M1 Finance
Thoughts on the M1 Finance application that I use for Investing.
When I first read/heard about M1, I was excited because of the Robo-Advisor. Having a hands off approach to investing makes it even easier for anyone to get started. You can even set up your portfolio to match the Guru’s. There are lots of options to copy portfolios from your favorite top investors, you can build your own, or you can combine the two. I utilize mostly the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio, as well as adding in some Medium and Aggressive types of auto investments.
When modifying or creating your portfolio, you will start with a pie. You add slices to your pie, adding individual stocks, ETFs, or the guru portfolio. You can modify the weight and percentages of the slices as well as a great “rebalancing” feature. When you rebalance, it takes anything that is overweight, sells pieces and then buys anything that is underweight.
The best reason why I continue to use M1, is it’s totally hands off. I set it up, and each week I put in some money that M1 auto invests, buying up fractional shares that builds up my portfolio, or pie. It’s very intuitive, and the M1 interface has a ton of features.
They also offer Checking accounts, credit cards, and some cool offers, but I only have experience for the robo-investing part of the app.
If you don’t have any interest in researching companies, looking through financials, or doing due diligence, then a robo-advisor would be a great fit for you. You can tell M1 what your investing risk appetite is, helping you along to build a pie worthy of your investment goals.
One last great feature of M1, the DRIP. Dividend Reinvestment Program. This is something very important for anyone wanting to take advantage of compounding their money. DRIP allows the dividends you earn from the shares you own, to be reinvested back into the stock, buying more shares. This causes a snowball effect called compounding, one of the greatest wonders of the world!
Thrifty Investing 