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M1 Invest Review 2024: Portfolios Expertly Designed To Suit Various Investment Profiles

Bobby Hall

M1 Invest offers extensive portfolio customization options for investors looking to automate their investment strategy. With no commission and management fees, you can be confident that more of your dollars are working harder for you. 

Overall rating

4.7

Summary: With M1 Invest, you set up auto-invest and pick your investments or choose from an expertly designed pie to meet your investment objectives.

M1 Invest

m1 finance logo

0%

Annual Fee

$100

Account Minimum


Reviews

4.5

Account Opening

4

Fees

4.5

Deposits & Withdrawals

5

Product Offerings

5

Portfolio Construction

4.5

Portfolio Management

5

Customer Service

5

Education

5

Safe & Secure

Pros

  • Flexible customization options 
  • M1 Plus 90 day free trial
  • Fractional shares

Cons

  • Tax-loss harvesting is not available 
  • No financial advisor

Best For

  • Commission-free 
  • Automated investing 
  • Manage your portfolio with pies

Features

HQChicago, Illinois, United States
Fees0%
Account Minimum$100
AccountsTaxable, Joint Account, Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, and SEP IRAs, or Trust Account
AccessWebsite, Mobile App (Android or iOS)
Portfolio RebalancingAvailable
Tax Loss HarvestingNot Available
Automatic DepositsAvailable
AdvisorNot Available
Fractional ShareNot Available
Socially Responsible InvestingAvailable
Smart BetaNot Available
State RestrictionsAvailable in all States

In depth review on M1 Invest 

Based on the mission to empower you to take control of your finances, M1 Invest offers automation tools, commission-free investing, and over 60 expertly designed investment pies to help you grow your wealth and make more of your dollars work harder for you.   

Expert pies have been designed with a range of investment styles and goals in mind. These can range from retirement planning, general investing, or earning dividends. You cannot change allocations within expert pies, but you can choose pies that align with your overall investment objectives.  

For active investors, there are extensive customization options that give you total control over your portfolio. You can add stocks and ETFs and allocate percentages to your overall pie.

M1 Invest is best for 

  • Commission-free: There are no commission and management fees.  
  • Automated investing: Users on the free plan can toggle on auto-invest. To streamline investing further, you can set up ‘if then’ rules so that your money is auto-invested according to preset conditions. This feature is available on M1 Plus. 
  • Manage your portfolio with pies:  You can start your investment journey with pies expertly designed to suit various investment profiles.  

M1 Invest benefits 

  • Flexible customization options: Build a portfolio that’s customized to your needs and diversify with ease.  
  • M1 Plus 3 Month Free Trial : You can start creating your portfolio for free for the first 90 days with M1 Plus.  
  • Fractional shares: With M1 Invest, fractional shares can lower the barrier of entry for investors with smaller sums of money to get started.  

M1 Invest drawbacks 

  • Tax-loss harvesting not available: While M1 Invest does not do tax loss harvesting, they do minimize your tax burden by selling securities in order of lowest tax burden to highest.  
  • No financial advisor: Financial advisory services are not provided by M1 Invest.  

Account opening 

4.5

To get started with M1 Invest, apply online and you’ll receive a confirmation email with either an approval or asking for more information. It could take 5 – 7 business days to verify your identity.  

Qualifying for an account requires that you are a US citizen or a permanent resident over 18 years old. You’ll need to have a US address and phone number.  

At the moment you can open the following account types: 

  • Individual taxable account 
  • Joint account 
  • Traditional IRA 
  • Roth IRA 
  • SEP-IRA 
  • Trust account 
  • Custodial account (M1 Plus users) 

Fees 

4

M1 Invest does not charge a commission fee or spread for placing a trade. There are no platform fees and you can deposit and withdraw from your account at no extra cost.  

