Updated September 29, 2020 by Jonathan Crookham
SoFi Invest overview
While it’s app interface is not quite as buttery smooth as the Stash app, SoFi provides a comprehensive investing platform that focuses on automation with NO FEES. SoFi also offers a solid signup bonus as of writing (up to $50 in a stock of your choice when you make an initial deposit of $1000+).
Is SoFi for you? We think it’s best for:
Investors looking to automate their portfolios and eliminate brokerage fees
4.6/5 OVERALL
Pros
+ No brokerage fees
+ Easy to set up recurring investments
+Signup bonus
+ Additional features like crypto investing and budget analysis
Cons
– Not all stocks and ETFs are available on the platform
Pursuit of Passive is not a financial advisor. These are the reviewer’s honest unsponsored opinions about products they actually use, not professional financial advice. While we’re not sponsored or affiliated with the reviewed service in any way, we may receive referral bonuses when you sign up using links in our pages.
- Tied to market – typical market risks apply
- App encourages diversification and automated investments which may help mitigate risk.
signup bonus
Get up to $50 in a stock of your choice when you make an initial deposit of $1000+) with this link
What is soFi invest?
SoFi (short for Social Finance) is a newer fintech brokerage that attempts to attract young investors with loan services, a simple stock trading platform, and cryptocurrency investing.
ease of entry - signing up with stash
Quick signup
- Signup is FREE, quick and painless. You can be setting up your first recurring investment within about ten minutes. You will need to provide your social security number to open an account.
- No minimum account balance
- Simple interface
Fractional Shares
- With fractional investing you can invest $10 to buy a portion of a share in a stock like Apple or Amazon instead of having to shell our hundreds or thousands of dollars to buy a full share of the stock.
- With fractional investing you can invest $10 to buy a portion of a share in a stock like Apple or Amazon instead of having to shell our hundreds or thousands of dollars to buy a full share of the stock.
fees - how much does sofi cost?
Simple: NO FEES. No commissions. No monthly subscription. To be clear, standard ETF expense ratios apply, but Sofi charges no additional fees whatsoever for its brokerage services. I’m not considering loan services in this investment-focused review.
features - what does soFi have to offer?
sofi invest
- SoFi’s brokerage account, SoFi Invest, requires no minimum balance and gives you access to stock, bond, and ETF trading. This includes the ability to make one time investments or set up recurring investments on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis. SoFi keeps your portfolio easily accessible through its app where you can easily sell your holdings or adjust your scheduled investments.
automatic diversified portfolios
- If setting up recurring investments in individual stocks and ETFs is too intimidating, SoFi allows you to set up automatically recurring investments in a diversified portfolio. This is a very simple portfolio of a broad global stock market ETF and a US bond ETF. You can select whether you want an aggressive, moderate, or conservative portfolio which simply adjusts the percentage of your recurring investment that goes into the stock ETF versus the bonds ETF.
- You can easily set up your own custom diversified portfolio by enrolling in recurring investments in a few of the various stocks and ETFs available on SoFi’s platform. SoFi does not currently allow recurring investment in all ETFs, but the vast majority that I reviewed had the option.
crypto investing
- Like similar platforms, SoFi provides a platform to trade cryptocurrency, but not a wallet with which to use crypto for actual purchases. Consequently, the purpose of the platform is meant entirely for speculative investing with the hope that the value of crypto rises. For now, you have to sell the crypto in order to exchange it for liquid cash funds that you can use for purchases. This is different than cryptocurrency wallets like Coinbase which allow you to store and use crypto for purchases.
spending tracker
- SoFi’s app includes a nifty budgeting tool called Relay that allows you to securely connect outside bank accounts and financial information to track your expenditures, investments, and savings over time. It’s a very competent way to keep track of your finances and set up a budget and assign transactions to categories like “groceries” and “bills and utilities.” It also lets you add custom tags in addition to these preset categories. Personally, I prefer Mint’s similar offering, but this is one of the best spend tracking platforms I’ve come across that allows you to get all of your financial information across various platforms on one screen without having to manually enter transactions.
sofi money
- SoFi offers a no-fee checking and debit account which includes cash back offers and interest when you set up direct deposits into the account. The account offers 0.25% interest as of the publishing of this review which would be unremarkable for a savings account, but is actually quite good for a checking account. The debit card offers up to 10% cash back if you set up direct deposits into the account. This 10% back currently applies to specific grocery stores such as Trader Joes and select subscription services like Netflix up to a max of $100 back. If you’re still looking for a primary checking account SoFi Money is worth considering. The debit card is decent for specific applications, but the cash back limits are quite restrictive.
signup bonuses
- 50 bucks of stock when you add $1000 to a new invest account Signup Bonus
- It’s also worth checking promotional websites like Swagbucks as they often offer signup bonuses for accessing SoFi from their website.
user interface - investing with the stash app
Overall, SoFi’s user interface is simple and comprehensive, but it is hampered somewhat by the number of services offered.
My SoFi homepage directs me to separate Invest, Money, and Crypto services, while also displaying an option to check my credit score, budget (“Relay”), current stock and crypto holdings, and investing news. That’s a lot of information packed into what seems like an endlessly scrolling home page. As could be expected, the app is more helpful when you navigate to specific accounts and get a more simplified view. Still, app navigation is not quite as clear as competitor’s like Stash or even Robinhood. That being said, SoFi’s app provides an abundance of information and puts a staggering amount of control at your fingertips.
While it could be improved by a simplified home page that uses its screen space more efficiently, it is still easy to find what you’re looking for, especially with account shortcuts in a clean toolbar at the bottom of the screen.
risk profile - is sofi invest legit?
- Sofi brokerage accounts are SEC and FINRA registered and SIPC insured up to $500,000. While SoFi’s brokerage services are relatively new, being registered and SIPC insured lends SoFi the expected amount of credibility for a safe investing platform.
- Investing with SoFi assumes standard market risks.
pursuit of passive's recommendation
SoFi invest provides an excellent no-fee brokerage service as well as a myriad of other decent offerings. The SoFi Invest platform offers simplified automation which appeals to Pursuit of Passive’s goal of minimizing effort, while its no-fee structure helps maximize returns. For this reason, SoFi is Pursuit of Passive’s recommendation for simple, automatic investing.
here's what others are saying about sofi invest:
Check out Magnified Money’s experience with the Stash platform:
