M1
- Best for: Long-term investors who want to pick their own stocks and ETFs and automate the rest
- What Sets It Apart: Deposits buy whichever holdings sit furthest below target, keeping a mix you designed on plan without your own trades
- Investments: 6,000+ U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs; 14 cryptocurrencies through Bakkt; individual, joint, custodial, and trust accounts; traditional, Roth, SEP, and inherited IRAs
- Features: A morning or afternoon trade window, both at $25,000 invested; High-Yield Cash Account at 3.35% APY, FDIC-insured to $4.75 million; M1 Advisor’s AI advice, free through 2027
- Monthly Fee: $3, waived for any 30-day billing cycle in which your M1 assets are $10,000 or more on at least one day
- Trading Fees: $0 commissions on stocks and ETFs; Bakkt’s 1% on crypto trades
- Minimum Deposit: $100 ($500 for an IRA, $5,000 for a trust); $10 for later deposits
- Cost: Margin at 5.90% with $2,000 invested; $100 to transfer out; $100 to close an IRA
- Pros: Your own mix, invested without trades; rebalancing without taxable sales; margin with no application; custodial, trust, SEP, and inherited IRAs
- Cons: $36 a year below $10,000; trades only in scheduled windows; no options, futures, or mutual funds; no tax-loss harvesting
Open M1 if you want to pick your own stocks and ETFs, set a percentage for each, and have every deposit invested to keep that mix on target. Skip it if you trade often or want the portfolio chosen for you. Its $3 monthly fee is waived in any billing cycle in which your M1 assets reach $10,000.
M1 builds your portfolio as a Pie of up to 100 slices, each a stock, an exchange-traded fund (ETF), or a smaller Pie, held at a target percentage you set. Each deposit goes to the slices furthest below target, so investing on a schedule pulls the mix back toward plan.
Key Features
- Pies built from more than 6,000 stocks and ETFs listed in the U.S., bought in fractions of a share to hit your exact percentages
- Recurring deposits, plus a Rebalance button that sells slices above target to buy those below
- $0 commissions and a $3 monthly platform fee, waived for any 30-day billing cycle in which your M1 assets are $10,000 or more on at least one day
- Trades in your choice of a morning window (about 9:30 a.m. ET) or an afternoon one (about 3 p.m. ET), or in both once an account has $25,000 invested
- A High-Yield Cash Account paying 3.35% APY (annual percentage yield)
Pros
- Any mix of stocks and ETFs you choose, invested without placing trades
- Deposits rebalance the mix without sales that trigger taxes
- Borrowing against an individual or joint brokerage account at 5.90%, with no application, once it has $2,000 invested
- Custodial and trust accounts, plus SEP IRAs for the self-employed and inherited IRAs
- Free AI advice on your accounts through 2027 from M1 Advisor, which must act in your best interest
Cons
- $3 a month below $10,000, which comes to 1.8% a year on a $2,000 balance
- Trades only in scheduled windows, at the market price rather than one you set
- No options, futures, mutual funds, or short selling
- No tax-loss harvesting, the selling of losing holdings to offset taxable gains
- $100 to transfer your account to another broker
Investors who keep $10,000 or more at M1 and deposit on a schedule get a mix of their own design, kept near its targets, with no platform fee.
Anyone who wants the mix picked for them does better with a robo-advisor, and a trader who needs orders filled in real time does better at one of the best online brokers.
Learn more about M1 or see how it compares to the best investing apps.
M1
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