I Ranked Every Stock Brokerage (Here’s What’s ACTUALLY Good)

[00:00] So, I just spent the last 4 hours

[00:01] downloading and making an account with

[00:03] every single investing app that I could

[00:04] find. So, every single day for the next

[00:06] month, I'm going to be putting my own

[00:08] money into these brokerages to find

[00:10] which ones are actually easy to use,

[00:11] which ones are secretly charging you,

[00:13] and which are giving you features that

[00:14] are actually useful. And I'm going to be

[00:16] ranking each of these brokerages on a

[00:18] tier list from S to F. I'll see you guys

[00:20] in 30 days from now. All right, so it's

[00:22] been quite a while since I recorded that

[00:23] first part of the video, and I've gotten

[00:24] a chance to use all of these apps. So,

[00:27] I'm going to go ahead and start out with

[00:28] Robinhood. Robinhood was the first

[00:30] brokerage I ever had. I actually opened

[00:32] it up on my 18th birthday, and pretty

[00:34] much everyone that I knew in college

[00:36] used Robinhood to invest, and like all

[00:38] the all the young people that I know.

[00:40] And that's because it is very, very

[00:41] beginner-friendly. Buying a stock on a

[00:44] brokerage like Fidelity or Schwab

[00:47] compared to Robinhood feels like you're

[00:49] filing your taxes. And despite receiving

[00:51] a lot of hate, things that the younger

[00:54] generation like mine would think come

[00:56] standards with brokerages are only here

[00:58] because of Robinhood. Back in the day,

[01:00] all the brokerages would charge you $5

[01:02] to $10 every single time you bought a

[01:04] stock. But then, in 2013, Robinhood came

[01:08] with zero commissions, meaning you could

[01:09] buy stocks for free, and by 2019, every

[01:12] single brokerage had to follow them.

[01:14] They also made fractional shares

[01:15] popular. If you wanted to buy something

[01:17] like Amazon, you would need the full

[01:19] $250 to buy the share. But, with

[01:23] Robinhood, you can buy just a fraction

[01:25] of it. So, you could even just buy $1.

[01:27] You also get instant deposit, so as soon

[01:29] as you transfer money from your bank

[01:30] account to Robinhood, you can

[01:32] immediately buy stocks with it. With a

[01:34] lot of big brokerages, you still have to

[01:36] wait 3 to 5 business days to be able to

[01:38] buy, which makes it hard if a stock

[01:40] drops or something to be able to

[01:41] capitalize on that. Robinhood also gives

[01:44] you before-and-after-hour trading. So,

[01:46] if some news comes out after hours, you

[01:47] can go ahead and buy or sell a stock. A

[01:50] lot of brokerages still don't give you

[01:52] that. So, I'll go ahead and show you

[01:53] Robinhood. If you open up the app, you

[01:55] can see all the money that you have in

[01:57] it, like total. You can see your

[01:58] different holdings, recurring

[01:59] investments, and then your watchlist is

[02:02] at the bottom. Those are all just the

[02:04] stocks that you're watching. If you want

[02:05] to buy something, just go to the search

[02:06] tab. I'll buy some Apple, hit buy, and

[02:09] then I will buy $100 of it, and then

[02:12] swipe up. And then, just like that, I

[02:15] went ahead and bought Apple, that easy.

[02:17] And then, it'll be with the rest of my

[02:18] stocks on my main page. Now, all that

[02:21] user-friendliness does come with some

[02:23] downsides, though. For the most part, I

[02:25] would argue that investing should be

[02:27] boring. For the most part, you should

[02:28] just buy and hold the S&P 500, and then

[02:31] that's it. But, Robinhood gamifies

[02:34] things, and a lot of beginners don't

[02:35] understand what they're actually doing.

