Investing

Saving and investing money is a lot like eating broccoli. We know we should do it, but it's not so easy. One easy way to save money is with an automatic savings app. To help you get started, here are the best round-up apps for both savings and investing.

Best Overall Round-Up App for Savings–Chime®

For those focused on building an emergency fund or other savings, Chime is my top pick for round-up apps. Why? Unlike most round-up apps, Chime pays interest on your savings.

Chime comes with a long list of features:

• Get paid up to 2 days early with direct deposit*
• Fee-free overdraft protection of up to $200 for eligible members**
• Over 60,000 fee-free ATMs***
• Savings earn interest (currently 2.00% APY^)

It's key feature for our purposes is automated savings. Chime automates savings in several ways.

First, it does have a round-up feature. Called “Save When You Spend,” Chime will round up to the nearest dollar purchases made with its free Visa debit card. Chime then transfers the round-up from your Chime Checking Account to your Savings Account.^^

Second, Chime enables customers to setup automatic savings. After each paycheck, you can have an amount of your choice automatically moved from your Chime Checking Account to your Savings Account.

There are other things I like about Chime. It has arguably one of the best secured credit cards to help customers build their credit. It's called the Secured Chime Credit Builder Visa® Credit Card, charges no annual fee and has no required minimum security deposit.^^^

Best Overall Round-Up App for Investing–Acorns

Acorns is my pick for the best overall round-up app for investing. Acorns is one of the first round-up apps with over 9 million clients. It offers both low cost investing, free checking and a free debit card. As such, it works for savings, investing or both.

After creating an account, you link the credit and debit cards you use for spending. Acorns tracks your round-ups and transfers them from your linked checking account once they reach $5.

You choose how you want Acorns to invest your round-ups. Users can select from several pre-configured portfolios, ranging from conservative (100% bonds) to aggressive (100% stocks). You can also chose among socially responsible portfolios. Acorns does the rest, making the investments for you in low cost, diversified ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds).

For savers, Acorns offers a checking account and debit card. The FDIC-insured account offers direct deposit, mobile check deposit and free nationwide ATMs. It does not, however, pay interest on its checking account.

Acorns costs just $3 a month for a personal account. The fee covers investing and checking accounts. For $5 a month, get the family plan that enables kids to start investing early.

Full List of Round-Up Apps

In addition to Acorns and Chime, here are several other round-up apps worth considering.

Greenlight

Best for kids and teens

Greenlight is perhaps best known for offering a debit card for kids and teens. It also offers an investing platform to teach young people the importance and power of saving and investing. With Greenlight Max, kids can invest in their favorite companies or ETFs. There are no trading fees and parents must approve all trades.

Greenlight offers several ways to encourage savings through what it calls Savings Boosts. One Savings Boost is round-ups. Transactions are rounded up to the nearest dollar and transferred to savings. Other Savings Boosts include earning 1% cash back on all purchases and up to 2% interest on their savings.

In addition to investing, Greenlight can serve as a child's bank and budgeting app. Monthly costs range from $4.99 to $9.98 a month for up to five children.

Qapital

Best for microinvesting

While all round-up apps are a form of microinvesting, Qapital takes it to another level. In addition to round-ups, Qapital offers a number of Rules that will trigger automatic saving and investing:

• Payday Divvy: This feature enables you to automate how much of your paycheck goes to spending, savings and investing.
• Set and Forget: Set up automatic transfers to savings or investing every week.
• Guilty Pleasure: Enjoy your morning coffee at Starbucks, but save some money at the same time. You can designate the merchants and how much you save each time you shop there.
• Spend Less Rule: Set a spending limit at the grocery store and automatically save the difference between the set amount and what you typically spend.
• Freelancer Rule: For 1099 workers, you can set a percentage of all deposits of $100 or more to be transferred to Qapital's FDIC-insured account for estimated taxes.
• 52 Week Rule: Save $1 in week one, $2 in week two, and so on, for a total of $1,378 over the course of a year.
• Apple Health: Set automatic transfers to savings each time you walk, bike or run.

Money saved can be invested in one of several portfolios using low-cost ETFs:

Qapital offers three plans ranging from $3 to $12 a month.

