Intro: Ally Invest Review
In the age of online investments, finding the best online investment sites is becoming easier than ever.
A few decades ago, investing your money was an expensive, time-intensive process. Today, the best investing sites make the process simple, convenient, and much more affordable.
If you’re on the hunt for the best stock trading site or the best online investment sites, you may want to consider Ally Invest.
Since acquiring TradeKing in 2016, Ally financial services have expanded to offer clients both trading and investment portfolios, making Ally investing a strong robo-advisory force.
Before signing up with Ally investing, however, how do you know if Ally Invest is the best stock trading site for you? Do they have the lowest trading fees? Will the features and tools within Ally investing products help you make smart investing decisions?
In this review, we’ll take an in-depth look at this branch of Ally financial services, including investment products, fees, services, and Ally Invest reviews to determine whether Ally Invest is one of the best investing sites for you.
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Ally Invest | Self-Directed Trading
Ally Invest offers two separate categories of investing, with the first being Self-Directed Trading.
This is a good option for what Ally Invest calls “do-it-yourself investors” since all trading is done with minimal input from the Ally investing platform.
Ally Investing Products & Prices
Investors can choose from a core set of self-directed trading products with Ally Invest, including:
- Stock and ETF trades
- Option trades
- Bonds
To remain competitive, Ally Invest offers some of the lowest trading fees available. This also includes discounted rates for investors that meet their requirements: 30 or more trades each quarter or maintain an average daily balance of $100,000.
See the table below for a quick rundown of what it will cost you to purchase Ally investing products.
Self-Directed Trading | Cost | Volume/Balance Pricing |
| Stock & ETF | $4.95 | $3.95 |
| Option Trades | 65¢ per contract + $4.95 base | 50¢ per contract + $3.95 base |
| Bonds | $1 per bond ($10 minimum) | $1 per bond ($10 minimum) |
Table: Ally Invest Prices
Does Ally Invest really provide the lowest trading fees? According to their price comparison chart, their stock and ETF prices are significantly lower than that of three of their top competitors, making Ally Invest one of the most affordable online investment sites.
Ally Investing Features
As one of the best investing sites, Ally Invest offers self-directed trading clients a suite of additional features. These include:
- Live market news and streaming quotes
- Customizable charts and tools to analyze performance
- Interactive calculators for profit/loss and probability
- Account access from multiple devices
- Watchlists allow users to keep track of specific securities
- Quotes
- Charts
- High/low prices
- Dividend rates
- Overall options summary
- News
- Historical quotes
- Peer performance comparisons
For a self-directed investor, this data is key to making smart trading decisions, highlighting Ally Invest as one of the top online investment sites to consider using.
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Ally Invest | Managed Portfolios
If self-directed trading isn’t what you’re looking for, Ally Invest also offers Managed Portfolios for their investment clients.
With a minimum investment of $2,500, investors can start taking advantage of expertly-managed portfolios through Ally financial services.
Ally Investing Products & Pricing
Using thousands of ETFs, Ally investing services will create a customized portfolio for each investor based on their unique financial goals, risk tolerance, and time horizon.
The annual advisory fee for managed portfolios through Ally Invest is 0.30 percent, a fact which they mention is well below the national average of 1.02 percent.
Comparatively, however, the management fee for Ally Invest is slightly higher than that of popular competitors like Wealthfront or Betterment.
Both robo-advisors charge 0.25 percent for portfolio management, and for Wealthfront clients, that fee doesn’t even apply until they invest over $10,000.
Ally Investing Features
When it comes to managed portfolios, Ally Invest offers a few unique features to support investment growth and stability. These features include:
- Goal-oriented investing
- Competitive management fees
- 24/7 support online or by phone
- Automatic rebalancing
Each investor receives recommendations for their ideal portfolio based on their specific financial goals and risk tolerance.
The good news is that risk tolerance can be updated at any time—so if an investor feels more daring or more conservative, their portfolio can be adjusted accordingly.
Ally investing software will consistently monitor and adjust your portfolio, making it one of the best investing sites in terms of convenience.
For hands-off investors, automatic rebalancing is the best way to keep investment maintenance as low—and as effective—as possible.
Unfortunately, our review of Ally Invest was unable to determine whether managed portfolios also come with tax loss harvesting.
The lack of tax-advantaged services may be problematic for some investors, particularly when regularly investing large sums of money across a wide range of ETFs.
Related: Betterment Fees and Pricing | All You Need to Know About Betterment Costs
Ally Invest | Ally Invest Reviews
Although Ally Invest is a relatively new branch of Ally financial services, the investing site has gotten positive reviews from financial outlets.
NerdWallet rated the portfolio management service with a total 3.5 stars out of 5, noting that the service is best for “loyal Ally customers who want to house a managed account, a trading account and their bank accounts under one roof.”
Conversely, NerdWallet scored the self-directed trading service significantly higher, giving 4.5 out of 5 stars for “[r]ock-bottom commissions, top-notch research and trading tools and an intuitive platform.”
Financial outlet The Simple Dollar has similar praise for the trading platform in their own Ally Invest reviews, calling the service “the most affordable online stock broker among the big players in the industry.”
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Conclusion: Could Ally Invest be One of the Best Investing Sites for You?
Based on our own review—and Ally Invest reviews from other financial experts—Ally Invest is a great option for self-directed investors.
In fact, with low prices and competitive products, Ally Invest could even be the best stock trading site overall.
Unfortunately, portfolio management from Ally Invest needs some work to become a more competitive option among online investment sites.
While their portfolio management system does provide goal-oriented investing and automatic rebalancing, there are plenty of other robo-advisors offering more advanced services, better reporting, and lower fees.
If you’re interested in robo-advisory services, you would be much better off considering other online investment sites like Betterment, Wealthfront, or Personal Capital.
Read More: Betterment IRA Review | Read Before Rolling Over Your 401(k), ROTH or SEP IRA
Image sources:
- https://media.ally.com/index.php?s=20291&cat=2749
- https://pixabay.com/en/bills-money-currency-cash-finance-2557263/
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