Most people I know in college treat investing like something they’ll figure out later. Later meaning after graduation, after the first real job, after life settles down. I get it. But the honest math is that starting at 21 instead of 25 matters more than almost any other variable in long-term investing. The app you use to start matters a lot less. Still, choosing the wrong platform adds friction, and friction is what kills follow-through.
I opened my Roth IRA at 19 with the first paycheck that actually felt like real money. Put $400 into FSKAX at Fidelity. The whole setup took maybe 20 minutes and was completely anticlimactic. That was the point. The goal is to find something boring and reliable, not something flashy that makes investing feel like entertainment.
Here’s a quick comparison of the platforms I’ll cover below.
| Platform | Best For | Key Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Fidelity | Roth IRA, long-term investing | $0 minimum, $0 commissions, 4.97% on uninvested cash |
| Charles Schwab | All-in-one accounts, beginners | $0 minimum, solid index fund selection |
| Robinhood | Taxable brokerage, simplicity | $0 commissions, 4.0% APY on Gold cash sweep |
| M1 Finance | Automated portfolio investing | $0 commissions, pie-based allocation system |
| Public | Taxable + alternative assets | $0 minimum, 4.1% APY on cash held |
| SoFi Invest | Students who want banking bundled | No account fees, 1% IRA match on contributions |
The Platforms Worth Your Time
Fidelity
Fidelity is what I use and what I’d recommend to most people starting out. No account minimum, no commission on trades, and you can open a Roth IRA directly on their app without needing to call anyone or go through a broker. Their zero-expense-ratio funds like FZROX and FZILX are genuinely hard to beat. I use FSKAX instead, which has an expense ratio of 0.015%, but any of those options puts almost nothing in fees.
The interface isn’t pretty. I’ll say that clearly. But Fidelity currently yields 4.97% on uninvested cash through their core money market position, which adds up if you’re letting contributions sit before deploying them. If you want a deeper breakdown of how Fidelity stacks up against a newer platform, I wrote about M1 Finance vs Fidelity for Roth IRA and the differences are more meaningful than most people expect.
The thing Fidelity gets right is that it doesn’t try to make you feel like a trader. You open the app, you put money in your index fund, you close the app. That’s the correct behavior, and the platform quietly encourages it.
Charles Schwab
Schwab is functionally similar to Fidelity in most ways that matter. No account minimum, $0 commissions, and a very clean interface that’s arguably better than Fidelity’s for a new investor trying to find their way around. Their flagship index fund is SCHB, which tracks the broad US market at an expense ratio of 0.03%.
Where Schwab edges ahead is customer service. I’ve never needed it personally, but everyone I’ve talked to who has dealt with Schwab says the support is noticeably better than most competitors. For someone just starting out who might have a lot of basic questions, that’s not nothing.
One thing to know: Schwab’s cash sweep rate is currently around 0.48% by default. You have to actively move to a higher-yielding option like Schwab Value Advantage Money Fund to get close to 5%. That’s a small friction point but worth knowing upfront.
Robinhood
I’d be doing you a disservice if I didn’t mention that I started on Robinhood freshman year, bought one stock in a company I was convinced I understood, and sold at a loss eight months later. The platform design genuinely makes you want to trade individual stocks. That is not an accident and it is not in your interest.
That said, Robinhood has improved. If you’re only using it for a taxable brokerage account with ETFs or low-cost index funds, it works fine. Commission-free, clean interface, easy to set up. Their Gold subscription at $5 per month unlocks a 4.0% APY on uninvested cash and a 3% IRA match, which sounds compelling until you realize the 3% match has a 5-year vesting requirement.
I switched to Fidelity for my Roth IRA specifically because of concerns around payment for order flow and how Robinhood routes orders. The Fidelity interface is worse. I genuinely do not care. For serious long-term investing, especially in a Roth IRA, I’d use almost anything else.