[02:37] The complexity is hid behind the user

[02:39] interface, and they make things like

[02:41] trading options way too easy. There is

[02:43] also Robinhood's reputation, the whole

[02:45] GameStop debacle a couple years back

[02:47] still haunts them a little bit. And my

[02:48] least favorite thing is the prediction

[02:50] markets that they added to Robinhood,

[02:51] which is basically just gambling. You

[02:53] can bet on things like sports game and

[02:55] even the election. But, overall, I don't

[02:57] care what anyone says, Robinhood is

[03:00] still S tier. I believe that a couple

[03:02] years ago was their peak, but I still

[03:04] think they're doing great things, and it

[03:05] is still one of the best brokerages to

[03:07] get started with. All right, next up we

[03:08] have Fidelity. And Fidelity is one of

[03:10] the other best brokerages, but it

[03:11] basically takes the opposite approach to

[03:14] Robinhood. Fidelity's been around since

[03:16] the 1940s. It's a bit more old-school,

[03:18] and they have every account type you'll

[03:19] ever need. But, unlike a lot of the

[03:22] other legacy brokerages, they have done

[03:25] a really good job keeping up as far as

[03:27] UI and features go. If you're more

[03:28] conservative, you can buy things like

[03:30] mutual funds and bonds, which is

[03:32] something that you can't really do on

[03:33] Robinhood. And it also gives you real,

[03:35] legit research from like 20 different

[03:37] providers, which you would usually have

[03:39] to pay for. You can also buy fractional

[03:41] shares with Fidelity. And one really

[03:43] cool thing is that they have a cash

[03:45] management account that can substitute

[03:47] for your bank or your high-yield savings

[03:48] account. You even get debit card and

[03:51] checks if you want. It gives you, I

[03:52] believe, 3.6 APY on your money sitting

[03:55] in there, which competes with the best

[03:56] high-yield savings account, and it's

[03:57] just a great place to keep a cash

[03:59] reserve or an emergency fund. I'll go

[04:01] ahead and show you Fidelity's app. It

[04:02] shows you the account balance up first,

[04:05] and then, if you go down, it'll show you

[04:07] the markets. If you go into your

[04:08] investing tab, you'll have all the

[04:10] different positions that you have. Then

[04:12] you have your watchlist, and then

[04:14] if you go over to discover, it'll show

[04:16] you a bunch of different collections and

[04:18] sectors that you can invest into, and

[04:20] then some research, and then even like

[04:22] some TikTok-style shorts, sort of, and

[04:24] then some more articles. Now, if you

[04:26] want to buy, just hit that transact

[04:28] button, and then you can go ahead and

[04:30] search. Today, I will be buying some

[04:32] Tesla just for fun, and

[04:35] >> [snorts]

[04:35] >> I'll just go ahead and hit that buy

[04:36] button. I will go buy dollars, and I

[04:39] will buy $200 worth of Tesla. You just

[04:42] hit that preview buy Tesla, and then

[04:45] just like that,

[04:46] they'll receive your order, and it'll be

[04:48] with the rest of your positions. Now,

[04:50] I've always heard Fidelity hyped up for

[04:51] years, but this is the first time I've

[04:53] actually tried it, and I will say the UI

[04:54] is a bit clunkier than I would have

[04:56] expected, but it's still miles ahead of

[04:58] Vanguard, or, you know, uh even Schwab.

[05:00] There's really no downsides with

[05:02] Fidelity. I would think the only one is,

[05:04] I guess, it is a little bit more

[05:06] confusing than something like Robinhood,

[05:07] but there's basically nothing to

[05:09] complain about, and this is an easy S

[05:10] tier for me. Also, I went the extra mile

[05:12] to bring you this video. I don't think

[05:13] there's ever been a YouTuber that's made

[05:15] a video like this. All that I ask is

[05:16] that if you're thinking of opening up

[05:18] one of these brokerages, use the links

[05:19] below, because you'll get free stocks,

[05:21] and also it helps support the channel.