Qoins

Best for paying down debt

With Qoins, you create either a debt or savings goal. You can also create what Qoins calls a Bundle, with both a debt payoff and savings goal. With goals set, you pick how you want money transferred toward your goal. There are several options:

• Round-ups
• Weekly transfers
• Payday transfers
• Smart Savings

Smart Savings is a feature unique to Qoins. You set how aggressively you wan to save, and Qoins' algorithm determines how much to put toward your goal. Unlike round-ups, Smart Savings doesn't require you to link a debit or credit card.

Qoins offers two plans costing $2.99 or $4.99 a month.

Other Round-Up Apps

I continue to evaluate round-up apps and will update this article based on new research. Here are other apps I'm evaluating:

• Digit
• Empower
• MoneyLion
• N26
• Betterment
• Worthy Bonds
• Current

It's worth noting that some banks offer round-up features. Bank of America is one example. The problem is that its interest rates on savings accounts are terrible.

How Round-Ups Work

Round-up apps bring the concept of a change jar into the digital world. When cash was king, it was common to have a change jar in the house. Each day when you got home, you took the change out of your pocket and put it in the jar. It wasn't a lot of money, so it didn't crush the budget. And while each deposit into the jar didn't amount to much, over time it grew into some serious cash.

Round-up apps take the same concept and apply it in the world of electronic payments. You connect your checking account and credit cards to the round-up app. The app then keeps track of your transactions and the round-up amount. For example, if you spend $3.74 at a coffee shop, the app adds $0.26 to your round-up balance.

Once your round-ups reach a threshold (typically $10), the app transfers the amount from your checking account to either a savings or investment account. As such, round-ups are one form of microinvesting.

The Psychology Behind Automatic Savings

There are several psychological “tricks” that make round-up apps so effective. First, they require just one easy decision. Once you turn on the round-up feature, it continues to work without any additional effort on your part. This simple decision makes it easy to overcome the status quo bias. And once overcome, the round-ups become the status quo.

Second, they are automatic. The round-ups don't require us to make decisions each day, week or month. They happen behind the scenes, even if we forgot all about them.

Finally, round-ups involve relatively small amounts of money. Trying to save hundreds of dollars a month might feel daunting. Saving our spare change every day, on the other hand, is less intimidating even if it adds up over time.

Can Round-Ups Really Make a Difference?

Yes. In fact, one study found that saving even $100 had a profound effect on financial well-being. And with the power of compounding, even small amounts of money saved over time can grow into significant wealth. For example, investing just $50 a month over a working career can grow into more than $400,000 at a 10% return.

Of course, returns aren't guaranteed and a working career can last 40 or 50 years. At the same time, $50 a month is not exactly a flood of money. It's a start. Continue to increase your savings and your wealth will continue to compound over time. In the end, compounding will generate for more wealth than the amounts you actually save.

Round-Up FAQs

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Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services and debit card provided by The Bancorp Bank N.A. or Stride Bank, N.A.; Members FDIC. Credit Builder card issued by Stride Bank, N.A.
* Early access to direct deposit funds depends on the timing of the submission of the payment file from the payer. We generally make these funds available on the day the payment file is received, which may be up to 2 days earlier than the scheduled payment date.
**Chime SpotMe is an optional service that requires a single deposit of $200 or more in qualifying direct deposits to the Chime Checking Account each month. All qualifying members will be allowed to overdraw their account up to $20 on debit card purchases and cash withdrawals initially, but may be later eligible for a higher limit of up to $200 or more based on member's Chime Account history, direct deposit frequency and amount, spending activity and other risk-based factors. Your limit will be displayed to you within the Chime mobile app. You will receive notice of any changes to your limit. Your limit may change at any time, at Chime's discretion. Although there are no overdraft fees, there may be out-of-network or third party fees associated with ATM transactions. SpotMe won't cover non-debit card transactions, including ACH transfers, Pay Anyone transfers, or Chime Checkbook transactions. See Terms and Conditions.
***Out-of-network ATM withdrawal fees may apply except at MoneyPass ATMs in a 7-Eleven, or any Allpoint or Visa Plus Alliance ATM.
^The Annual Percentage Yield (“APY”) for the Chime Savings Account is variable and may change at any time. The disclosed APY is accurate as of November 17, 2022. No minimum balance required. Must have $0.01 in savings to earn interest.
^^Round Ups automatically round up debit card purchases to the nearest dollar and transfer the round up from your Chime Checking Account to your savings account. Save When I Get Paid automatically transfers 10% of your direct deposits of $500 or more from your Checking Account into your savings account.
^^^Money added to Credit Builder will be held in a secured account as collateral for your Credit Builder Visa card, which means you can spend up to this amount on your card. This is money you can use to pay off your charges at the end of every month.

