020.
We chose TD Ameritrade as the best overall because it offers something for investors of all levels of expertise and has excellent pricing. For beginners, the standard TD Ameritrade mobile app has excellent ease of use, and for more advanced traders, its thinkorswim mobile app provides a professional-style experience. TD Ameritrade users can access both apps with a brokerage account, and there are no minimum balance requirements or commission fees for trades. Users of the thinkorswim app can also enjoy a live CNBC feed inside the app.
Fundamental Characteristics
- App names: TD Ameritrade Mobile and thinkorswim
- Account minimum: No minimum deposit is required
- Fees: $0 commission for online stock, ETF, and options trades, but there is a 65-cent flat fee for each options contract; $25 for broker-assisted trades; $49.95 or $74.95 for no-load mutual funds; additional fees may apply
- Investment types: Wide range, including stocks, options, ETFs, mutual funds, bonds, fixed-income, futures, and several other choices
- Account types: Supports standard, retirement, education, and other types of accounts
- Other important details: Recently acquired by Charles Schwab
Fidelity
constancy is a good brokerage with big resources for diverse styles of investors. The company is a standout for its cognizance of retirement education, which includes retirement calculators and other equipment.
Via the constancy Investments cellular app, you may do pretty much whatever you want in your investment account. It integrates with each Apple Watch and Google Assistant for even greater features. you may also link your funding account to constancy Spire, which enables you to set and track savings and investment desires.
The brokerage offers a few of its own mutual funds with no transaction fees or recurring fees. It’s also one of a small list of major brokerage firms to offer fractional share investments.
Key Features
- App name: Fidelity
- Account minimum: No minimum deposit is required
- Fees: $0 commission fees on stock, ETF, and options trades, but there is a 65-cent flat fee per options contract; $32.95 for broker-assisted trades; $49.95 for no-transaction-fee mutual funds; no recurring fees for most accounts; additional fees may apply
- Investment types: Stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, fractional share investing, and more
- Account types: Supports brokerage, retirement, education accounts, and more
Acorns
Acorns is a mobile-first brokerage and banking app imparting innovative investment options, consisting of routine transfers and spherical-u.s.a. for purchases made with connected playing cards. The brokerage gives ETFs, and it generates precise recommendations for you, based totally on a survey you fill out whilst signing up for an account.
The biggest downside of Acorns is the fee structure. $3 per month for investing, retirement, and checking (“Personal”); and $5 per month (“Family)” for all the features of Personal plus investment accounts for kids. A couple of dollars a month may not sound like much, but it could be a big percentage of your balance on smaller accounts. For example, a $1 monthly fee equals a 12% yearly fee for a $100 account balance.
Key Features
- App name: Acorns
- Account minimum: No minimum deposit is required
- Fees: $3 or $5 for a monthly subscription; additional fees may apply
- Investment types: Fractional share investments in ETFs made up of stocks and bonds
- Account types: Robo-advisor brokerage, retirement, and checking accounts
- Other important details: Earn money by shopping with a linked card at partner retailers.
Webull
Webull has an impressive mobile app for active and expert traders. It’s great for trading stocks, ETFs, cryptocurrency, and options, and it supports IRAs. However, there is no trading of bonds or mutual funds.
While Webull is focus on free investing and trading, it’s best for investors who have trading experience. The app’s focus on active stock and options trading may be overwhelming for beginners, but if you’re willing to take the time to learn, Webull is an excellent low-cost option.
Key Features
- App name: Webull
- Account minimum: No minimum deposit is required
- Fees: $0 commission or contract fees for online stock, ETF, or options trades; $8 to $45 for wire transfers; additional fees may apply
- Investment types: Stocks, ETFs, options, and cryptocurrencies
- Account types: Supports brokerage and IRA accounts
- Other important details: Generous free stock promotions for new users and for customers who refer others.
Betterment
Some investors just want to hand their money over to someone else to pick stocks, bonds, and funds on their behalf. In the old days, you needed an expensive financial advisor to give you personalized advice.
These days, Robo-advisors like Betterment will assign you to a professionally designed portfolio of low-cost ETFs based on your investment goals. You can choose between a personalized portfolio for your goal or a socially responsible portfolio when investing with Betterment.
Betterment charges an annual 0.25% management fee with no minimum balance requirement. Those with a balance of $100,000 or more can upgrade to the pricier Premium plan, at 0.40% per year, including access to a human financial advisor. While it’s not free, the cost could be worth it for investors who want a hands-off experience.
Key Features
- App name: Betterment
- Account minimum: $0
- Fees: 0.25% for Digital account or 0.40% for Premium account
- Investment types: Managed portfolios of ETFs
- Account types: Robo-advisor brokerage, IRA
- Other important details: Offers a checking-style cash management account
SoFi
SoFi Technologies, Inc. (now the parent company of Social Finance, Inc. and commonly known as SoFi) is an American online personal finance company. Based in San Francisco, SoFi provides financial products including student and auto loan refinancing, mortgages, personal loans, credit cards, investing, and banking through both mobile app and desktop interfaces.
It is a full-service finance company with lending, banking, and investing managed in one convenient mobile app. SoFi’s app, SoFi Invest, is great for beginners because it includes investment education and allows you to start small with fractional shares called “Stock Bits.”
They Invest users can trade stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies. Stock and ETF trades are free. SoFi Invest also offers a managed portfolio product with no added investment management fees. Overall, SoFi offers some impressive accounts that are well-price and easy to use—that’s a winning combination.
Key Features
- App name: SoFi Invest
- Account minimum: $5 to start investing
- Fees: No fees for online stock or ETF trades; 1.25% markup on crypto transactions; expense ratios vary on SoFi-branded ETFs; additional fees may apply
- Investment types: Stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies
- Account types: Supports self-directed and managed portfolios, plus retirement and cryptocurrency accounts
- Other important details: SoFi also offers loan products and cash management accounts.
In Conclusion
Investment apps use multiple layers of security to protect your information, including encryption of personal information, two-factor authentication, and frequent checks for hacks. As long as you use a strong, unique password that isn’t shared with any other account or website, your money is typically safe from bad actors.
If you’re traveling away from home, it’s wise to avoid using your investment apps on Wi-Fi networks at offices, coffee shops, hotels, and other public locations. When away from home, your secure cellular connection should keep your information safe. As an extra safeguard, consider adding a VPN to your device.
However, if there is anything you think we are missing. Don’t hesitate to inform us by dropping your advice in the comment section.
Either way, let me know by leaving a comment below!
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