[05:23] All right, next up we got Webull. And in

[05:24] my opinion, Webull's like, I guess, the

[05:26] Justin Herbert of brokerages. It's not

[05:29] the absolute best, but it is it is very

[05:31] uncontroversial, and pretty much

[05:33] everyone likes them. It's a relatively

[05:35] beginner-friendly app, but it is built

[05:37] for traders, so all the features are

[05:39] going to be tailored to that. You don't

[05:40] actually need any money to open up an

[05:42] account at all, but you will want to

[05:44] deposit some money, because Webull

[05:46] generally has some really good sign-up

[05:47] bonuses. I got $100 of free stock when I

[05:50] made an account. They have different

[05:51] offers, but I'll link the best one

[05:52] below. As far as features go, you get

[05:54] the extended hours, you can buy

[05:56] fractional shares, but my favorite thing

[05:58] with Webull is that they have a paper

[06:00] trading mode. I was around a lot of

[06:02] finance bros in college that thought

[06:04] they were day traders, and then they

[06:05] would go and lose all their money. And

[06:07] whenever someone tells me that they want

[06:08] to day trade, I always tell them to use

[06:10] a paper account. With paper mode, you're

[06:12] making trades and following the market,

[06:14] but you're using fake money, basically

[06:16] like Monopoly money. So, you're getting

[06:18] the XP of trading, but you're not losing

[06:19] all your money in the process. If you do

[06:22] decide to go with Webull, I'd get the

[06:23] premium. It's only $3.99, but basically

[06:26] everything's cheaper. You get a cash

[06:28] management account that gives you 3.6

[06:30] APY, and a 3.5% master IRA, which is

[06:33] pretty insane. That's like an extra $300

[06:36] if you max that out. So, I'll go ahead

[06:37] and show you Webull. If you go down, you

[06:39] can see all your different positions,

[06:41] your watchlist. Then there's like a tab

[06:42] with all their different accounts, and

[06:44] then like a robo-advisor. But, all you

[06:46] really need is that first tab. If you go

[06:48] to the search button, you can see uh

[06:51] what's going on with the market, some of

[06:53] the movers, some different sectors. But,

[06:55] I'll just go ahead, search Uber, and I

[06:57] will go ahead and buy that. I'll toggle

[06:59] between shares and dollars, and I will

[07:00] just buy $110 of Uber. And then, just

[07:04] like that, the order's submitted. So,

[07:05] yeah, as you can see, super simple app.

[07:07] The only downsides that I've seen is

[07:09] that a lot of the level two data and

[07:12] things that you'll need is behind that

[07:13] paywall, so you will have to pay that

[07:15] $3.99. And also, customer support can be

[07:17] a little bit slow. But, overall, I like

[07:19] Webull, great for traders, clean design,

[07:21] and I'm going to go ahead and throw it

[07:22] in the B tier. All righty, next up we

[07:23] got Charles Schwab. And this is most

[07:26] likely the brokerage that your dad is

[07:28] using right now. It has a great

[07:30] reputation. It's one of the biggest

[07:31] brokerages in the country. They have

[07:33] every account type that you'll ever

[07:34] need, and from what I've seen, the

[07:35] customer service is very good. It's

[07:37] funny, I actually drive by a physical

[07:39] Schwab and then Fidelity location every

[07:41] single day at work. Haven't needed to

[07:43] stop by, but maybe I will one day. You

[07:45] can buy fractional shares with them, and

[07:47] I believe traders actually really like

[07:49] them, too, because a couple years ago

[07:51] they acquired TD Ameritrade, which gave

[07:53] them thinkorswim, which apparently gives

[07:55] you like the best charts and all that

[07:56] for trading. They also have a paper

[07:58] trading account, so you can practice on

[07:59] there if you're a trader. And just like

[08:01] Fidelity, they have a really good cash

[08:02] management account. You can get a debit

[08:04] card, and you can pull money out

[08:07] anywhere in the world, and you're not

[08:08] going to have to pay fees at ATMs. They

[08:11] will reimburse you for that. So, if

[08:12] you're in a different country, it's

[08:13] really good for getting different

[08:14] currencies. All right, so I'll go ahead

[08:15] and show you the app. You have your

[08:17] total value first, and then your

[08:19] dashboard will show you all the

[08:20] different holdings that you have.

