SoFi Active Investing Review 2024: Pros, Cons and How It Compares
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Our Take
4.3
The bottom line:
on SoFi Invest's website
Pros & Cons
Pros
Commission-free stock, options and ETF trades.
Free financial counseling.
IPO access.
IRA match.
Cons
Low interest rate on uninvested cash.
Compare to Similar Brokers
Current Product
NerdWallet rating 4.3 /5 | NerdWallet rating 4.8 /5 | NerdWallet rating 4.5 /5 | NerdWallet rating 4.6 /5 |
Fees $0 per trade | Fees $0 per online equity trade | Fees $0 per trade | Fees $0 |
Account minimum $0 | Account minimum $0 | Account minimum $0 | Account minimum $0 |
Promotion Up to $1,000 in free stock for users who sign up via mobile app | Promotion None no promotion available at this time | Promotion 1 Free Stock after linking your bank account (stock value range $5.00-$200) | Promotion Earn up to $10,000 when you transfer your investment portfolio to Public. |
Learn more on SoFi Invest's website | Learn more on Charles Schwab's website | Learn more on Robinhood's website | Learn more on Public's website |
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Full Review
In this review of SoFi Active Investing
Where SoFi Active Investing shines
IRA match: SoFi will match 1% of your IRA contributions up to the contribution limit. If you contribute the maximum annual amount allowed for 2024 ($7,000 if you're under 50; $8,000 for those 50 or older), that means you could earn $70 or $80 just for contributing to your retirement savings.
Access to financial advisors: All SoFi clients have unlimited access to the company's financial advisors at no extra charge to help with long-term financial strategy. Many other brokers don't offer access to advisors, or if they do, they often charge an additional fee.
Where SoFi Active Investing falls short
Low interest rate on uninvested cash: Many brokers have started paying higher cash sweep rates to reflect the high-interest rate environment, but SoFI's cash sweep rate still stands at just 0.01%.
Advanced investment choice: Advanced investors may be disappointed with the lack of forex, futures or crypto.
Alternatives to consider:
For a better interest rate: Vanguard
For more investment choice: Interactive Brokers
What type of investor should choose SoFi Active Investing?
Less-experienced investors: Beginners will appreciate the free access to financial professionals you get with SoFi. This is a perk not many other brokerages offer. Fractional shares will also make beginners feel more comfortable.
Retirement investors: If you're planning on contributing money to an IRA anyway, you might as well get paid to do it. SoFi's 1% retirement match is a nice bonus for making a smart financial move.
Options traders: Options trades come with zero costs, meaning options traders can trade as much as they want for free.
What the Nerds think 🤓
Chris Davis , investing editor and reviews lead
"Getting started is extremely easy. It’s a fast app — they use Plaid to connect to your bank account and what you deposit into the brokerage can be used to buy stocks or ETFs immediately, unlike at some of the most established institutions. It’s definitely an app for beginners, based on the simple design and lack of advanced trading screens, and the whole process, from funding to buying, is very intuitive.
"However, the app does prompt users to consider investing in assets beyond traditional bonds, stocks and cash, such as venture capital, private credit and real estate funds, as well as plenty of sector-specific actively traded mutual funds. While this diversification is great for those who might need it, these are decidedly not beginner investments, and may come with additional fees, risks and liquidity issues. SoFi does outline these potential downsides, but beginner investors (to whom this app seems targeted) should be diligent about reading the fine print before diving into any of these investments."
SoFi Active Investing at a glance
Account minimum | $0 |
Stock trading costs | $0 |
Options trades | $0 |
Account fees (annual, transfer, closing, inactivity) | Annual fee: $0 Inactivity fee: $25 (easily waived) Outgoing transfer fee (partial or full): $100 |
Interest rate on uninvested cash | 0.01% |
No-transaction-fee mutual funds | Over 6,000 |
Tradable securities | Stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, options, interval funds |
Trading platform | Two: Mobile app and web |
Mobile app | Available for iOS and Android |
Research and data | Three: Xignite, Morningstar, TipRanks |
Customer support options (includes how easy it is to find key details on the website) | Phone and chat support 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT, seven days a week. |
How to sign up for a SoFi Active Investing account
To sign up for a SoFi account, download the app or create an account on SoFi's website. Once your account is created you'll have to choose what type of investing account you want to open. You can choose from a traditional brokerage account or an IRA.
You'll need to fill out some personal details, including your birthday, citizenship status, Social Security number and contact information. SoFi will also ask about your employment status. From there, you can link your bank and fund your new investment account.
What to know about SoFi Active Investing's fees
SoFi Active Investing has no account minimum, no stock trading fees, and impressively, free options trading. This is rare among brokers that offer options trading — while commissions on options trades are no longer common, most charge a fee per contract.
