However, investors looking for features such as tax-loss harvesting or comprehensive goal planning may be disappointed. Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories, except where prohibited by law for our mortgage, home equity and other home lending products. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range, can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range of offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service.
With just $100, you can start investing in one of Ally’s robo portfolios. Just decide if you want a cash-enhanced portfolio or a market-focused ally invest review portfolio. From there, Ally will put a portfolio together for you based on your investing preferences and risk tolerance.
The functionality includes the ability to see recent activity and transfer assets between Ally platform accounts, such as between the Ally Invest account and an interest-bearing Ally Bank savings account. There are also key menu items at the bottom of the app screen for account holdings, trading, orders, research, and watchlists. SoFi Automated Investing gives cost-conscious investors a solid robo-advisor offering that comes with access to human financial advisors at no additional cost. But the lack of tax-loss harvesting and no socially responsible investing options may cause more sophisticated investors to look elsewhere. J.P. Morgan Automated Investing provides portfolio management services with automatic rebalancing and may be a good fit for existing J.P.
Ally Invest Options
Ally has significantly upgraded its educational resources over the past year and now offers a number of different articles that can be helpful to both new and experienced investors alike. The articles are organized by topic so it’s easy to find what you’re looking to learn more about, whether it’s stocks, bonds, mutual funds or even options. You’ll only need $100 to open individual, joint, and custodial brokerage accounts.
So Ally offers a solid selection of low-cost funds that is competitive with anyone. But this option presents substantial long-term costs, which are covered in the next section. If reducing the management fee to zero is your primary motivation, then you might also look at SoFi Automated Investing, which charges nothing, or Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, which has a no-fee option. Cost-conscious and beginner investors will appreciate what Ally Invest Robo Portfolios has to offer, while customers who already bank with Ally Bank may appreciate having their finances all in one place.
- At this time, Ally does not have the ability to sync external accounts for the purposes of goal tracking or an overall financial snapshot.
- Ally also offers a comprehensive Options Playbook training course to introduce you to more education on options.
- Rebalancing simply means buying or selling assets so your portfolio matches up with your risk tolerance and goals.
- The investing information provided on this page is for educational purposes only.
Ally is quite competitive within its industry, offering various online banking features, modest commissions, a reasonable fee structure, and low account minimums. We’ll take an extensive look at all that Ally Invest Robo Portfolios has to offer to help you decide if this investing platform is the right fit for your financial goals. If you go the Self-Directed Trading route, you can buy and sell stocks, bonds, ETFs, futures, foreign exchange funds, options and mutual funds yourself.
Stock Screener
Clients with larger balances may also find the lack of more sophisticated features, like tax-loss harvesting and financial advisor access, off putting. In the example scenario above, the fully invested portfolio’s asset allocation was 59% stocks, 41% bonds and 2% cash. The “free” portfolio’s, meanwhile, was 42% stocks, 28% bonds and 30% cash.
Services offered
Combining a wide range of charting tools with an easy-to-master platform, Ally is a solid choice for both new and experienced investors. Ally’s mobile app is particularly impressive for investors who already bank with Ally, offering seamless compatibility between accounts. While more experienced investors might be disappointed with Ally’s beginner-oriented educational center, they’re bound to love Ally’s wide range of technical tools and rock-bottom pricing. Note that the default option is the cash-enhanced portfolio, which permanently keeps 30% of your portfolio in cash.
Review methodology
Users also appreciate Ally Invest’s transparency when it comes to pricing. There’s no annual account fee on top of the management fee as some brokerages charge. You also won’t be penalized with an inactivity fee or transfer fees (except for closing an IRA). So no matter how much or how little action your account sees, you won’t be eating into your returns for every little change you make. One feature that stands out with Ally Invest is that you have the ability to adjust the recommendations you receive. Your suggested allocations typically include stocks, bonds (both U.S. and foreign), and cash.
Ally Invest Stocks, ETFs and Mutual Funds
This isn’t the lowest fee in the industry, but it’s certainly competitive with many of the best robo-advisors. This option is better for more aggressive investors who want to give their money the best chance at growth and are willing to pay the accompanying fee. Its cash-enhanced account has no management fee and is a good fit for conservative investors.
Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The goal of tax loss harvesting is to minimize the taxes you pay on gains in your taxable investment accounts. Similar to investment options, Ally once again makes things easy with one low account management fee. Tax-advantaged account options include traditional, Roth, and rollover individual retirement accounts.
How much you pay for an Ally Invest account depends on the account type. 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. Other fees you may see include no-load mutual funds at $9.95 per trade and a number of service fees for certain transfers and transactions, like returned checks and IRA transfers.