SoFi Invest review: A worthwhile app for beginners without a ton of money to invest

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• SoFi Invest is best for beginner investors, or those who already have other SoFi accounts.
• It offers two types of investing: active stock trading and a passive, automated-adviser option.
• SoFi doesn’t offer tax-loss harvesting or stop-loss orders, which may be a downside for some.
• Start investing today with SoFi »

Is SoFi Invest right for you?

SoFi Invest is best for beginner investors who are looking for a simple way to get started with investing. SoFi has no minimum amount to open an account, so even if you don’t have very much to invest, you can still get started. 

SoFi Invest is also a great option if you already have other SoFi accounts. This is because SoFi makes it very easy to move money between SoFi Money and SoFi Invest accounts.

If you are a more advanced investor, SoFi may not be a great choice, since SoFi does not offer stop-loss orders or tax-loss harvesting. But if you’re simply looking to get started with investing, SoFi has all you need, with complimentary access to Certified Financial Planners if you have questions. 

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SoFi is currently only available to residents of the United States, so residents of other countries will want to choose a different brokerage.

Bottom line: Beginner investors in the US who are looking for an intuitive online trading experience should open an active or automated investing account with SoFi. 

SoFi Money

SoFi Invest pros and cons

Pros

• No minimum to start investing
• No account or trading fees, and low fees to own funds
• Access to Certified Financial Planners at no additional charge
• Cryptocurrency trading available

Cons

• No tax-loss harvesting, an advanced investing technique where you sell a stock or mutual fund at a loss for a tax benefit
• No option for stop-loss orders when actively investing. SoFi’s active investing account only uses market orders
• Limited track record. SoFi’s automated trading platform has only been around since 2017, which isn’t as long of a track record as other brokerages
• Currently only available to US residents

How does SoFi Invest compare to other investment platforms?

SoFi Money	Robinhood	Wealthfront
Editor’s Rating: 4 out of 5	Editor’s Rating: 3.57 out of 5	Editor’s Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Minimum Investment: $0	Minimum Investment: $0	Minimum Investment: $500
Access to Financial Advisers: Yes	Access to Financial Advisers: No	Access to Financial Advisers: No
Fees: None	Fees: None	Fees: 0.25% for automated investing
Investment choices Stocks, ETFs, cryptocurrencies	Investment choices Stocks, ETFs, options, cryptocurrencies, and ADRs	Investment choices ETFs
Open Account	Open Account	Open Account

Note that if you are investing in ETFs, most funds do have expense ratio fees that are included in the price of the fund. All three of these brokerages offer several different funds, including those with very low expense ratios.

Ways to invest with SoFi

SoFi Invest has a very basic set of features:

• No account or management fees and very low fees on funds
• Complimentary access to Certified Financial Planners (CFPs)
• The ability to invest in fractional shares of company stock
• Either active or automated investing
• Access to invest in cryptocurrency

For more advanced investors or those with more available capital, there’s still quite a bit to like about SoFi Invest. For instance, users with at least $3,000 across all SoFi Invest accounts will be eligible to invest in its upcoming IPO offerings. 

In addition, if all you’re looking to do is put your money in low-cost Vanguard or other index ETFs, then SoFi’s fee-free accounts may be all that you need. If you are interested in tax-loss harvesting or trading more actively with stop-loss orders, you may want to consider other brokerages.

When it comes to cryptocurrencies, SoFi offers bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin, and 17 other coins and tokens. SoFi charges a markup fee for each crypto transaction, so be prepared to pay an additional 1.25% in trading fees. You can find its complete list of cryptocurrencies here.

How much does it cost to invest with SoFi?

SoFi Invest has no investment minimum, which means that you can start investing no matter how much money you have available. SoFi Invest also does not charge any commissions on buying or selling stocks. If you invest in mutual funds, whether actively or through SoFi’s automated investing platform, the funds you invest in may include fees. However, SoFi offers a broad range of mutual funds, including many whose expense ratios are quite low.

As mentioned above, SoFi will also add an extra 1.25% to each crypto transaction.

Is SoFi Invest trustworthy?

SoFi has received an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. The BBB uses a grade range of A+ to F when evaluating company trustworthiness and considers a number of factors — including customer complaint history, licensing and government actions, and advertising issues — when reaching a final rating.

Though SoFi’s A rating indicates that it interacts exceptionally well with clients, it’s also important that you do your own due diligence on the company. The BBB says its ratings don’t guarantee a company’s reliability or performance.

In 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleged that SoFi provided false information on how much customers saved through its loan options. The FTC approved a Consent Order with SoFi in 2019 that prohibited the company from providing misleading information about its loan refinancing savings. SoFi neither confirmed nor denied the allegations.

SoFi has closed 72 complaints in the last 12 months, according to the BBB.

What is SoFi Invest?

SoFi (short for “social finance”) started out as a company focusing on student loan refinancing and personal loans. Since then, it has branched out into several other areas of personal finance, including checking and savings accounts and investment options.

SoFi Invest is an investing product that offers two different types of accounts. One is an active investing account, where you have complete control of buying and selling whichever stocks and funds you prefer, and the other is a robo-adviser — or passive investment account — which offers users pre-built portfolios based on risk level and financial situation. SoFi’s 10 robo-adviser portfolios are built by humans to reflect a range of financial situations.

Opening a new SoFi Invest account is a straightforward process. You will enter your name, a few basic identification questions as well as questions about your risk tolerance and investing experience. The entire signup process only takes about two minutes. SoFi offers several different types of accounts, including taxable brokerage accounts as well as traditional, Roth, and SEP IRAs. Each of these accounts can use SoFi’s automated investing system (also known as “passive investing”) or be actively invested and controlled by you.

SoFi Invest regularly offers bonuses for opening up new accounts. Sometimes these bonuses are publicly available, and other times they’re only available through a referral from a current customer. These new account bonuses change over time, and there’s no guarantee that there will be a bonus offer. Still, these offers can be worth hundreds of dollars, so it pays to check before opening a new account.

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