M1 Finance
M1 is a different model than the others. Instead of buying individual funds one at a time, you build a “pie” with percentage allocations across whatever holdings you want. The platform then automates rebalancing and dividend reinvestment to match your target percentages. For someone who wants to set a portfolio and then not think about it, that automation is genuinely useful.
No trading commissions, no account minimum for a regular brokerage account, and a $500 minimum to open an IRA. The base account is free. Their M1 Premium tier runs $36 per year and adds a few extras, but most people starting out won’t need it.
The weakness is that M1 only allows trading during specific windows during the day, not real-time execution. For index fund investors who aren’t day trading, this basically doesn’t matter. But it’s worth knowing if you expect to have flexibility around timing.
Public
Public is newer and pitches itself as a social investing platform, which is either useful or annoying depending on your personality. You can see what others are holding and there’s a community layer built in. I don’t particularly want to see anyone else’s portfolio, but some people find the social aspect genuinely motivating.
The investing fundamentals are solid though. $0 minimum, $0 commissions, and 4.1% APY on cash. They also let you invest in fractional shares of stocks and ETFs, plus alternative assets like Treasury bills, which is an interesting differentiator. For a taxable brokerage, it’s a legitimate option.
SoFi Invest
SoFi is worth mentioning specifically for students who want banking and investing in one place. Their IRA offers a 1% match on contributions with no vesting cliff, and there are no account fees. The SoFi checking and savings account currently yields 3.8% APY with direct deposit, which isn’t quite at Marcus levels but isn’t bad either.
The downside is that SoFi’s investment selection is narrower than Fidelity or Schwab. If you’re going to build a serious long-term portfolio with a broad mix of index funds, you’ll hit the limits of their platform pretty quickly. For a student who wants one app that handles everything simply, it works. For someone building toward real financial independence, I’d outgrow it fast.
How to Actually Choose
The honest answer is that for most college students, the choice comes down to two things: whether you want a Roth IRA or just a taxable brokerage account, and how much you care about keeping things simple.
If you want a Roth IRA and you’re serious about long-term investing, Fidelity or Schwab. Full stop. The fees, the fund selection, and the institutional reliability are hard to argue with. You can read more about what a brokerage account actually is and whether you need one if that distinction is still fuzzy.
If you just want to start somewhere and get money working in a taxable account while you figure the rest out, Robinhood or Public will get the job done without friction. Just go in knowing what you’re using them for.
The platform matters less than the habit. Picking Fidelity and never contributing is worse than picking a mediocre app and putting in $50 a month every month for four years. But if you’re going to build the habit anyway, you might as well build it somewhere with low fees and a good fund selection.
If you’re trying to figure out what to actually put in your account once it’s open, my article on the best ETFs to buy in a Roth IRA for beginners covers the options I actually considered when I was starting out.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What’s the best investing app for a college student with no money? Fidelity and Schwab both have $0 account minimums and let you buy fractional shares, so you can legitimately start with $10. There’s no excuse to wait until you have more.
Q: Should I use a Roth IRA or a regular brokerage account in college? If you have earned income, a Roth IRA should come first. Contributions grow tax-free and you can withdraw what you put in penalty-free if you need to, which makes it more flexible than most people realize for college students.
Q: Is Robinhood safe to use? It’s SIPC insured up to $500,000 like any registered brokerage, so your investments are protected against firm failure. The concern with Robinhood isn’t safety in that sense, it’s more about how the platform design encourages behavior that works against long-term investors.
Q: How much should I be investing as a college student? There’s no universal answer, but even $25 to $50 a month builds the habit and adds up meaningfully over time. I’d prioritize having a small emergency fund first, then put whatever’s left toward investing.
Q: Can I open a Roth IRA while I’m still in school? Yes, as long as you have earned income. That includes wages from a part-time job or a summer internship. The 2026 contribution limit is $7,000 for the year, but you can contribute any amount up to whatever you actually earned.
I’m not a financial advisor, just a finance student sharing what I’ve actually done and learned. Do your own research before making any financial decisions.