Smart decisions start with our list of top investing products
Our Nerds investigated investment selection, fees, and customer feedback to bring you the best online financial advisors and investing brokerage accounts of 2024. While some winners may be partners, this didn't influence our decisions.
Smart decisions start with our list of top investing products
Our Nerds investigated investment selection, fees, and customer feedback to bring you the best online financial advisors and investing brokerage accounts of 2024. While some winners may be partners, this didn't influence our decisions.
Fidelity offers $0 trading commissions, a selection of more than 3,300 no-transaction-fee mutual funds and top-notch research tools and trading platform. Its zero-fee index funds and strong customer service reputation are just icing on the cake.
Why our Nerds love it
Fidelity is a perennial winner here. It offers a high interest rate on uninvested cash, over 3,000 no-transaction-fee mutual funds, extensive investor education and more than 200 physical branches.
Interactive Brokers' IBKR Lite is a strong option for frequent traders: The broker offers international trade capabilities, no stock-trading commission and a quality trading platform.
Why our Nerds love it
Interactive Brokers wins for its huge investment selection, highly rated advanced trading platforms and low margin rates.
Network of financial advisors offer a wide range of planning services.
No fee for using Zoe Financial to find an advisor.
Cons
Difficult to know financial advisor fees upfront.
Why We Like It
Zoe Financial isn't actually a financial advisory firm — the company connects clients to financial advisors. Zoe advisors are all independent fiduciaries who work on a commission-free model, meaning your advisor won’t try to sell you products to make a profit.
Why our Nerds love it
Zoe Financial will help you find a carefully vetted advisor who can assist you with retirement planning, investing, tax strategy and more.
your first 90 days of Vanguard Digital Advisor investment management (Enrollment requires a Vanguard account with a minimum of $3,000)
Pros
Access to Vanguard’s investing expertise and ETFs.
Low management fee relative to competitors.
Low investment expense ratios and no additional account fees.
Cons
Limited portfolio options and customization.
Why We Like It
Vanguard Digital Advisor is an affordable robo-advisory service using several of Vanguard’s key ETFs to create a personalized retirement plan and portfolio for investors.
Why our Nerds love it
Vanguard Digital Advisor wins again for its low management fees, low investment expense ratios and no additional account fees.
Fidelity offers $0 trading commissions, a selection of more than 3,300 no-transaction-fee mutual funds and top-notch research tools and trading platform. Its zero-fee index funds and strong customer service reputation are just icing on the cake.
Why our Nerds love it
Fidelity’s low fees, retirement tools and selection of expense-ratio-free index funds make it a smart choice for retirement investors.
when you fund your first taxable investment account
Pros
Get $50 customer bonus when you fund your first taxable investment account (NerdWallet promotion).
Low ETF expense ratios.
Daily tax-loss harvesting.
Automatic rebalancing.
DIY and automated investing options.
Cons
No human financial advisors.
Why We Like It
With Wealthfront, you get low-cost access to a diverse investment lineup, excellent planning tools and a variety of tax-saving strategies. The company also offers access to individual stocks for DIY investors.
Why our Nerds love it
Wealthfront offers ETFs from 12 asset classes, a socially responsible portfolio and access to cryptocurrency trusts. Clients can also customize their portfolios.
Fidelity offers $0 trading commissions, a selection of more than 3,300 no-transaction-fee mutual funds and top-notch research tools and trading platform. Its zero-fee index funds and strong customer service reputation are just icing on the cake.
Why our Nerds love it
Fidelity wins again for its all-star lineup of trading tools, research providers and low fees, all offered in a highly rated mobile app.
Fidelity offers $0 trading commissions, a selection of more than 3,300 no-transaction-fee mutual funds and top-notch research tools and trading platform. Its zero-fee index funds and strong customer service reputation are just icing on the cake.
Why our Nerds love it
Fidelity's large selection of bonds comes with either minimal or no additional trading costs, alongside the strongest educational resources and customer service of any broker.
Tax-loss harvesting only available on balances of $50,000 or more.
Why We Like It
Intelligent Portfolios is unique in charging no management fee, but the advisor's portfolios tend to hold a larger cash allocation than other robo-advisors. Schwab also offers a Premium option, with access to CFPs.
Why our Nerds love it
Schwab's $0 account management fee, strong customer support and variety of portfolio options make it a clear choice for retirement planning.
NerdWallet's award winners are chosen through a rigorous evaluation process involving 39 writers and editors. NerdWallet's ratings formulas for credit cards, for example, consider the type of card being reviewed (such as cash back, travel, or balance transfer) and the card's rates, fees, rewards, and other features. For mortgages, we evaluate loan average rates and fees, loan types and products, online rate information, ease of application and other factors. For more info, see our methodologies.
Our team of nerdy experts is composed of writers and editors — based all across the country — who have a combined 493 years of journalistic experience reviewing and writing about personal finance products for consumers.
Yes. Writers and editors use comprehensive scoring formulas that assess each financial product’s key features, weighting them according to their importance to consumers.
Nope. Editorial team members are solely responsible for creating all product reviews and ratings, and these assessments reflect their opinions alone. Only products that meet the editorial team’s standards appear in our Best-Of Awards lists, meaning no company can “buy” an award.
Our Best-Of Awards are given annually to the top financial products on the market. Our other “best” articles may:
• be longer than our Best-Of Awards list
• offer additional consumer choices
• get updated as products change or are discontinued and as new products emerge
This year's Best-Of-Awards list winners were chosen in mid-October 2023, with the exception of Best Airline Rewards Program, which was chosen in early November 2023.
Our 2023 Best-Of Award winners are still live. If you’d like to see who won last year, feel free to take a look and compare with this year’s winners.
NerdWallet is not an investment advisor and does not provide investment advice. The list provides information and education for potential investors. NerdWallet does not offer advisory or brokerage services, nor does it recommend or advise that investors buy or sell particular stocks or securities.