Like many other businesses, investment brokers sometimes offer bonuses to encourage investors to sign up with their services. Not all brokers offer a sign-up bonus, but a surprising number do. In this article, we'll look at the 13 best investment broker bonus offers available in 2023.

Be aware that each of these bonus offers has an expiration date. Where available, we’ve included that date in our summaries. However, many brokers assign a cutoff date, then extend it each month. In that way, many expiration dates operate on a rolling basis.

Best Investment Broker Bonuses

We’ve ranked each of the 12 brokers based on a combination of 1) the amount of the bonus offer, and 2) the ease with which it can be obtained. And where it matters, we’ve also considered the amount of time required to tie up funds to qualify for the bonus offer.

Ultimately the merit of any bonus will depend primarily on your own personal circumstances. For example, if you have a seven-figure investment portfolio to transfer from another broker, it may simply be a matter of choosing the most generous bonus offer.

1. M1 Finance – Get Up to $4,000

M1 Finance is one of the best robo-advisors today, in my opinion. It charges no management fee and empowers investors to create a portfolio of ETFs and stocks. It then makes rebalancing the portfolio as easy as clicking a button. I used M1 for about a year, and found the site very easy to use.

The amount of the bonus depends on how much you transfer to M1. Bonuses start at $100 for transferring $50,000 and go up to $4,000 with a transfer of $2 million or more. The bonus is slated to end on January 14, 2023, but M1 often extends its bonus offer.

Terms:

Invest	Bonus
$50k – $99k	$100
$100k – $249k	$250
$250k – $499k	$500
$500k – $999k	$1,000
$1M – $1.9M	$2,000
$2M+	$4,000

Note that promotional credits will be paid to eligible clients on June 6, 2023.

2.  Public – Get Up to $10,000

Update: This offer is no longer available. We'll let you know if that changes.

Public is offering a bonus of up to $10,000 when you transfer an investment account to Public by December 31, 2022. The website says the promotion will expire on that date, but it is possible it will be extended on a month-to-month basis.

Funds must be transferred from another investment broker. In addition to the cash bonus, they’ll also pay any transfer fees imposed by the other broker if the incoming account value is at least $500.

Terms:

• Deposit $5,000 to $24,999: $150
• $25,000 to $99,999: $250
• $100,000 to $249,999: $1,000
• $250,000 to $499,999: $2,500
• $500,000 to $999,999: $5,000
• $1 million or more: $10,000

3.  E-Trade – Get Up to $3,500

E*TRADE is paying a cash bonus, ranging from $125 to as much as $6,000 when you open a new account with as little as $5,000. You must fund your account within 60 days of opening with the required minimum to qualify for the bonus of your choice.

Existing E*TRADE customers are eligible to participate in the bonus at a reduced rate. The offer applies to brokerage and Coverdell accounts, as well as retirement accounts.

Terms:

New customers:

The offer expires June 30, 2023.

4.  Firstrade – Get Up to $4,000

Firstrade is paying a bonus, ranging from $50 to as much as $4,000 when you open and fund a Firstrade Brokerage account. To be eligible for the bonus, you must open an account and make a qualifying deposit no later than January 17, 2023. The account must be funded within 30 days of opening and includes new accounts only. The offer applies only to individual, joint or custodial brokerage accounts, and not to IRAs.

The account must remain open for 12 months and maintain the qualifying deposit to qualify for the bonus. Firstrade is also offering to reimburse transfer fees from other brokerage accounts for up to $200.