[08:22] Down a little bit more is the news going

[08:25] around. I can then go over to watchlist,

[08:27] and that will show me my holdings, and

[08:29] then the markets will show me, again,

[08:30] what is going on with the market, all

[08:32] the breaking news. If I want to buy

[08:33] something, I'll just go over to the

[08:35] trade thing in the middle. I'll go ahead

[08:36] and buy Rivian. First, I'll click buy,

[08:39] and then I will go with a market order,

[08:41] and I will buy two shares of Rivian. And

[08:45] just like that, I'll go ahead and place

[08:46] an order. Bam, we're good. So, as you

[08:48] can see, it's way more overwhelming than

[08:50] something like Robinhood, and a little

[08:51] bit more complex than something like

[08:53] Fidelity, but still pretty good. I feel

[08:54] like Schwab is like a the Toyota Camry

[08:57] of brokerages. So, I'm going to go ahead

[08:59] and throw it in the A tier. All right,

[09:01] next up we have Public. Public is a new

[09:03] player, and I found that online it's

[09:05] kind of hard to find unbiased reviews on

[09:07] them, because they're all sponsored,

[09:09] which is what newer brokerages tend to

[09:11] do. But, when they launched, they tried

[09:13] to be like the social investing, like

[09:15] you could see what other people were

[09:17] invested in. That didn't really catch,

[09:18] so so for a while, they tried to

[09:20] basically just be Robinhood. That didn't

[09:22] work, so now they're trying to be the

[09:23] place where you can buy every single

[09:25] different asset. The biggest thing that

[09:27] seems to be going for them is they don't

[09:29] use payment for order flow for stock

[09:31] trades, meaning they don't get paid to

[09:32] send your orders to certain companies.

[09:34] So, it just makes people feel like

[09:35] they're more on the investor's side.

[09:37] They have everything that you'd want

[09:38] from a modern brokerage, but I just feel

[09:40] like they don't have a clear identity,

[09:41] and there's really no reason to use them

[09:43] over something like Robinhood. But, I'll

[09:44] go ahead and show you the app. So, as

[09:46] you can see, you have your total

[09:47] returns, like pretty much every app

[09:49] shows you. You have your holdings, and

[09:51] then all the different things that you

[09:53] can buy, which I talked about, that's

[09:55] like their main thing. You can see

[09:56] what's going on the market, stocks,

[09:58] cryptos, options, bonds, all that stuff.

[10:00] And then they have Agent, which is like

[10:01] their completely trash AI

[10:04] thing. I feel like every

[10:06] company that's that's falling off right

[10:08] now is trying to introduce AI. From what

[10:09] I've heard, it's pretty horrible. But

[10:10] anyways, to buy a stock, just hit the

[10:12] trade button, go ahead, hit stocks. I

[10:15] will go and search for Ford. You can

[10:18] then toggle to dollars if you want to

[10:19] buy fractional shares. I'll buy $100 of

[10:21] Ford cuz why not? And then just like

[10:23] that, I bought my Ford. So, Public is

[10:26] fine. They just try to do too much to

[10:28] stand out like using AI and then having

[10:30] all those different assets that you can

[10:32] buy. I don't know, they're okay. I've

[10:33] never actually met anyone that uses

[10:35] Public. I don't know. I'm just going to

[10:36] go ahead and throw it in the C tier. I

[10:38] feel like that's fair for them. Okay,

[10:39] next up we have your favorite YouTuber's

[10:41] favorite brokerage, allegedly, and that

[10:43] is Moomoo. Now, I'll do a Gemini

[10:45] sponsorship, a Max Rewards sponsorship,

[10:47] maybe I'll even stoop low enough to do a

[10:49] Rocket Money sponsorship one day, but I

[10:51] will never touch Moomoo. Now, I'm mostly

[10:53] kidding. Moomoo actually does have some

[10:55] good stuff, but

[10:57] to be honest, it feels like Alibaba or

[10:59] Temu was shoved into a brokerage and

[11:02] probably the reason for that is because

[11:03] it's a Chinese company. Now, despite

[11:05] what Caleb Hammer tells you, this is a

[11:07] brokerage for traders and traders only.

[11:09] You do get a lot of cool things like

[11:10] level two data, you get some community

[11:12] chat rooms, powerful trading, pretty

[11:15] much everything that a short-term trader

[11:16] would want. And they also don't take

[11:18] money from payment for order flow. And

[11:19] one good thing that I'll say is they

[11:21] usually have a really, really good

[11:22] sign-up bonus. Right now, they have

[11:24] 8.18% for like 3 months, and then

[11:27] they'll give you up to $1,000 of Nvidia

[11:29] stock. So, maybe it's worth opening up

[11:31] just for that, but I'll show you the

[11:32] app. When I first open it up, it gives

[11:33] me like a Temu style badge, which is

[11:35] kind of annoying. You always get those

[11:37] things. But you can see your watchlist

[11:39] there on more.

[11:40] If you go over to more, you can see like

[11:42] the chat rooms and the news and stuff.

[11:44] I'll go ahead and search up SoFi, and

[11:46] then there's a lot of different

[11:48] information about the company, like I

[11:49] said, like there is some good stuff here

[11:50] if I was a trader, which I'm not. But

[11:53] anyways, I'll just go ahead and do a

[11:55] market order for SoFi. I will buy two

[11:58] and a half shares. Just like that, I

[12:00] bought SoFi. So, pretty easy. Now, I

[12:01] could be wrong about this because I'm

[12:03] not a trader, but I'd rather just use

[12:05] WeBull or I believe Robinhood legend is

[12:07] pretty good, their new trading program.

[12:09] But I'm going to go ahead and throw

[12:10] Moomoo in the D tier. It's just too

[12:12] cluttered and overwhelming. It feels

[12:13] like a cheap Chinese product. All

[12:15] righty, next up we have Unk. We have the

[12:18] We have the grandpa of brokerages, and

[12:19] that is Vanguard. They've been around

[12:21] since the '70s, and they pretty much

[12:23] invented the index fund. Index funds

[12:26] like VTI, VOO, and VT are all actually

[12:28] Vanguard ETFs. And while Vanguard is

[12:31] probably one of the most powerful

[12:33] companies in the world, their brokerage

[12:35] is very, very outdated. Basically, their

[12:37] whole stick is just buying an index fund

[12:39] and then leaving it alone, and that's

[12:41] fine, but they do lack a lot of

[12:44] features. Like you can't buy fractional

[12:45] shares, which means if I wanted to buy

[12:47] something like Berkshire Hathaway, I'd

[12:49] need the full $500. I couldn't buy like

[12:51] half a share or one and a half shares.

[12:53] Definitely not a brokerage that you're

[12:54] going to do any trading on. Everything

[12:56] just feels a little bit slow and

[12:57] delayed. Even when you deposit money

[12:59] into it, it's going to take like 5 to 7

[13:01] days to be able to actually use that

[13:03] money and trade with it. So, let's say

[13:05] the market crashes and you want to

[13:06] capitalize that, it's going to be like a

[13:07] week before you can even get money in

[13:09] there. But I'll go ahead and show you

[13:11] the user interface. I believe it has had

[13:12] a couple facelifts. You have your

[13:14] portfolio, and then there is the

[13:17] research tab. It'll teach you like

[13:19] things about, you know, different I

[13:21] don't know, stock market stuff, ETFs. Uh

[13:24] you can like different different

[13:25] articles, pretty much. If you want to

[13:26] trade, just go to the thing in the

[13:27] middle. I'm going to go ahead and buy

[13:29] some

[13:31] Mary Jane, some Zaza. Um I'm just going

[13:34] to go ahead and buy three shares of it.

[13:36] You guys remember when when all the like

[13:37] the weed stocks were popping off popping

[13:39] off a couple years ago? That was pretty

[13:40] funny. But just like that, orders orders

[13:42] submitted. But yeah, this brokerage is

[13:44] very boring, which might be a good

[13:45] thing, but I don't know. It feels like

[13:47] it feels like Aaron Rodgers right now.

[13:49] Like it used to be legendary a while

[13:51] ago, so it feels bad like disrespecting

[13:53] him, but I don't know. It doesn't have

[13:54] any fractional shares, and

[13:56] I just feel like Fidelity is way better,

[13:58] even Schwab. So, I'm going to go ahead

[14:00] and throw Vanguard in the C tier. All

[14:01] right, next up we have something that is

[14:03] a stark contrast to Vanguard, and that

[14:05] is SoFi Invest. Now, before we get into

[14:07] it, I'll say that I am a bit of a SoFi

[14:09] glazer. I use them for pretty much

[14:11] everything. I think they have the best

[14:12] checking and high-yield savings account

[14:14] on the market. And this might be a wild

[14:16] take, but I actually think SoFi's UI is

[14:18] the best out of any of the brokerages.

[14:20] Some might not trust SoFi. They have

[14:22] been blowing up a little bit recently,

[14:23] like their stock has been very popular,

[14:25] but because they're a publicly traded

[14:27] company, you can look at all their

[14:28] financials, and they look pretty good.

