Stash Review 2024: Pros, Cons and How It Compares

Where Stash shines

DIY and automated investing: Stash marries the idea of DIY investing with 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.

Stock round-ups: 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 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

What type of investor should choose Stash?

• Beginners who want to learn how to invest.

• Investors who want to buy fractional shares.

• Investors who want to choose their own investments and get automated portfolios.

What the Nerds think 🤓

Stash at a glance

Reviewed in: Oct. 2024

Period considered: Aug. - Oct. 2024

How to sign up for a Stash account

You can sign up for a Stash account through the robo-advisor's website or app, where you'll be prompted to create a username and password. To set up an account, you'll need to provide your bank account information, Social Security number, age and proof of identity.

You'll also answer questions about your risk tolerance and savings goals to give Stash an idea of your investing preferences. After paying the monthly subscription fee, you can fund your account and get started investing.

How much does Stash cost?

There's no account minimum required, and Stash's Smart Portfolios only require $5 to start investing. Some robo-advisors have $0 minimums, but others have minimums as high as $500 or even $5,000.

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.

The ETFs available through Stash have an average expense ratio — the annual fee charged to investors — of 0.06% to 0.08% for all Smart Portfolios. That’s fairly standard compared with Stash’s competitors.

Subscription pricing

Stash offers two levels of its subscription service. Here's what each tier offers:

Other robo-advisors charge a fee based on the amount of money they are managing for you. For example, Wealthfront has a 0.25% management fee — if you have $1,000 under management, the annual cost will be $2.50. Wealthfront will also build your portfolio, rebalance it and apply tax-loss harvesting on taxable accounts.

Keep in mind, if you opt for Stash Growth ($3 a month) or Stash+ ($9 a month), you’ll have the opportunity to pick your own investments through an individual brokerage account. This DIY-and-automated approach is rare among robo-advisors.

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

Stash's portfolio selection

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 uses 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.

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.

Looking for sustainable portfolios? Check out the best socially responsible robo-advisors.

Other key Stash features

Automatic rebalancing

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.

Banking account/cash management option

Stash offers access to a banking account with no overdraft fees or minimum balance through Stride 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. However, Stash’s banking account does not pay interest.

Instead, 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 Growth ($3 per month) customers earn 0.125% stock on all everyday purchases. Stash+ ($9 per month) customers earn 1% back in stock on all purchases up to $1,000 each month (subject to terms and conditions).

Customer support options

Stash offers phone and email support Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern and Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Eastern.

» Eager to pick your own investments? See our best online stock brokers.

Good to know about Stash

Accounts supported

For a managed Smart Portfolio, clients only have access to an individual brokerage account. Pretty much every other robo-advisor NerdWallet reviews 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

Stash does not offer any form of tax strategy. Many other robo-advisors offer some form of tax optimization. Tax-loss harvesting, which is an investment strategy that can reduce the amount of tax you may have to pay after you sell your investments, is offered by several robo-advisors.

» Want to check out other providers? Here are our top picks for best robo-advisors.

Human advisor option

Stash’s website states that all clients receive “advice” for beginning investors, personal finances, family finances and market insights. 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 tailored advice from a financial professional. If you have specific questions you’d like to ask a financial professional, you may want to look elsewhere.

Is Stash safe?

While investing always comes with risk, Stash partners with a third-party member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), which protects up to $500,000 in securities and $250,000 in cash. This means that in the event that Stash were to fail, your money would be safe up to that limit.

Is Stash worth it?

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.