For investors who want choices

Online-only banking has made it easy for consumers to meet all of their financial needs, from bank accounts to investment products, in one place without ever having to set foot in a physical branch.

Ally is a leader in the online banking space for this very reason. Customers can open an interest-bearing checking account, store money in a CD, high-yield savings account or money market account, apply for mortgage and auto financing, and take out a personal loan, all within the comfort of their own home. But it does not stop there. Through Ally Invest®, investors can also create wealth.

Ally Invest offers commission-free transactions for convenient investors and automated investments for those who prefer to be more passive. You can also save for retirement with Ally’s Traditional, Roth, or Rollover IRAs. And whatever your level of experience, Ally has educational resources to help investors get the most from their investments, such as advanced charting tools and plenty of calculators.

Below, Select reviews Ally Invest’s offerings to give you details of investment options, features and fees so you can decide if it is right for your needs.

With Invest ally, you can choose how you want your money to grow. Active investors can trade stocks, ETFs and options commission-free through Ally Invest Self-Directed Trading.

Newbie investors, or seasoned investors who wish to put their investments on autopilot, can choose to invest passively through Robo Portfolios from Ally Invest, which is a robo-advisor investing in a mix of low-cost diversified ETFs. Ally will recommend and manage a professionally designed portfolio based on your personal goals, time frame, and risk tolerance. The automated investment platform will automatically monitor and rebalance your portfolio to make sure your plan stays on track.

Ally Invest also offers mutual funds, a margin account where investors mainly borrow money against their investments and a securities income program which allows investors to earn additional income on the stocks they already own. Additionally, currency traders can trade over 50 currency pairs, including gold and silver, in real time using Ally Invest. forex trading service.

If you are just looking to open a tax-efficient IRA for retirement, Ally Invest offers Traditional, Roth and Rollover IRAs.

There are a handful of benefits that Ally Invest users will want to be aware of.

Ally Invest’s Robo portfolios have four different portfolio choices, helping you invest in what matters most to you:

1. Socially responsible: invests in environmentally friendly companies
2. Tax optimization: maximizes your after-tax contributions
3. Core: Distributes your investments between national, international and fixed income assets
4. Income: offers higher dividend yields with conservative risk

Ally Invest will recommend a portfolio based on your future goals. With each portfolio choice, 30% of your portfolio is set aside as cash which earns interest and acts as a buffer against market volatility.

Are you not interested in the robo-advisor option? The Ally Invest self-directed account offers new traders up to $ 3,000 cash bonus when opening and funding an account. Investors can transfer their other investments or individual stocks from most major brokerage firms online, and Ally Invest will refund a transfer fee of up to $ 150 when you make a one-time transfer of $ 2,500 or more.

In addition to providing users with informative articles on investment strategies and market trends, active investors have access to charts and calculators to help them analyze their trades. Ally offers 24/7 live customer service by phone, live chat, or the Ally mobile app.

Ally’s app is available for free download in the App Store (for iOS), where it has 4.1 / 5 stars, and on Google Play (for Android), where it has 4.7 / 5 stars at at the time of writing this article.

Minimum deposit and balance requirements vary depending on the Ally investment vehicle you select. While there is no minimum account to invest through Ally Invest Self-Directed Trading, Ally Invest’s Robo Portfolios require a minimum of $ 100.

There is no commission on the trading of stocks, ETFs and options. Option fees of $ 0.50 per contract will apply. For the robo-advisor service, there are no advisory fees, annual fees or rebalancing fees. While Ally Invest’s Robo portfolios reserve 30% of your portfolio in cash, if you decide to choose a lower cash allocation, you will be charged an annual advisory fee of 0.30%.

Additional fees and minimums may apply for other securities such as bonds, mutual funds, margin accounts and foreign exchange transactions.

Invest ally offers solid options for active and passive investors at low cost in the industry. It is distinguished by its robo-advisor platform which offers four different types of portfolios and an interest-bearing cash cushion that balances potential market risk.

Not all robo-advisers set aside money as part of your wallet, however: think of popular robo-advisers. Improvement if you don’t want to keep that much money, that doesn’t require any minimums and a low annual account fee. Read our full Betterment review.

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