[14:30] And a lot of people don't know this, but

[14:31] they are SIPC insured, which means that

[14:34] your money's safe up to half a million

[14:35] dollars. SoFi has one of the smoothest

[14:37] automatic invest features, and they will

[14:39] give you an extra 1% on everything that

[14:41] you automatically invest, which, you

[14:43] know, adds up. All right, so I'll go

[14:44] ahead and show you SoFi's user

[14:45] interface. I already have some money in

[14:47] here already, mostly Amazon stock

[14:50] because I thought it was a good buy. But

[14:51] anyways, if you scroll down, you can see

[14:53] your watchlist, um and then a couple of

[14:56] the different things that you can do,

[14:58] reoccurring transfers. SoFi also has

[15:00] like the social aspect, so you can see

[15:02] what different people are watching and

[15:04] investing in.

[15:05] If you want to buy, you just click that

[15:07] and then hit the buy and sell, and then

[15:09] that will bring you over to the search.

[15:10] You can see popular stocks, the major

[15:12] markets, and then if you want to search

[15:14] for something, I'll just go VOO, which

[15:15] is what you should all be investing in.

[15:18] Uh you can see news on them, and if you

[15:19] want to buy, you can just hit that buy.

[15:21] I will buy $50, and just like that, you

[15:23] have bought. So, pretty much as easy as

[15:25] Robinhood to buy a stock, whether that's

[15:26] a good or bad thing, but I don't know. I

[15:28] like SoFi. I'm going to use them cuz I

[15:30] really, really like having all my

[15:31] finances in one place, and I trust SoFi.

[15:34] But this isn't going to be the best

[15:35] option for everyone. I probably wouldn't

[15:37] recommend it if you don't already bank

[15:38] with SoFi. And there is a bit of the

[15:40] gamification Robinhood type thing going

[15:43] on, like they make it too easy to trade

[15:45] options, and there's like the confetti

[15:47] when you open up the account, you get a

[15:49] free stock, and there's like an arm that

[15:51] goes down. So, there is a bit of that

[15:53] into it, too. To be honest, this is

[15:55] probably like a B tier brokerage, but I

[15:56] like it, and I use it, and this is my

[15:58] video, so I'm going to go ahead and

[15:59] throw it in A tier. All right, next up

[16:01] we have Merrill Edge. And Merrill Edge

[16:03] is the brokerage that you go with if

[16:04] you're already a Bank of America

[16:05] customer. Like no one really wakes up

[16:07] and says, "Hey, I want to open up a

[16:08] Merrill brokerage today." But that's

[16:10] what it's made for. You get transfers

[16:12] instantly between your Bank of America

[16:14] checking account and the brokerage. It

[16:16] intertwines very well. And also, Bank of

[16:18] America has a rewards program where if

[16:20] you have more money with them, you get

[16:21] better loan rates, and you get higher

[16:23] percentage on your credit cards. I make

[16:25] a lot of videos on credit cards. I know

[16:26] a lot of people have like move over

[16:28] their Roth IRA to Bank of America just

[16:30] so they can get like 5 or 6% cash back.

[16:32] But I would say Merrill's kind of like

[16:34] Vanguard, where it's mostly just the buy

[16:36] and hold ETF. There's no fractional

[16:38] shares. You're not going to be doing any

[16:39] trading on here. And overall, it's just

[16:42] kind of like a little bit of a slow app.

[16:43] I'll show you the app. Full

[16:45] transparency, this is the one that I

[16:46] used by far the least. I had trouble

[16:49] even like transferring money into it.

[16:50] But you have your accounts, your

[16:51] dashboard. As you can see, it pretty

[16:53] much just looks like Bank of America. If

[16:55] you want to trade, you can go over,

[16:56] search something up. I'll get some SCHD,

[16:59] another good ETF if you guys are looking

[17:01] for one. And then you just put in the

[17:02] number of shares, and then you'll be

[17:03] able to buy. So, you know, it's all

[17:05] right, not super fancy, um but not

[17:07] something you're going to go out of the

[17:08] way to open up. I'll just go ahead and

[17:10] throw it in the C tier. All right, next

[17:12] up we have another relatively new

[17:14] player, and that is Acorns. Acorns is

[17:16] pretty much the training wheels of

[17:18] investing. It's what you open up when

[17:19] you have absolutely no idea what you are

[17:21] doing, and you don't even want to think

[17:23] about it. Acorns is pretty much for

[17:25] people that have a hard time investing

[17:27] and saving. It does things like rounds

[17:30] up your change and automatically invest

[17:31] it for you, and then every week will

[17:33] take a certain amount from your bank

[17:35] account, whatever you set. I just had it

[17:36] at $5 a week. I like that it does pick

[17:38] some good ETFs for you. I know that a

[17:41] lot of beginners will go and get a

[17:43] Robinhood account and then just invest

[17:44] in like Archer or like, I don't know,

[17:47] Lucid a couple years ago or some of

[17:48] those marijuana stocks and just lose all

[17:50] their money. So, I like that it does

[17:52] force you to invest in some good ETFs.