Terms:

• Deposit $5,000 to $9,999: $50
• $10,000 to $24,999: $100
• $25,000 to $99,999: $300
• $100,000 to $499,999: $700
• $500,000 to $999,999: $1,500
• $1 million to $1,499,999: $3,000
• $1.5 million or more: $4,000

5.  Merrill Edge – Get Up to $600

Merrill Edge is offering a bonus of up to $600 when you open and fund a new account. You need to open an account with at least $20,000 to qualify for the minimum bonus of $100. Funds must be deposited within 45 days of account opening, and the balance maintained for at least 90 days. The offer applies strictly to a Merrill Edge Self-Directed account.

Terms:

• Deposit $20,000 to $49,999: $100
• $50,000 to $99,999: $150
• $100,000 to $199,999: $250
• $200,000 or more: $600

If you have significantly more to transfer than $200,000, you may be able to negotiate a much higher bonus. Contact a Merrill Edge advisor to get their best offer. I did this last year and received an offer of nearly $5,000, although I ended up going with a different broker.

6.  J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing – Get Up to $700

J.P. Morgan is offering a bonus of up to $700 when you open a new account by October 12, 2023. You must open a new Self-Directed Investing account by that date, and then transfer the qualifying funds into the account within 45 days of opening. The bonus amount will be determined on Day 45.

Deposited funds must remain in your account for at least 90 days to qualify for the bonus. The bonus will be paid into your account within 15 days thereafter. The bonus applies on either taxable brokerage accounts or traditional and Roth IRA accounts.

Terms:

• Deposit $5,000 to $24,999: $50
• $25,000 to $99 999: $150
• $100,000 to $249,999 or more: $325
• $250,000 or more: $700

7.  Citi Self-Invest – Get Up to $500

Citi is offering a bonus of up to $500 when you open a Self-Invest account between now and January 31, 2023. To qualify for the minimum bonus of $100, you must deposit at least $10,000 into your account. The bonus applies to deposits made in either new or existing Self-Invest accounts.

Funds must be maintained in the account through January 31, 2023, for deposits made by December 31, 2022, and through February 28, 2023, for deposits made by January 31, 2023. The cash bonus will be credited to your account 90 days after the funds’ maintenance date.

Terms:

• Deposit $10,000 to $49,999: $100
• $50,000 to $199,999: $200
• $200,000 or more: $500

8.  Axos Invest – Get Up to $200

Axos Invest is paying a bonus of $200 when you open either a Managed Portfolios account or a Self-Directed Trading account. You must open an account no later than January 31, 2023.

The bonus will be paid on new Managed Portfolios accounts after you open an account and deposit at least $2,000 into the account within 60 days of account opening. On Self-Directed Trading accounts, you must complete at least two trades to be eligible. The bonus will be deposited into your account after you’ve completed the first two trades.

Terms:

• Managed Portfolios account: $200, 60 days after you deposit at least $2,000
• Self-Directed Trading account: $200 after completing two trades

9.  Charles Schwab – Get Up to $1,000

The biggest retail investment broker in America is paying a bonus of up to $1,000 when you open and fund a new account after you're referred by an existing Schwab customer.

Like most investment broker promotions, the bonus is tiered based on the amount of funds you deposit into your account. To qualify, you’ll need to get a referral code from your Schwab friend. Funds must be deposited into an investment account within 45 days. Funds deposited into the Schwab Bank High Yield Investor Checking account do not qualify.

Terms:

• Deposit $25,000 to $49,999: $100
• $50,000 to $99,999: $300
• $100,000 to $499,999: $500
• $500,000 or more: $1,000

For higher balances, you may be able to negotiate a larger bonus. Contact Schwab directly to inquire.

10.  Fidelity Investments – Get Up to $100

Fidelity Investments is paying a bonus of $100 when you open a new account and fund it with at least $50. The bonus applies to the Fidelity Account, Fidelity Cash Management Account, and Roth and traditional IRA accounts.

New account holders will not be eligible for the bonus if they have previously participated in a Fidelity bonus promotion. However, you are eligible if you already have a Fidelity account and open one of the three accounts above.

