▸▸▸Enroll in our 365 Days to F.I.R.E. Program! – Enrollment is now open for our class of 2024, 365 Days to F.I.R.E. program! As part of the program, you will get to attend our 2024 meetups in Portugal (with more than 500 people attending the meetups this year!), get assigned daily FIRE tasks to complete, participate in live monthly Q&A sessions with us, be broken into smaller accountability groups with other people in the program, attend quarterly book club meetings, get personal coaching from us (for those in the coaching plan) . . . and more!!! Enroll today!
▸▸▸Enroll in our Stock Market Investing Course for Financial Independence and Retiring Early: Enroll in our new 21 module, 4-plus hour stock market investing course with more than 30 handouts of summary notes, homework assignments, and resources. Learn how to research and select investments, how to determine your asset allocation, how to rebalance your portfolio, how to optimize your investments for tax purposes, how to automate your investments, and much more (including a 19-page Investment Plan to work on)!
▸▸▸Enroll in our FIRE Master Class: This FIRE Master Class is designed for people interested in pursuing financial independence and retiring early. In the Master Class, we explain how to live off of your investments during early retirement; how to withdraw money from your investment accounts to support your living expenses during retirement; how to calculate your FIRE number; new and creative ways that you can save money; new side hustles for making money; how to invest in the stock market and in real estate; we discuss healthcare options in retirement . . . and MORE!
▸▸▸Enroll in our How to Move to Portugal Course: A Step-By-Step Course to Relocating and Living in Portugal: This course is designed for people interested in moving to Portugal. In the course, we explain the visa process, the documents you need to submit for your application, and the step-by-step process that we took to obtain our visas; we explain the residency permit process and how we obtained our residence permit here in Portugal; we explain the process for buying and renting a house in Portugal; we discuss healthcare, school options, and setting up NIFs, we explain taxes here in Portugal, and MORE!
▸▸▸Follow us on Instagram:
Our Rich Journey – Vanguard vs Best Investing Apps (M1, Betterment & Acorns) | See Our Results With Real Investments: This video is a continuation of our robo-advisor videos. About six months ago, we explained that we wanted to compare robo-advisor performances because we found the information available online (about robo-advisor performance) wasn’t very straightforward. So, we enlisted the help of our viewers and asked them which robo-advisors they wanted us to review. The results came in and the top robo-advisors that we were asked to review were: M1 Finance, Betterment, & Acorns. So – that’s exactly what we did! Six months ago, we invested $1,000 into each robo-advisor and then invested $10 more each week into each roboadvisor. In the end, we invested a total of $1,260 into each roboadvisor. And then we compared their performance. Check out this video to see which robo-advisor resulted in the biggest return on our investment AND see how they compared to Vanguard investments (VOO, VTI, and VTSAX)!
▸▸▸Check out some of our other videos!
HOW WE RETIRED AT 39 | Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE):
▸▸▸PLEASE SUBSCRIBE:
If you like our video, please make sure to “like” the video and subscribe to our channel. We post two videos a week related to our journey towards financial independence, including making money, saving money, and investing money. Make sure to check out all our videos and . . . join the journey!
DISCLAIMER:
We are not financial advisors. Our videos are for educational purposes only and merely cite our own personal opinions. In order to make the best financial decision that suits your own needs, you must conduct your own research and seek the advice of a licensed financial advisor if necessary. Know that all investments involve some form of risk and there is no guarantee that you will be successful in making, saving, or investing money; nor is there any guarantee that you won’t experience any loss when investing. Always remember to make smart decisions and do your own research!
AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE: Some of the links on this channel are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, we may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase and/or subscribe. However, this does not impact our personal opinions.
#Investing #FinancialFreedom #FinancialIndependenceRetireEarly…(read more)
LEARN MORE ABOUT: IRA Accounts
INVESTING IN A GOLD IRA: Gold IRA Account
INVESTING IN A SILVER IRA: Silver IRA Account
REVEALED: Best Gold Backed IRA
Vanguard vs Best Investing Apps: A Comparison of Performance, Features, and Ease of Use
When it comes to investing in the stock market, there are several options available to individual investors. One of the most well-known and established companies in the industry is Vanguard. However, lately, there has been an insurgence of investing apps like M1 Finance, Betterment, and Acorns that offer easy-to-use interfaces and unique features. In this article, we will compare Vanguard with these newer investing apps, discussing their performance, features, and ease of use based on our own experiences with real investments.
Performance:
Vanguard has a long-standing reputation for consistently delivering good returns to its investors. They offer a wide range of index funds and ETFs at low expense ratios. However, M1 Finance, Betterment, and Acorns have also shown promising results over the years.
M1 Finance is an automated investing platform that allows investors to build and manage portfolios of stocks and ETFs for free. It offers a unique feature called “Pies,” which allows users to create customized portfolios with multiple securities. In our experience, M1 Finance has provided good returns, especially for long-term investments.
Betterment, on the other hand, focuses on automated and goal-based investing, with sophisticated algorithms that rebalance portfolios and optimize tax strategies. This approach has delivered solid results, especially for investors seeking a hands-off approach to investing.