[17:55] But that's where the good stops. They

[17:57] make you pay a monthly fee, which is

[17:59] either 3, 6, or 12 dollars, depending on

[18:02] what features you get. And you can

[18:04] pretty much do

[18:05] everything that Acorns does by yourself.

[18:08] All Acorns really invest in is VOO, VTI,

[18:11] some bonds, and then total market ETFs.

[18:13] You could literally copy the same

[18:15] portfolio in Robinhood, SoFi, WeBull,

[18:17] any of the brokers I've talked about.

[18:19] Also, they have like a whole bank thing

[18:21] that I know some people use, but it has

[18:23] a lot of problems. I'll go ahead and

[18:24] show you the app. So, first it'll show

[18:26] you your portfolio, and then like

[18:28] the potential of what it could be in

[18:30] like 40 years. They have the earning

[18:32] where they have like brand deals. They

[18:33] have a learning thing where they have

[18:34] like mini courses and stuff. And then

[18:36] the investing tab,

[18:38] you'll go and see it's just like a

[18:39] couple different ETFs. If you want to

[18:41] choose individual ones, you have to pay

[18:43] extra for that. I'm only paying $3 a

[18:45] month. If I do want to put some extra in

[18:46] investments, I'll just hit transfer in,

[18:48] and then I will load up $100, and then

[18:51] it will automatically invest that for

[18:53] me. Now, I actually think Acorns is

[18:55] really cool. Like I like the concept. I

[18:57] like the app. I think it's good for

[18:58] beginners. Like I had some coworkers

[19:00] talking about it the other day, and they

[19:02] actually really like it, but if I'm

[19:04] being honest, the banking's mid. You can

[19:06] do it yourself in like 5 minutes, but I

[19:08] don't know. I I think I have to throw

[19:10] this in D tier just to be fair. But let

[19:12] me know if you guys like it or you think

[19:13] it belongs in a higher tier. All right,

[19:15] next up we have E*TRADE. It's now owned

[19:17] by Morgan Stanley, and I know people

[19:19] that have been using it for like 10, 20

[19:20] years, and they've had no problem with

[19:22] it. They have paper trading, some decent

[19:23] analogy tools. It's good for someone

[19:25] that wants to trade options, maybe, but

[19:27] doesn't want to go full DJ day trading

[19:29] mode. It does have a decent UI and an

[19:31] okay cash management account, but it

[19:34] doesn't have fractional shares, which

[19:35] means that, you know, if you want to buy

[19:36] Tesla, you're going to have to shell out

[19:38] a whole $400. I'll go ahead and show you

[19:40] guys the app. As you can see, it's like

[19:42] it's okay, maybe a little bit clunky,

[19:44] not really my thing. You have your

[19:46] watchlist. The market tab will show you

[19:48] like what's going on. Got some TV there.

[19:51] Um but if I want to trade, I'll go ahead

[19:53] to the stock, enter in the ticker

[19:55] symbol. I'll go ahead and buy some

[19:56] Lucid. That's Do you guys remember

[19:58] Lucid? I don't even know. They're

[19:59] probably going to go out of business.

