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SoFi Active Investing Review: Simple App, Low Fees, and IPOs

Review Updated
Ben Gran
Matt Frankel, CFP®
By: Ben Gran
Ben Gran
Ben Gran

Ben Gran is a freelance writer based in Des Moines, Iowa. He has written for regional banks, fintechs, and major financial services companies. Ben is a graduate of Rice University.

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 and  Matt Frankel, CFP®
Matt Frankel, CFP®
Matt Frankel, CFP®
Writer, Analyst

Matt is a Certified Financial Planner™ and investment advisor based in Columbia, South Carolina. He writes personal finance and investment advice for The Ascent and its parent company The Motley Fool, with more than 4,500 published articles and a 2017 SABEW Best in Business award. Matt writes a weekly investment column ("Ask a Fool") that is syndicated in USA Today, and his work has been regularly featured on CNBC, Fox Business, MSN Money, and many other major outlets. He’s a graduate of the University of South Carolina and Nova Southeastern University, and holds a graduate certificate in financial planning from Florida State University.

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Ashley Maready
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Ashley Maready
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Ashley Maready is a former history museum professional who made the leap to digital content writing and editing in 2021. She has a BA in History and Philosophy from Hood College and an MA in Applied History from Shippensburg University. Ashley loves creating content for the public and learning new things so she can teach others, whether it's information about salt mining, canal mules, or personal finance.

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SoFi Active Investing might be for you if: You want an easy-to-use app with a wide range of zero-commission investments. With SoFi, you can invest in everything from stocks to mutual funds to fractional shares to IPOs. SoFi Active Investing will even match your eligible IRA contributions with an extra 1%.

In this SoFi Active Investing review, you'll learn more to see if this brokerage is for you.

SoFi Active Investing
Open Account for SoFi Active Investing

On SoFi Active Investing's Secure Website.

Ratings Methodology
Award Icon 2024 Award Winner
SoFi Active Investing

SoFi Active Investing

Open Account

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Our Rating:

Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars.
4.5/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
 = Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
= Poor
Bottom Line

This brokerage is a clear standout for its well-rated mobile app and 1% IRA match. It also has unique investment offerings like IPOs, options, and fractional shares.

Fees:

$0 for stocks, $0 for options contracts

Account Minimum:

$0

Special Offer Circle with letter I in it. For new accounts: Customer must fund their Active Invest account with at least $10 within 30 days of opening the account. Probability of customer receiving $1,000 is 0.028%.

Get up to $1,000 in stock when you fund a new Active Invest account.

Open Account for SoFi Active Investing

On SoFi Active Investing's Secure Website.

Alternatives to Consider

We recommend comparing brokerage options to ensure the account you're selecting is the best fit for you. To make your search easier, here's a short list of our best trading platforms of 2024.

Account Fees Account Minimum
Logo for SoFi Active Investing
Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars.
4.5/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
 = Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
= Poor
$0 for stocks, $0 for options contracts $0
Open Account for SoFi Active Investing
Logo for Robinhood
Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars.
4.5/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
 = Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
= Poor
$0 for stocks, ETFs, and options; up to $6.99 monthly for Robinhood Gold $0
Open Account for Robinhood
Logo for E*TRADE
Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars.
4.5/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
 = Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
= Poor
Commission-free; other fees apply $0
Open Account for E*TRADE

Full SoFi Active Investing review

SoFi Active Investing ranks as one of The Motley Fool Ascent's top picks for best brokerages. This investment platform makes it easy to buy a wide range of stocks, ETFs, and other investment offerings.

Unlike many brokers, SoFi Active Investing offers mutual funds, IPOs, options, and alternative funds like commodities and private credit. And you can get other financial products from SoFi, like high-yield bank accounts and credit cards.

SoFi Active Investing has a lot to offer for any investor who wants an easier way to manage their everyday money and invest for the future.

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We tried it: Our team's experience

Here at The Motley Fool Ascent, we pride ourselves as real users of most of the products across our site. Writer Brittney Myers uses SoFi Invest -- here's her take on this broker:

Brittney's review

The SoFi Invest app is fairly easy to use, especially compared to some other apps I've used. It wasn't hard to figure out where to go to buy stock and see my portfolio. And I liked the free stock I got for opening an account; it was from a fairly well-known company that I was curious about anyway. (Some apps give you stock you've never heard of or would never buy.)

Investment offerings

SoFi Active Investing gives you access to an impressive range of investment offerings. Whether you want to buy individual stocks or fractional shares, get simple diversification with ETFs and mutual funds, or pursue more complex investment strategies with options and alternative investments, SoFi Active Investing makes it all possible.

Investments

  • Alternative investments
  • ETFs
  • Fractional shares
  • IPOs
  • Margin investing
  • Mutual funds
  • Options
  • Stocks

Brokerage accounts

  • Rollover IRA
  • Roth IRA
  • SEP IRA
  • Taxable brokerage
  • Traditional IRA

TIP

Other financial services

As part of the overall SoFi platform, SoFi Active Investing customers can also access other financial services. SoFi also offers:

  • Banking
  • Credit cards
  • Insurance
  • Mortgages
  • Personal loans
  • Robo-advisor (via SoFi Automated Investing)

Commissions and fees

Like most online brokerages, SoFi Active Investing charges (mostly) no fees and no commissions. But you will have to pay a 0.5% purchase fee for alternative investment funds.