Acorns, while different from the other apps, is worth mentioning as it appeals to those just starting out with small amounts to invest. Acorns offers a round-up feature, where users can link their debit or credit cards to automatically invest the spare change from everyday purchases. While returns with Acorns may not be as significant compared to other options, the app provides an excellent entry point for beginners.
Features:
Both Vanguard and the investing apps we mentioned offer a variety of features to cater to different types of investors.
Vanguard provides a comprehensive suite of investment options, including index funds, ETFs, individual stocks, and bond funds. They also offer retirement accounts, IRAs, and other tax-efficient strategies.
M1 Finance’s “Pies” feature allows investors to create customized portfolios with different allocations, making it an attractive option for those looking for personalized investment strategies.
Betterment’s main feature is their goal-based investing, targeting retirement, college savings, or general wealth accumulation. They offer socially responsible investing options and a user-friendly interface with tools to track progress towards your financial goals.
Acorns focuses on building savings and investment habits through their round-up feature mentioned earlier. They also offer account types like Acorns Later for retirement savings or Acorns Spend for checking accounts.
Ease of Use:
Vanguard, being a long-established company, has an intuitive interface and a well-organized platform. However, the newer investing apps have made significant strides in providing user-friendly experiences.
M1 Finance’s app and website are easy to navigate, and their “Pies” feature simplifies the investment process. Their automatic rebalancing and reinvesting make it hassle-free.
Betterment’s platform is user-friendly, with a clean design and easy-to-understand visuals. Their intuitive investment dashboard allows users to track goals and progress easily.
Acorns is especially appealing to beginner investors due to its user-friendly interface, making it easy to start investing with little knowledge or experience.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, Vanguard remains a solid option for investors with its long history of strong performance and diverse investment options. However, M1 Finance, Betterment, and Acorns have emerged as competitive alternatives, offering unique features and user-friendly interfaces.
Ultimately, the best choice among these options depends on your investment goals, risk tolerance, and personal preferences. It is worthwhile to consider your own needs and conduct further research to determine which platform aligns best with your investment strategy.
I love m1 overall
Thanks. I love Vanguard's fund offerings, but I hate their mobile app since they "upgraded" it to version 12. they're also revamping their website to make it more confusing to navigate. You click on one new menu link and it takes you to the old legacy view without a way to easily click back (other than the back button).
I'll be moving my retirement portfolio to Fidelity in the coming months.
Has anyone here had to deal with the customer service of M1 Finance? If so, how was it? Thank you.
I appreciate the channel. Comparing the robo investments to a vanguard target date fund would of been a better and fair comparison. Your robo accounts have a variety of diversified assets, and it's being compared to either Vanguard's VOO or VTI.
I use Vanguard for my Roth IRA and I use M1 for stocks and ETFs that I can liquidate easily or keep for the long run. I like m1 because of the the pie structure; I also like that I have control of the allocation % , automatic transfer and or automatic investment feature. The only thing that I don't like about M1 is that they pick the time to buy the investment(s). I would of liked to buy and sell at my leisure during market hours. I use Fidelity for my HSA account.
I was wondering if you have a video about using something like Vanguard digital advisor? I really have no clue what I am doing with investing at this point and was thinking about signing up for that service…
From my experience, the M1 Finance is by far the better one out of all of them. I just don’t know where to begin. I like that they allow you to automatic invest money into ETFs. No other brokerage does that that I know of. You typically have to keep manually go in and make the buy trades yourself. M1 is completely hands off.
How do these stack up to robinhood? For individual stocks?
this is a quick, efficient, and informational video! Thank you!
Does vanguard do fractions?
Awesome video, thanks
Helpful info thank u
Great Video! You have saved me a lot of time and energy by doing this excellent challenge with those brokerages! Awesome! Please do more!! Thanks.
Thank you so much for doing this study and for explaining everything so well! Love your videos!
I didn’t like this video , I love it. Thank you so much for all of your help!
I don’t get it if you’re investing in the same ETFs with the same amount of money why are they different depending on which platform you use? I wouldn’t VTI give you the same amount of money regardless if you were on Vanguard or M1?
Hi there what platform do you recommend for a custodial account ? thank you
Wow – a great report and analysis. Thank you all so much!!
Aren't you able to invest 100% in VTSAX (or VTI) at M1, just like you did at Vanguard? If so, I would expect the exact same returns between the 2 platforms.
Fantastic video! This is exactly what I was looking for
I use M1 after having a Vanguard account and the main reason is being able to buy fractions of ETFs. Vanguard still doesn't allow you to buy fractions on their own site or app.
nicely done, very professional.
Entry points.
I never heard about that.
That could be all the difference.
Weird comparison given that you compared your actual experience with the robo advisors with a theoretical experience at Vanguard. Since vanguard does not do fractional shares your $10/wk contributions would not have been invested until you could buy a whole share. Say what you will about the M1 but at least you can by regular, small amounts of Vanguard funds for no additional fees or commissions.
The way the calculations were made likely explain the difference in returns. For all robos, you didn't have a lump sum investment as 10$ were added per week. But for the etf returns you just looked at total return. That return would be lower if you calculate 1000 initially and 10$/week.
This video is exactly what I needed. Thank you so much.
Very Helpful advise.Thanks