Blog

Learning how to invest in the S&P 500 got a lot easier after 1976.

That is the year that John Bogle, founder of Vanguard, created the first index fund. This new type of investment fund allowed everyday investors, like you and me, to invest in indices (such as the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average) with just one purchase.

Without index funds, if you wanted to invest in the S&P 500, you’d either have to buy each stock individually through 500 separate transactions or pay a mutual fund manager too much money to try to recreate the index themselves.

Index funds enable people to invest in the S&P 500 with just one purchase, and for a very low cost.

Free investing apps have taken the world by storm since Robinhood launched in 2013. It’s hard to remember, but free trading was largely unheard of back then, and Robinhood was a pioneer. However, since 2013, multiple new apps have launched, which I why I decided to do a comprehensive review of three of the biggest players: Webull vs Robinhood vs M1 Finance.

These investment apps largely cater to millennial investors thanks to their sleek trading platforms and low fees. Though, when diving deeper into Webull, Robinhood, and M1 Finance I found benefits that I wasn’t necessarily expecting, such as:

• The ability to trade in low-cost exchange traded funds (ETFs)
• In-depth analysis and trading tools
• New investing strategies: Pie Investing

There are some major differences between the apps, as well. Below you’ll learn more about the details of Webull vs Robinhood vs M1 Finance to determine which is the best free investing app for you.