Can You Make Money With Stash

Where Stash shines

DIY and automated investing: Stash marries the idea of DIY investing and an automated portfolio, giving clients the option to choose how involved they want to be. Often, robo-advisors are fully hands off, meaning you can't pick any of your own investments.

Roundups: If you like the idea of investing without too much effort on your part, Stash can round up your purchases to the nearest dollar, and once those roundups hit $5, will send that money to your investment account.

Stock-Back Card®: Stash's Stock-Back Card lets you earn stocks as rewards when you shop.

Where Stash falls short

No managed IRAs: Stash does not offer automated management for IRAs.

No tax-loss harvesting: Smart Portfolios don't offer tax-loss harvesting.

No human advice: Advertised advice is general education, not personalized investing advice.

Stash is best for:

Investors who want to buy fractional shares.
Investors who want to choose their own investments and get automated portfolios.

Stash at a glance

Account minimum	$5.
Account management fee	$3 per month for automated investing. $1- and $9-a-month tiers available as well.
Investment expense ratios	Average is less than 0.06% for Smart Portfolios.
Account fees (annual, transfer, closing)	$0 standard transfer fee, or 1% fee for instant transfers. Outgoing ACAT full transfer fee: $75.
Portfolio mix	Smart Portfolio mix is well-diversified but lacks exposure to non-market correlated assets like REITs and commodities. Over 4,000 individual stocks and ETFs are available in the DIY individual brokerage account (available for $1 per month).
Socially responsible portfolio option	No automated socially responsible portfolio. Themed ETFs, including socially responsible ETFs, are available in the DIY individual brokerage account.
Accounts supported	Individual brokerage accounts ROTH and Traditional IRAs UGMA/UTMA accounts Note: Only individual brokerage accounts are available to be managed with Smart Portfolios. IRA and UTMA/UMGA accounts are available for DIY management only.
Tax strategy	Not available.
Automatic rebalancing	Smart Portfolios option features automatic rebalancing upon withdrawals or contributions, plus quarterly rebalancing.
Human advisor option	Not available.
Bank account/cash management account	Stash offers access to an online banking account with a stock-back rewards debit card, but the account doesn't pay interest.
Customer support options (includes how easy it is to find key details on the website)	Phone and email support Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Eastern. Additional email support is available on weekends from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern.

More details about Stash's ratings

Stash is quite different from other robo-advisors we review. Instead of do-it-yourself or robo-advisor management, Stash offers clients the ability to do both depending on their tier of service. Robo-advisor management (called Smart Portfolios) is available under the Stash Growth and Stash+ plans. The majority of this review will focus on Stash Growth with Smart Portfolios, but we'll go over the hands-on investing access (Stash Beginner) and Stash+ at the end of this review.

Account minimum: 4 out of 5 stars

It takes only $5 to start investing with Stash, which makes it great for all investors to access. Some robo-advisors have $0 minimums, but others have minimums as high as $500 or even $5,000.

Account management fee: 5 out of 5 stars

Stash offers three levels of its subscription service. The first tier, Stash Beginner, includes a DIY investment account and access to an online bank account. Automated investing starts at the $3-a-month tier.

	Stash Beginner ($1/month)	Stash Growth ($3/month)	Stash+ ($9/month)
Investing	DIY investing only.	DIY investing, access to a robo-advisor portfolio and retirement accounts like IRAs.	DIY investing, access to a robo-advisor portfolio, retirement accounts like IRAs and custodial.
Banking	Bank account and Stock-Back Card.	Bank account and Stock-Back Card.	Bank account and Stock-Back Card with 2x stock (subject to terms and conditions ).

The $3 monthly fee provides access to the robo-advisor feature, Smart Portfolios and Retirement Portfolios (which includes access to IRAs, though IRAs cannot be managed through Smart Portfolios). This isn't unheard of with robo-advisors (Ellevest and Acorns charge a similar fee to access a retirement account), but all the robo-advisors we review include an automated portfolio with their base fee. Stash is the only one that doesn't offer automated investment management at the lowest tier.

Other robo-advisors charge a fee based on the amount of money they are managing for you. For example, Betterment and Wealthfront have a 0.25% management fee — if you have $1,000 under management, the annual cost will be $2.50. These services will also build your portfolio, rebalance it and apply tax-loss harvesting on taxable accounts. Unlike Stash, retirement accounts are offered at the base fee for both of these providers.

Keep in mind, if you opt for Stash Growth ($3 a month) or Stash+ ($9 a month), you'll still get access to Stash Beginner and have the opportunity to pick your own investments through an individual brokerage account. This DIY-and-automated approach isn't available at other robo-advisors.

One other bonus feature Stash offers is life insurance access through Avibra, but the benefit amounts are hardly meaningful: At the $1- and $3-a-month tiers, the benefit amount is $1,000, and it rises to $10,000 at the Stash+ $9-a-month level.

» Want to compare more providers? Check out our top picks for best robo-advisors .

Investment expense ratios: 5 out of 5 stars

The ETFs available through Stash have an average expense ratio — the annual fee charged to investors — of 0.06% for all Smart Portfolios. That's fairly low compared to Stash's competitors.

