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Is Stash Invest Safe and Legitimate Firm and App? Is Stash Invest Scam? Stash Investing Complaints and BBB Rating.
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Is Stash Invest Legitimate Firm?
StashInvest.com is a relatively new player in the financial service sector. Stash is a personal investment service designed to simplify investing. Aimed at millennials,
it’s design and voice feel a little fluffy–like investing with training wheels on.
Investments start at $5. Users can choose from a variety of cutesy-named ETFs
(who needs to learn actual financial lingo, anyway?) that are tailored to their unique set of preferences. “The Globetrotter's” sample holdings include Delta Airlines,
CBS Corp, MGM Resorts International, Las Vegas Sands Corp, Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. Users have the ability to choose their preferred level of risk, how much to
invest, and when, or if, they would like recurring investments.
Educational services are also provided in the form of weekly emails and a “Learn” tab on the app which
provides articles such as “Health Care Fever: Quarterly Earnings and the House Passes the AHCA” as a way to teach users how world events and political decisions
affect the market.
Is Stash Invest Scam?
Stash Invest is not a scam. They earn money by charging investors a small annual management fee based on the total value of the portfolio. The fee
is 0.25% of entire account with balance above $5,000. Accounts with balances under $5,000, are being charged $1 per month. This rate is higher than
at the firm's largest competitor, M1 Finance, which is FREE.
The Stash Invest management fee compares favorably to fees typically charged by financial advisors. Those average about 1% annually, but can be as high as 2% or
more. List of all Stash fees is under this link.
Is Stash Invest Insured and Regulated?
Since Stash Invest offers brokerage services to clients, it does not offer investments that are federally insured by the FDIC, so there is a risk of losing principal as
with any other brokerage. Brokerage services are provided to Stash Clients by Apex Clearing Corporation, an SEC registered broker-dealer and member
FINRA/SIPC.
Stash Invest is a registered broker-dealer with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). The company is also a member of the
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC).
Stash Invest's affiliation with the latter three agencies means they comply with all the rules and regulations governing the investing industry and
pledge to do business with customers in a legal and ethical manner. The main risk for an investor is if Stash Invest fails and must liquidate its
assets. However, SIPC insurance guarantees investors' accounts up to $500,000 (including up to $250,000 in cash).
Compare Stash vs Top Brokers
Stash vs Etrade, Schwab ... »
Stash Invest Complaints, BBB Rating
A search of the Better Business Bureau website shows that the broker does have a record there.
Stash Invest BBB rating is A - the second highest available at Better Business Bureau. There are 6 reviews for the broker: 5 negative and 1 positive review.
The website also has 22 Stash Invest complaints posted in the last 3 years. Judging by high BBB rating, Stash Invest successfully resolved all of them.
Stash Invest Review
Read full, detailed Stash Invest Review »
There are more options and slightly more transparency available with Stash than is available with Acorns (review). It
is a compromise in that users do not have the purchasing freedom that comes with Firstrade (review). Stash also does not
offer the same number of active reminders to invest, which makes it easy for casual investors to leave it by the wayside inadvertently.
Stash is an early robo-advisor planted firmly in the middle ground between Acorns and Firstrade.
Stash is ideal for young investors who want to throw a cinnamon latte’s worth of cash into an investment portfolio every once in a while, and are
curious about where their money is going. However, the combination of the fees and the deposit strategy suggest that it is a place for saving money
for a rainy day, not users’ golden years.
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