SoFi Invest® Review
Product Name: SoFi Invest®
Product Description: SoFi Invest® is an online platform offering commission-free stock trading and automated investing.
Summary
SoFi Invest is an online platform offering commission-free stock trading and automated investing. You can also trade options with no contract fees.
Pros
Cons
SoFi Invest® is an online platform offering commission-free stock trading and automated investing. You can also trade options with no contract fees and save for retirement with various IRA accounts.
Initially launched as a student loan refinancing platform, SoFi® has expanded its product menu and become a full-blown financial superstore. It now offers banking, insurance, and loan programs. However, this review focuses on its investment product, SoFi Invest.
SoFi Invest is best suited to new and young investors, particularly those in their 20s and early 30s who are graduating from school and looking to begin their investment journeys.
As a student loan refinance provider, SoFi is tailored to the recent college graduate market. They built their program menu around this demographic. That includes offering the services of certified financial planners to help customers build a solid financial future. There’s also a social aspect to SoFi. As a member, you can be in contact with other members on the platform, gaining insight and even investment strategies from others.
Other factors favoring younger investors include no minimum upfront investment, commission-free trading, and the choice between self-directed investing or a no-cost automated management investment service.
SoFi Invest offers a wide range of investment options under a single banner, but it’s actually made up of two companies: SoFi Wealth LLC and SoFi Securities LLC. The former provides automated investing and advisory services, while the latter provides brokerage services.
It offers individual and joint taxable brokerage accounts, plus IRAs – traditional, Roth, rollover, and SEPs. You can open a cash account and begin trading with as little as $1. However, if you choose to open a margin account, a minimum of $2,000 is required to open the account. Be aware that margin accounts are only available for taxable brokerage accounts, as IRAs are not eligible for margin trading.
Accounts not offered by SoFi Invest, which are usually available at competitors, include custodial accounts, education accounts, and certain retirement accounts, such as solo 401(k) plans.
Through SoFi Active Investing, you can trade individual U.S. stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and options. As of 2024, SoFi is offering over 6,000 mutual funds to its investors.
You should be aware that SoFi Active Investing does not offer certain common investment types, including bonds, foreign individual stocks, futures, or FOREX. While it formerly did offer cryptocurrencies, that capability was eliminated at the end of 2023.
You can access a limited selection of alternative asset classes through dedicated funds for those assets. These include commodities, private credit, pre-IPO unicorns, and real estate.
Limited fractional shares. SoFi Active Investing does offer fractional shares for some stocks in minimum denominations of $5.
SoFi is one of a small handful of investment brokers offering a matching contribution on your IRA contribution. SoFi will provide a matching contribution of 1% on either a traditional or a Roth IRA contribution. The offer period runs until December 31, 2024. Only deposits made through a contribution via ACH transfer are eligible.
Joining a growing trend, SoFi combines personal finance with the benefits of social media interaction. As a SoFi member, you can join the SoFi community and connect with other members to share investment ideas and other information.
SoFi Active Investing has the following price structure for self-directed investing:
IPO investing. If you participate in IPO investments, there is a fee of $50 for the first sale of the security obtained through an IPO offering within 120 days of the IPO. There’s also a $5 fee for each subsequent sale of the security obtained through NIPA offerings within 120 days of the IPO.
Margin interest rates are a flat 11% (as of June 27, 2024).
Other fees charged by SoFi Invest include the following:
SoFi currently offers a bonus of up to $1,000 in stock when you open and fund a new account. You must add a minimum of $10 within 30 days of account opening. The bonus is payable only to new Active Invest accounts.
The bonus ranges from $5 up to $1,000 in stock, but the probability of receiving the full $1,000 is only 0.028%.
If you prefer managed investing, SoFi offers its Automated Investing service. The service will create a portfolio and manage it for you. This includes automatic rebalancing and allocating new deposits to target asset allocations.
Your portfolio will be created using ETFs representing various asset classes to achieve optimal diversification.
You’ll complete a questionnaire that will determine your risk tolerance, and your portfolio allocation will be based on the results of your answers.
You can begin investing with SoFi Automated Investing for as little as $1, and the service has no annual advisory fee. You can open your account with a one-time deposit or make recurring deposits.
Like many investment brokers, SoFi also offers banking services. That includes a high-yield checking account offering a current APY of 0.50% with no account fees and minimum deposit. The account has an ATM card with access to over 55,000 in-network ATMs. You’ll also receive overdraft protection of up to $50 with a direct deposit of at least $1,000.
As an added feature, the debit card offers roundups on purchases. Each time you make a purchase, the final payment is rounded up to the nearest whole dollar amount, and the change is added to your savings.
SoFi also offers a high-yield savings account, paying up to 4.60% APY (unlocked with direct deposit or by depositing $5,000+ every 30 days, otherwise 1.20% APY). There are no account fees and minimum deposit. You can take advantage of the AutoSave feature to gradually build your balance. The savings account offers savings vaults to help you fund specific spending goals. All accounts are insured by FDIC for up to $2 million through a network of participating banks.
Members can receive a bonus of up to $300 by opening either account and setting up direct deposit.