[20:00] But I'll just hit buy. I will go three

[20:02] shares, and then preview, and then just

[20:05] like that you have bought it. In my

[20:06] opinion, E*TRADE is like a player that

[20:08] used to be good like 10 years ago, but

[20:10] now is like still pretty decent, but has

[20:13] kind of tapered off. Sort of like I

[20:15] guess Kirk [snorts] Cousins, but I'm

[20:16] going to go ahead and throw E*TRADE in

[20:18] the C tier. All right, next up we have

[20:20] Chase Self-Directed Investing, and it

[20:22] kind of has like the Merrill thing going

[20:23] on where a lot of people already bank

[20:26] with Chase, and they just end up doing

[20:28] their investments with them as well

[20:29] because of convenience. It's good if

[20:31] you're chasing, no pun intended, the

[20:34] Chase Private Client status, but

[20:36] other than that, a lot of people seem to

[20:38] hate it. Now, I actually didn't mind

[20:41] Chase Self-Directed at all. I thought it

[20:42] was fairly simple and good. You can buy

[20:44] fractional shares. Maybe it's because

[20:46] I've had so many credit cards with

[20:48] Chase, I'm just used to the user

[20:49] interface. But I actually didn't mind

[20:50] Chase Investing at all. Now, I did see a

[20:52] lot of people complaining about Chase

[20:54] just overall being a little bit slow in

[20:56] their user interface laggy, and that if

[20:58] you cancel a trade, that money is locked

[21:01] up, and you won't get it till the next

[21:02] day, which is valid, but I don't know.

[21:04] I'll show you the UI. So, at the top you

[21:05] have your portfolio value, your profit

[21:07] and losses, and then you're it'll just

[21:10] show you like your asset allocation.

[21:12] It'll show you your different positions,

[21:14] watch list. And then, if you want to go

[21:16] trade, just hit the trade button. Search

[21:18] up I will invest in some Pepsi today

[21:20] just cuz I feel like it. Buy, market

[21:22] order.

[21:23] Uh, I will switch to dollars, and buy $5

[21:27] of Pepsi. So, as you can see, it is

[21:29] pretty simple. It's not like

[21:30] overwhelming like some of the big ones.

[21:32] So, I don't really know why people hate

[21:33] it as much. Maybe I'm missing something

[21:35] here, but I'm going to throw it in the B

[21:36] tier. All righty, last up we have M1

[21:39] Finance. And this is a hot take, but I

[21:41] actually don't really like M1 Finance. I

[21:43] think the whole pie thing is annoying,

[21:45] and I don't I wouldn't want to say

[21:46] confusing, but just unnecessary. M1 used

[21:49] to have a lot of fans a couple years

[21:51] ago, but I feel like it's kind of dying

[21:52] off. Basically, it's made for the

[21:55] investor that just wants to set

[21:56] something up and then never have to

[21:58] think about it again. I'll show you in

[21:59] the app, but what you basically do is

[22:01] build a pie with a bunch of different

[22:03] stocks and then ETFs, and then when your

[22:06] money goes in automatically, it will be

[22:08] dispersed between those different ones,

[22:09] and then I believe it will buy up the

[22:11] ones that have dipped. Now, a couple

[22:13] years ago, this was kind of new, and a

[22:14] lot of people liked it, but now Fidelity

[22:16] has the basket portfolios, there's

[22:19] Schwab stock slices, and I feel like now

[22:21] there's just a lot of other brokerages

[22:23] with fractional shares, recurring

[22:25] investments, and just better support and

[22:27] then research. Here's the app here. You

[22:28] can see the M1 net worth, all the

[22:30] different sort of things they have. They

[22:32] have a page advertising for loans and

[22:34] then a cash account, but here's the pie

[22:35] thing. Now, mine is mostly spy, and then

[22:38] a couple other ones, but if you want to

[22:39] add something to your pie, you go ahead

[22:42] and click stocks, and then I will search

[22:45] up SoFi again, and I will add that to my

[22:48] portfolio. That is the main one, and I

[22:51] will go ahead and do 5%.

[22:54] Now, I have to make it equal 100, so I'm

[22:57] going to reduce spy from 96 to 91. And

[23:00] then if I go ahead and save that and

[23:02] confirm, and go back to my main pie,

[23:04] SoFi will now have a slice in that.

[23:05] Overall, I think M1 is pretty niche. If

[23:08] you're a kind of person that wants to

[23:09] make a pie and then just auto invest in

[23:11] it, I guess this could be S tier, but I

[23:12] think for the average investor, I'm

[23:14] going to go ahead and throw this into C

[23:15] tier. Like I mentioned, if you use the

[23:17] links below, you'll get free stock, and

[23:18] it also really helps support the

[23:20] channel. I don't think I've ever seen

[23:21] anyone go to this lengths to make a

[23:23] video on brokerages before.