Terms:

• $100 when you deposit $50 or more in a new account.
• Deposit must be made within 15 days of account opening.
• Bonus will be paid 10 calendar days after the qualification period ends. Bonus funds must be retained in your account for a minimum of 90 calendar days.

The Fidelity Account

The Fidelity Account is Fidelity’s brokerage account. There are $0 commissions for online US stock, ETF, and option trades.

Investment choices include both domestic and international stocks, ETFs, options, over 3,700 mutual funds, bonds, CDs, and precious metals. It even allows margin borrowing and extended trading hours.

The vast majority of Fidelity’s mutual funds do not have any transaction fees and they even offer a few funds that have no fees at all, not even management fees. These fee-free funds are called Fidelity ZERO funds.

You can also buy fractional shares in your brokerage account. This is a great feature for those who want to own a piece of a company but don’t have the funds to buy a whole share.

Fidelity Cash Management Account

The Fidelity Cash Management Account works similar to a checking account but it keeps the funds in your Fidelity account for easy access when you are ready to invest.

Your funds are FDIC insured and you can access them all the ways you would normally use your money in checking account, including debit card, online bill pay, paper checks, and online transfers.

Your balance also earns a competitive interest rate so it will work as a savings account as well.

Fidelity Starter Pack

The Fidelity Starter Pack comes with both The Fidelity Account and the Fidelity Cash Management Account.

Neither account has fees or minimum balances to open, keep in mind to get the $100 bonus you’ll need to deposit $50 within the first 15 days.

In the brokerage account there are $0 commission for online US stock, ETF, and option trades. The cash management account is similar to a checking account, the cash is available for easy investing but it is also available for easy spending and is FDIC insured.

Traditional and Roth IRAs

Both Traditional and Roth IRA’s also qualify for the $100 promotion. These are both retirement accounts, but they are taxed slightly differently. When you make contributions to a Roth you contribute after tax money, meaning you don’t get a tax break when you contribute, but you can make tax free withdrawals. So, your money grows tax free.

With a Traditional IRA you make pre-tax contributions but are taxed on all the money when you withdraw in retirement.

Within these accounts you will have access to the full suite of investments offered through Fidelity.

11.  Wealthfront – Get Up to $5,000 Managed Free

Wealthfront is a robo-advisor, not an investment broker, so the bonus program works a little bit differently. They don't currently offer a new account bonus. But you can get up to $5,000 managed free (of their normal advisory fee of 0.25%) when you refer a friend to the investment service.

Meanwhile, the friend will also get $5,000 managed free. For both you and your friend, the free management will be worth $12.50 per year. The friend must open an account using an invite you provide. The fee waiver applies only to Wealthfront investment accounts, not cash accounts.

12. SoFi Invest – Get Up to $1,000 in Free Stock

SoFi is offering a bonus of much as $1,000 in free stock when you move your portfolio from another broker into a SoFi Invest account. They’ll also cover up to $75 in transfer fees charged by the other broker. The bonus applies to new accounts only and must be funded with a minimum of $10 within 30 days of account opening.

The bonus is payable in stock, and the website discloses the likelihood of receiving a stock worth $1,000 is 0.028%. You must open a SoFi Active Invest brokerage account to qualify.

Terms:

SoFi discloses the odds of receiving stock at various values as follows:

13.  Webull – Get Up to 12 Free Stocks Worth up to $3,000

Webull is offering a bonus paid in fractional shares. When you open a Webull brokerage account, each fractional share will be valued between $3 and $300. But you can get up to 10 fractional shares when you make an initial deposit of any amount, with each valued at between $7 and $3,000. Funds must be deposited into the new account within 10 days of account opening.

Terms:

Probability of the value of account opening stock rewards is as follows:

• $3 to $10: 1/1.02
• $11 to $50: 1/52.63
• $51 to $150: 1/1,111.11
• $150 to $300: 1/10,000

Probability of the value of initial deposit rewards stock is as follows:

• $7 to $30: 1/1.02
• $31 to $100: 1/52.63
• $101 to $999: 1/1,111.11
• $1,000 to $3,000: 1/10,000

FAQ

Final Thoughts

None of the bonus offers listed in this article are set in stone. Investment brokers, like other businesses, add and withdraw offers on a regular basis. It’s also possible a broker may either reduce or even enhance a bonus offer, so always pay careful attention to the details of any program.