SoFi has no annual fee, but there is a $100 full or partial outgoing transfer fee, which is among the highest of any broker we review. There is also a $25 annual inactivity fee, but you can avoid that without much work: As long as you log in to your account at least once every six months, you can waive this fee. There is also a $20 fee for closing an IRA.
SoFi Active Investing's trading platforms and apps
SoFi Active Investing offers a straight-forward trading platform with very limited features without the bells and whistles serious traders may enjoy.
It does have a simple interface for new investors, though, and some of its offerings help the company live up to the "social" aspect of Social Finance. For instance, you can look at the holdings of well-known traders to see how your ideas compare to theirs.
Signing up and funding your account are relatively easy, though unless you have a clear idea of what you want to invest in, you may wind up having to look elsewhere as you decide what to buy. SoFi doesn't have a lot of the screening, comparison and research tools that its top-tier competitors offer.
SoFi's trading hours are relatively expansive: from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern, and SoFi does facilitate over-the-counter trades for free.
SoFi Active Investing's app is available for iOS and Android, highly rated by iOS and Android users and allows users to make trades, as well as track performance and get real-time quotes.
How we nerd out testing trading platforms
Our reviewers — who are writers and editors on NerdWallet’s content team — test every online broker platform in our analysis hands-on. That way, we can report on every aspect of the user experience, from funding a new account to placing trades.
We score each broker against criteria that factor in the capabilities offered and the actual user experience of trading with those capabilities. This includes how easy it was to sign up for and fund a new account. Note that a broker may score very highly for the platforms it offers but low for the experience of actually using that platform. Our analysis scores these criteria separately and weighs them evenly when factored into the broker’s overall score. As a result, a broker can offer an advanced trading platform. Still, if it is clunky to use or the process of opening an account is unnecessarily arduous, their score will reflect that.
SoFi Active Investing's investment selection
SoFi gives investors access to stocks, ETFs, over 6,000 no-transaction-fee mutual funds, options, and interval funds. SoFi's mutual fund catalog includes liquid alternative funds, including commodities, precious metal commodities and real estate.
SoFi Active Investing also gives investors access to fractional shares, options, IPO offerings and American depository receipts (ADRs), which allow customers to easily buy shares in foreign companies.
SoFi does not give investors access to more advanced securities such as futures, forex or crypto.
Other key SoFi Active Investing features
Customer support
Customer support is available via email and chat, as well as by phone from 5 a.m to 5 p.m PT every day. Note, however, that investing-specific help (meaning access to financial advisors) is only available on weekdays.
Execution quality
It's also important to note that SoFi does accept payment for order flow, which is a common practice among discount brokers. But it does mean that SoFi may earn more if it routes your order to the market maker that offers the best payment rather than the optimal consumer price.
The company says that for orders between 100 and 499 shares, its execution quality is around 97.41%.
The average execution quality of all brokers we review was 96.95% as of Oct. 16, 2024. That means 96.95% of orders sold for at a price that was at or better than the National Best Bid and Offer. Executing at or above the NBBO means you may receive a price improvement or a better share price than you were originally quoted.
IRA account
SoFi offers traditional, Roth, SEP and rollover IRAs. Currently, SoFi is offering an IRA match of 1%. That means if you deposit $7,000 (the 2024 contribution limit for those under 50), SoFi will give you $70. A few other online brokerages offer IRA matches, but not many.
Good to know about SoFi Active Investing
Low interest rate on uninvested cash
SoFi offers a low 0.01% interest rate on uninvested cash, and even to receive that, you have to opt into it. This is a departure from some other brokers, where the default interest rate on uninvested cash can be as high as around 4%.
Lack of research and data
SoFi has a sampling of free online resources, such as historical data and stock performance, as well as webinars and live events. But it lacks the research capabilities you might find elsewhere.
Is SoFi Active Investing safe?
All investing comes with the risk of loss, but SoFi is covered by insurance and is registered with all the appropriate governing bodies.
Is an investment at SoFi Active Investing FDIC insured?
SoFi has FDIC insurance to protect cash deposits in checking and savings accounts for up to $250,000. SoFi is also covered by SIPC insurance, which protects brokerage accounts up to $500,000. SIPC insurance don't apply to investment losses or price fluctuations. SoFi is also regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission to ensure compliance with securities regulations, and by FINRA, which regulates broker-dealers.
Is SoFi Active Investing right for you?
SoFi Active Investing has attractive features for new investors: commission-free stock, ETF and options trades, a $0 account minimum, free financial counseling, fractional shares and IPOs. The broker has consistently improved its offerings over the years, especially with the addition of mutual funds. If you're a beginner looking for a broker with access to advisors and low costs, SoFi may be a good choice.
on SoFi Invest's website
