Ally Invest Review Low-Cost Trades on Stocks & Other Investments

For its managed portfolios accounts, it starts by analyzing your investing and savings goals. It takes into account your age, what you’re saving for and your investing strategy, including how much risk you’re willing to take on. Ally initially recommends to investors its Cash-Enhanced Managed Portfolios. Investors can select from Core, Income, Socially Responsible or Tax-Optimized portfolios. If you’re a trader interested in the cheapest possible margin trading or the best bargain on mutual funds, Ally Invest might not be right for you. However, commissions on other securities like stocks, ETFs and options are exceptionally affordable and competitive.

• On any standard account, you’ll also be charged a $50 fee for a full or partial transfer.
• Ally Invest does not offer third-party research, but there is Lipper information incorporated into various screeners and some Morningstar information on the site when looking at individual securities.
• Additional coverage is available for up to $37.5 million, including $900,000 in cash.
• Like robo-advisors offered by other big financial firms, Ally Invest Robo Portfolios is best for existing Ally customers looking to get into automated investing with little to no extra effort.
• The low minimums and free trades make it very accessible to someone who doesn’t have a lot to invest but the tools and features of the account still support someone who needs more.

You can invest and trade as you see fit, according to your savings goals and willingness for risk. After opening your account with Ally, you can quickly personalize your trading platform by dragging and dropping tiles onto your home platform. Manage your current investments, keep track of stocks and ETFs you’re interested in and more — all from 1 easily navigable home platform.

You can pick a goal you’re saving for and how long you want to be invested. You’ll have a chance to alter your choices if the portfolio doesn’t feel right. On brokerage accounts, Ally makes money from the practice of payment for order flow, or PFOF, as do nearly all other brokers in this age of $0 trades. E-Trade’s similar offering is its Core Portfolios, what it calls an “automated advisory solution.” E-Trade also guarantees diversified ETF portfolios at the same annual price of 0% of your account balance. However, you need double the minimum account balance that Ally Invest requires, with E-Trade requiring at least $5,000. Plus, no matter which account type you choose, Ally Bank will keep you informed and educated about investing.

Automated investing accounts

But the lack of a cash management account and relatively high account minimums may cause some investors to look elsewhere. Self-Directed Trading accounts are largely fee-free, as stock and ETF trades have no fees attached to them. Additionally, options contracts have no trading fees, though there is a per contract charge of $0.50. Bonds are available at a price of $1, though there is a minimum of $10 at this price.

For support, head back to the main Ally dashboard to connect and chat with a live agent. Personal Capital customers will get an experience that more closely resembles that of a traditional financial advisor than a robo-advisor, but you’ll need at least $100,000 to get started. You’ll also get a comprehensive tax strategy to help minimize what you owe to Uncle Sam.

It is worth noting, though, that some Ally portfolios offer small-cap and mid-cap ETFs. These are not always included in standard robo portfolios but historically have provided higher returns than the large-cap funds, which may make them appealing to certain investors. Finder.com is an independent comparison platform and information service that aims to provide you with the tools you need to make better decisions. While we are independent, the offers that appear on this site are from companies from which finder.com receives compensation. We may receive compensation from our partners for placement of their products or services. We may also receive compensation if you click on certain links posted on our site.

While compensation arrangements may affect the order, position or placement of product information, it doesn’t influence our assessment of those products. Please don’t interpret the order in which products appear on our Site as any endorsement or recommendation from us. Finder.com compares a wide range of products, providers and services but we don’t provide information on all available products, providers or services. Please appreciate that there may be other options available to you than the products, providers or services covered by our service. Ally Invest sits on the broader Ally app, along with banking, loans and any other accounts you have open with Ally. When performing research on a specific stock, tap the chart to customize with upper and lower indicators or compare multiple charts at once.

Ally Invest®

Although the trading of bonds is a multi-trillion dollar industry, you’d be surprised how many entry-level brokers fail to offer this particular asset class. This isn’t the case with Ally Invest, as the broker hosts a plethora of leading government and corporate bonds to choose from. Exchange traded funds, or simply ETFs, are financial instruments that track the movement of a particular asset, or a group of assets.

Best Brokers With DRIP

Traders who are primarily interested in mutual fund investing will be disappointed with Ally, which offers no $0 commission funds. Traders may also be disappointed with Ally’s lack of futures trading or frustrated with the fact that Ally requires forex traders to open and manage a completely new account to trade. Ally’s educational offerings are also lacking, focused primarily on investing beginners. The brokerage remains a solid choice for most investors, however, regardless of skill level.

Why You Can Trust The MarketWatch Guides Team

E-Trade Core Portfolios offers a capable robo-advisor, one that may work best for customers looking to keep their accounts with the broker while having someone do the investing for them. Clients will get low-cost funds as well as less-common choices such as socially responsible funds, though the service doesn’t offer tax-loss harvesting or many tools. Betterment offers a high level of service and features across every aspect of its robo-advisor, from its core investment management to low-cost funds to premium features such as tax-loss harvesting. You can also upgrade your service if you need unlimited access to human advisors, and get access to a feature-rich cash management account, too.

This blog has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. No matter what stage of your investment journey you are currently at, having the right tools to facilitate your goals is crucial. At the lower-end of the experience spectrum, this will include detailed educational guides that explain the basics of how to trade. Phone support is also available with agents available between the hours of 7am and 10pm, 7 days a week.

Lacks a dedicated cash management account

NerdWallet’s comprehensive review process evaluates and ranks the largest U.S. robo-advisors. Our aim is to provide an independent assessment of providers to help arm you with information to make ally invest review sound, informed judgements on which ones will best meet your needs. Ally Invest Robo Portfolios monitors clients accounts daily and automatically rebalances as needed with no additional fees.

The primary Ally Invest website serves as the link to Ally Bank, which most would utilize to gain interest on cash balances, and Ally Bank offers some of the best short-term rates available. Options trading is different on the different platforms, too, with the Ally Invest website required to use all the tools. While not the best of class, these tools are helpful and are not commonly offered by online brokerage platforms. It also can’t create customized orders using criteria other than price (limit orders), such as volume or percentage moves. The options analysis tools are on the Ally Invest website, but not on the Ally Invest Live platform, which is a bit awkward even though it has helpful tools.

One of the benefits of going with a more integrated financial company such as Ally is that you can do so much under one roof. You can open a bank account, a self-directed investment account, a robo portfolio and more. That integration also allows you to transfer money quickly and generally keep your eye on all your finances in one comprehensive dashboard. Carolyn Kimball is managing editor for Reink Media and the lead editor for the StockBrokers.com Annual Review.