Reason Cost
Alternative investment funds 0.5% purchase fee
ETFs $0
Mutual funds $0
Options $0
Stocks $0
Data source: sofi.com

The only commission that SoFi Active Investing charges is a 0.5% purchase fee for alternative investments like private credit, real estate, and pre-IPO companies. Although SoFi Active Investing has $0 commissions on options, it does charge a $5 fee for option exercise and assignment. The SoFi Active Investing platform also charges some miscellaneous regulatory fees that are typical of any brokerage.

Margin rates

As of July 3, 2024, SoFi Active Investing is charging a standard margin rate of 12%. This is in line with what most other brokers offer for margin loans. Keep in mind that margin rates can change at any time based on SoFi's sole discretion.

Margin investing can be risky and can expose you to even larger risks of loss than the usual ways of investing. Be aware of the possible financial downsides before you buy stocks or other potentially risky investments with margin loans.

Research and education

SoFi Active Investing is designed to be a simple, easy-to-use investing platform that is primarily targeted at beginning investors. While SoFi Active Investing offers real-time investing news, stock quotes, and educational content, it does not offer access to third-party stock research at this time.

However, not everyone needs third-party stock research to make good investment decisions. The investor education content that SoFi offers could be valuable to many people. Here are some recent examples:

  • What are alternative investments?
  • Investing for beginners: Ways to get started
  • What is an IRA and how does it work?
  • Call vs. put options: What's the difference?
  • 401(k) vesting: What does vested balance mean?

Investors who want more professional-grade investment research, or who like to analyze stocks with advanced charting tools and other sophisticated capabilities, might prefer a full-featured brokerage.

Interface

SoFi Active Investing offers a clean, modern interface with a surprisingly broad range of investment options. It isn't intended to be the best place for experienced investors who are analyzing stocks. If you want more sophisticated trading tools and professional investment research, SoFi is not the right platform for you.

But if you want a simple, easy-to-use platform, SoFi Active Investing gives you access to thousands of mutual funds, ETFs, options, stocks, and even IPOs and alternative investment funds that historically have been available only to high-net-worth investors. SoFi Active Investing can be a great place to start (or expand) your journey as an investor.

Another advantage of the SoFi Active Investing interface is that it's easy to get access to other financial products from SoFi. SoFi can be an all-in-one platform to help you manage all your money in one place -- from investments to banking and more. SoFi also offers one of our top-rated robo-advisors, SoFi Automated Investing.

Customer service

SoFi gets mixed reviews from the Better Business Bureau. According to BBB.org, SoFi has an A+ rating, but is not accredited by the BBB. And its customer ratings are negative, with 1.53 stars out of 5. SoFi has closed 960 complaints in the past 12 months on BBB.org, but these complaints include all of SoFi's financial services, like banking and personal loans, not just SoFi Active Investing.

The reviews are much more favorable on Trustpilot, where SoFi gets 4.6 stars out of 5. There are a few complaints from SoFi investment customers. One customer complained about how long it took for newly deposited funds to be available to invest, and another complained about SoFi "freezing stocks."

However, there are also many comments on Trustpilot from SoFi customers who said using this brokerage for investing has been a great experience. But in case you need help with your SoFi Active Investing account, there are several ways to contact SoFi customer service:

  • 24/7 online chat with intelligent virtual assistant
  • Phone line open Monday–Friday from 5 a.m.–5 p.m. PT at 855-525-SOFI (7634)
  • In-person locations in San Francisco, New York, and Healdsburg, California
  • X.com: @SoFiSupport

Security

SoFi uses industry-standard security protocols and safeguards to protect your account. These include third-party reviews of its security controls and systems in accordance with security standards, including PCI DSS and SSAE 18 SOC2. SoFi also goes through third-party penetration testing at least once per year.

In case your password is suspected of being compromised, SoFi will require you to reset your password at the next login. You can also protect your account with two-factor authentication (2FA) via the online SoFi platform.

About

SoFi is a one-stop, member-centric platform for digital financial services -- spending, saving, investing, and more. The company was founded in 2011 as Social Finance, Inc. Along with its personal loans and banking offerings, SoFi launched SoFi Invest® in January 2019. Today, SoFi has more than 8 million members.

Learn more about SoFi Active Investing

Keep reading about SoFi Active Investing on these pages:

FAQs

  • SoFi Active Investing is the financial service company's brokerage offering. It allows SoFi Invest customers to buy and sell stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, and options through an easy-to-use platform, and can be used through the same mobile app and web platform as SoFi's bank accounts and loan products.

  • SoFi Active Investing is designed to be a user-friendly way to buy stocks and other investments for investors of all experience levels. It has an easy-to-use platform and a ton of educational resources to help newer investors learn.