And once again, never open an account just because it offers an attractive bonus. Investing is serious business and has too many moving parts to justify transferring accounts in an open-ended search for the bonus du jour.

There are a lot of good reasons to hold cash. An emergency fund is a must. Then there's saving for a home or vacation. Whatever the reason, the big question is where are the best short-term investments to park your money.

With the rise in inflation, savings rates have risen, too. Here are 7 of the top short-term investments for your money.

Best Short-Term Investments for Saving Cash

1. No-Penalty CD

This has been my choice lately. As the name suggests, a no-penalty CD doesn't charge a penalty for early withdrawal. You get the higher yields of CDs with the flexibility to pull your money out at any time.

Typically you pay for this no-penalty feature with a slightly lower APY. Right now, however, Sallie Mae is offering a 14-month no-penalty CD that pays 4.40% APY. This offer is only available through a service called SaveBetter. It's the best deal I've been able to find, and I'm moving my cash to this account now.

2. U.S. Government Treasury Bills

Treasury bills are U.S. government bonds that mature in one year or less. The government issues them in terms of 4, 8, 13, 26, and 52 weeks. They are zero coupon bonds. You buy them for less than face value, and receive the face value when the bond matures. The difference represents your interest.

You can buy Treasury bills via Treasury Direct, but I wouldn't recommend it. The website is a mess. A better approach is to buy them through your broker of choice. Fidelity, Schwab and Vanguard are all reasonable options.

Current yields range from about 4% to nearly 5%. These yields change daily, so be sure to check out current yields here.

3. High-Yield Savings Account

For those who want a straight up savings account, there are several today that pay north of 2.00% APY. The highest APY I can find on a savings account available nationwide without savings caps is My Banking Direct (4.35% APY). Let me know if you find a better offer.

4. High-Yield Money Market Account

When it comes to saving cash, there really is no difference between an FDIC-insured savings account and an FDIC-insured money market account. Sometimes, however, you'll find that one or the other pays a slightly better rate.

The best MMA rate I can find comes from the Redneck Bank (4.25%).

5. High-Yield Checking Account

If you want to keep your money in a checking account, there are some high-yield options. One of the best rates out there is from M1 Plus (3.30% APY). The rate applies to both the SoFi checking and savings account, but does require direct deposit to qualify.

6. Business Checking

For small business owners and freelancers that have a business, Bluevine is an excellent choice. Bluevine is very similar other neobanks except it's for small businesses. It pays 1.50% on balances up to $100,000. There is no interest earned on balances over 100,000.

7. Fitness Bank

The last one on our list is called Fitness Bank. They tie the interest rate you can earn by how many steps you walk each day. Seriously. They pay up to 4.10% APY. You have to average 12,500 steps a day to earn this rate and have both a checking and savings account (4.00% with just a savings account). If you get at least 10,000, you can earn up to 1.25%. Even if you sit in a barcalounger all day you'll earn 0.50% APR

If you're a senior citizen at least 65 years of age they cut you a break. You get the top rate at 10,000 steps. You do have to download their app and wear an approved fitness tracker, which include Garmin, Fitbit, Google Fit and Apple Health.

Bonus Tip

If you can wait at least 12 months before accessing the money, I Bonds are the best risk-adjusted return you can get today.

Investment advisors charging one percent of the investments they manage for you is the industry norm. Many charge more than that.

Not sure how fees may affect your wealth over time, then check out this report.

In an effort keep more of your money in your pocket, I've created this list of low cost financial advisors. It includes both flat-fee advisors as well as those who charge 50 basis points (1/2%) or less.

Please understand that I am not recommending these advisors. You'll need to do your own due diligence to determine whether they are a good fit for your financial needs and goals.

Here's a list of flat-fee planners put together by Cody Garrett, CFP.

Here's a list of flat-fee and advisors put together by Sara Grillo.

If you know of other advisors who should make this list, please let me know.