However, there are some fees to consider before you open an account. Some of these include: 

Overnight Mail – Domestic (per request) $125 
Overnight Mail – International/Canada (per request) $100 
Paper Confirm Fee $2 
Paper Statement Fee $5 
Paper Tax Statement Fee $5 
Tax Documents $50 

You can find a full list of fees on their website. 

In addition, there is an annual subscription fee of $125 for M1 Plus, where you’ll have access to checking, investing, and borrowing.  

Deposit and withdrawal 

4.5

To begin investing, you’ll need to fund your account. You’ll be asked to connect your bank account to M1 Invest during the application process.  

There is an initial deposit minimum of $100. After your first deposit, there is a minimum of $10. Setting up recurring deposits can help save you time, and when you use the auto-invest feature, your cash balance will be invested without having to manually allocate your funds. 

For full or partial brokerage transfers, you can submit your request online.  

Withdrawals to your external bank account can take between 3 – 5 business days. In addition, there may be a settlement period and a holding period to cover the sale of securities.  

Product offerings

5

With M1 Invest, you can invest in stocks and ETFs using expertly curated pies or custom pies that you build.  

Expert pies align with various investment styles and goals, and you can choose how much of your portfolio your wish to allocate to the pie.  

Custom pies can be created by choosing from a range of securities. Fractional shares are offered for investors looking to diversify with ease.  

Portfolio construction 

5

With over 60 different expertly curated pies to choose from, you can align yourself with the strategy that best meets your investment objectives as an investor.   

Investment styles can range from retirement, dividend, and value investing. With over 6000+ stocks and ETFs, portfolios can be easily diversified.  

Currently, M1 Invest does not support cryptocurrencies, but you can invest in crypto-related assets. If there is a security you would like to see on the M1 platform, you can get in touch and request the new addition. It typically takes 5 business days for M1 Invest to approve the new security.  

Portfolio management 

4.5

M1 Invest monitors and rebalances your portfolio to the target allocations set. This ensures securities do not swing too far from your target percentages and allows you to stay on track with your financial goals.  

Tax-loss harvesting is unavailable to M1 investors to counteract capital gains tax liabilities. However, M1 Invest uses a tax minimization feature to reduce tax liabilities arising from a security sale. This involves selling securities in order of lowest tax burden to highest.  

M1 Invest trades once during the day, although M1 Plus members with a balance over $25,000 can benefit from two trading windows. Fractional shares can also allow investors to invest money without holding too much in cash.  

Education 

5

M1 Invest provides an extensive blog to help you improve your financial wellbeing. There is a range of articles to help long-term investors learn about investing, financial planning, and market news.  

Plus, you can sign up for their newsletter to access material to increase your knowledge base and confidence while growing your investment portfolio.  

Customer service 

5

There are multiple ways to get in touch with M1 Invest. Email support is provided when the U.S. stock market is trading. This is typically Monday to Friday, and it takes one business day to receive a response.  

For urgent questions, you can call 312-600-2883 Monday through Friday, from 9 am to 4 pm ET when the market is open.  

Instant help is available via the chat box on the website. But if you want to speak to a real human, it’s best to either call or send an email.  

Additionally, you can visit the help center and FAQ page on the website, which provides extensive answers to commonly asked questions.  

Safe and secure 

5

M1 Invest is a member of the SIPC where investments are covered up to $500,000 and $250,000 for cash balances. Plus, additional features are included to help keep your account safe. Some of these features include two-factor authentication and passwords for all accounts.  

Is M1 Invest right for you? 

M1 Invest is best for investors looking for a self-directed investing app to diversify their portfolios with extensive customization options. Hand-off investors will benefit from the expertly curated portfolios, while active investors can build a portfolio customized to their investment style and goals.  

The platform is commission free, and there are no account management costs. Plus, investors can get started with small sums of money using the fractional share feature. 

However, investors looking for a financial advisor or the ability to tax loss harvest investments should consider alternative options to build their investment portfolio. Unfortunately, these features are not offered by M1 Invest at this time.