SoFi members with Direct Deposit or $5,000 or more in Qualifying Deposits during the 30-Day Evaluation Period can earn 4.60% annual percentage yield (APY) on savings balances (including Vaults) and 0.50% APY on checking balances. There is no minimum Direct Deposit amount required to qualify for the stated interest rate. Members without either Direct Deposit or Qualifying Deposits, during the 30-Day Evaluation Period will earn 1.20% APY on savings balances (including Vaults) and 0.50% APY on checking balances. Interest rates are variable and subject to change at any time. These rates are current as of 10/24/2023. There is no minimum balance requirement. Additional information can be found athttp://www.sofi.com/legal/banking-rate-sheet.
Overdraft Coverage is limited to $50 on debit card purchases only and is an account benefit available to customers with direct deposits of $1,000 or more during the current 30-day Evaluation Period as determined by SoFiBank,N.A. The 30-Day Evaluation Period refers to the “Start Date” and “End Date” set forth on the APY Details page of your account, which comprises a period of 30 calendar days (the“30-DayEvaluationPeriod”). You can access the APY Details page at any time by logging into your SoFi account on the SoFi mobile app or SoFi website and selecting either (i)Banking> Savings> Current APY or (ii)Banking> Checking> Current APY. Members with a prior history of non-repayment of negative balances are ineligible for Overdraft Coverage.
Sofi has partnered with Allpoint to provide you with ATM access at any of the 55,000+ ATMs within the Allpoint network. You will not be charged a fee when using an in-network ATM, however, third-party fees incurred when using out-of-network ATMs are not subject to reimbursement. SoFi’s ATM policies are subject to change at our discretion at any time.
SoFi Invest is available for Android users on Google Play and iOS devices on The App Store. You can access the trading platform and participate in stock trading, the SoFi robo-advisor (Automated Investing), and the social trading features.
The SoFi Invest Mobile App has a rating of 3.7 out of five stars among 2,300 iOS users and 3.8 out of five stars among 1,800+ Android users.
Customer service is available by phone and email from 5:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific time, Monday through Friday. Customer service for investing is not available on Saturdays or Sundays.
Investments with SoFi Invest are covered by SIPC for up to $500,000 in cash and securities, including up to $250,000 in cash. The coverage is designed to protect against broker failure and will not apply if losses are attributable to market conditions.
Webull is an investment app that provides commission-free trading of stocks, options, and ETFs. It is designed primarily as a fast-trading app for investors on the go and is an excellent choice for short-term traders.
Unlike SoFi Invest, it doesn’t offer commission-free trading of mutual funds—in fact, it doesn’t offer mutual funds at all. Nor does it offer bonds or fixed-income investments, which parallels SoFi Invest.
Webull also offers free stock—20 free fractional shares—when you open a new account, deposit between $500 – $24,999.99, and maintain it for 30 days.
Webull is designed primarily as a fast-trading app for investors on the go and is an excellent choice for short-term traders. However, it doesn’t offer the range of financial services that SoFi does, like banking, insurance, and loan products.
Learn more in our full Webull review.
Robinhood shares many similarities with Webull while offering an expanded menu of services. For example, while Robinhood offers commission-free trading in stocks, options, and ETFs, it also offers commission-free trading of cryptocurrencies, an asset class not directly offered by either SoFi Invest or Webull.
Robinhood also allows investors to participate in a limited number of pre-IPO stocks. It offers 5.00% APY on uninvested cash and a cash card that provides many of the benefits of a checking account.
Robinhood does not offer a managed investment service or provide anywhere near the level of financial services that SoFi does. However, it has an available matching IRA contribution of up to 3% on contributions to traditional and Roth IRAs.
Learn more in our full Robinhood App review.
Like SoFi Invest, J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing offers commission-free trading of stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds. And in May 2024, they announced the addition of fractional shares for stocks and ETFs, for as little as $5.
J.P. Morgan provides investments that SoFi Invest doesn’t, particularly bonds and fixed-income investments. It’s a good choice if you prefer face-to-face customer service, as the company has bank branches through J.P. Morgan Chase in 48 US states.
Unlike SoFi Invest, J.P. Morgan Self-Directed investing doesn’t provide a matching contribution on IRAs. They also don’t offer an automated investment service, like SoFi Automated Investing.
Yes. Not only are your investment accounts protected by SIPC insurance for up to $500,000 in cash and securities, including up to $250,000 in cash, but savings balances are FDIC insured for up to $2 million.
SoFi is also good for beginners because you can open an account with no money and begin investing with as little as $1. There are no commissions to invest in stocks, mutual funds, or exchange-traded funds. In addition, as a SoFi member, you’ll have access to both the online community and certified financial planners at no additional cost. SoFi offers plenty of other financial services that will be of interest to beginning investors, including various banking, insurance, financing, and loan option
SoFi is currently offering a bonus of up to $1,000 in free stock when you open a new account and fund it with as little as $10 within 30 days of account opening. However, the chances of receiving $1,000 in stock is substantially less than 1%. The chances of receiving at least $5 in free stock is over 85%.
If you’re a new investor, particularly coming out of school, SoFi Invest may be the ideal investment platform. It offers student loan refinances, banking, insurance, and loans, in addition to self-directed investing and automated investing options. It’s the perfect financial platform to begin your investment journey, while holding the potential to grow as your financial life expands.
If you’re a sophisticated investor, SoFi Invest may not be the best investment platform for you. The absence of fixed-income investments, including bonds, and the limited number of account types offered could force you to use the services of other brokers to fill the void.
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