Account fees: 3 out of 5 stars

Stash charges no standard transfer fee, but there is a 1% fee for instant transfers. A $75 ACAT fee is charged if an investor chooses to move assets to another brokerage firm. Stash customers can withdraw from their Smart Portfolio at no cost, and there are no fees for selling investments.

Portfolio mix: 3 out of 5 stars

Stash's automated portfolios are made up of ETFs that include exposure to U.S. stocks, international stocks (in both developed and emerging markets) and U.S. and international bonds. Stash utilizes fractional shares so that all of your money is invested.

Stash also has a tool to educate users about the power of investing. Users can quickly adjust a slider to indicate their monthly deposit and growth potential, or anticipated investment return, and the app will show how much the user could have after one year, five years and 10 years.

Socially responsible portfolio options: 2 out of 5 stars

Stash does not offer an automated socially responsible portfolio, but within the DIY portfolio (available at any price tier) Stash offers access to thematic ETFs, including clean energy and women's empowerment.

Accounts supported: 1 out of 5 stars

For a managed Smart Portfolio, clients only have access to an individual brokerage account. Pretty much every other robo-advisor we review gives users the ability to have a managed portfolio with an IRA.

This is one of the clear instances where Stash Smart Portfolios fall behind its competitors. If you'd like to invest in an IRA or custodial account, you can, but you'll need to pick the investments for it yourself.

Tax strategy: 1 out of 5 stars

Stash does not offer any form of tax strategy. Many other robo-advisors offer tax-loss harvesting, which is an investment strategy that can reduce the amount of tax you may have to pay when you sell your investments, or another form of tax mitigation, for free.

Automatic rebalancing: 5 out of 5 stars

Stash Smart Portfolios offer quarterly automatic rebalancing if your portfolio drifts 5% away from your target allocation. For example, if your portfolio has an 80% stock allocation, and it jumps to 85% stocks, Stash will rebalance it for you.

Human advisor option: 1 out of 5 stars

Stash's website states that all clients, at any level, receive "advice" that pertains to their level of membership ($1 gets beginner investing information, $3 gets growing personal finance information and $9 gets market insights and information about family finances). This advice is not personalized: The fine print clarifies that it refers to "Financial Counseling Advice which is investment advice in the form of guides and educational materials." The "personalization" comes from the information users input when their accounts are being set up, similar to quizzes other robo-advisors employ to gauge an appropriate asset allocation. It does not mean that you receive personalized advice from a financial professional.

One example Stash gives of "personalized investment advice" is access to its Diversification Analysis tool, which helps customers maintain balanced portfolios (based on their risk profile for their personal portfolio). So if you have specific questions you'd like to ask a financial professional, you may want to look elsewhere.

Savings account/cash management options: 2 out of 5 stars

Stash offers access to a banking account with no overdraft fees or minimum balance through Green Dot Bank. It lets you save automatically using roundups and auto-invest, and it also lets you set goals by separating your cash into spaces for specific purposes. This tool can help with budgeting, and your goals can be customized for what you're saving for. One caveat to this is that instant money transfers are subject to limitations, and that money moved into a goal must be moved back to the bank account available balance to be used. Also, Stash's banking account does not pay interest.

Stash's Stock-Back Card rewards users with a percentage of their purchases back in stock. So when you shop at Walmart or Amazon, you'll earn stock in those companies. When you spend at a local business, you'll earn a stock or ETF from a preselected list. Stash Beginner ($1 per month) and Growth ($3 per month) customers earn 0.125% stock on all everyday purchases, and up to 5% at certain merchants with bonuses. Stash+ ($9 per month) customers earn 2x stock (subject to terms and conditions ).

Customer support options: 4 out of 5 stars

Stash offers phone and email support Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. ET. Email support is also available on weekends 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET.

Stash Beginner and Stash+

Stash Beginner is Stash's lowest tier at $1 a month, or $12 a year. For this fee, clients get access to a taxable brokerage account and banking with Stash's Stock-Back card. And while that $1 per month sounds inexpensive, as a percentage of assets it can be quite high, especially for lower balances: An investor with a $500 balance will pay 2.4%; someone with a $2,500 balance will pay 0.48%.

Other robo-advisors that charge a set fee per month, such as Ellevest, offer a managed portfolio for that $1 per month. With Stash, you have to up your monthly payment to $3 a month for a managed portfolio.

Within its DIY portfolios, Stash offers access to more than 4,000 individual stocks and ETFs. If you're looking for particular investments, such as socially responsible ETFs, Stash organizes ETFs into different categories to help make them easy to find. There are mission-driven themes designed to guide users toward investing with their hearts. For example, Clean & Green invests in clean energy and Do the Right Thing is socially responsible companies.

Stash+ is the provider's $9-per-month service. For that hefty fee you'll get access to two custodial accounts and a higher reward with Stash's Stock-Back Card (2x stock) in addition to all the features of the lower tiers. Your life insurance access also increases from $1,000 to $10,000.

Is Stash right for you?

If you're looking for access to both a managed portfolio and an individual brokerage account where you can dabble in picking your own investments, Stash may be a good fit. Stash also provides access to fractional shares, allowing you to diversify with very little money.

But if you're just looking for automated investment management, you can get similar services for less elsewhere. Other robo-advisors will also allow you to have an IRA managed.

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