Robinhood was one of the first investing apps to offer commission free investing. The company was originally founded in 2013 by Vladimir Tenev and Baiju Bhatt, who later launched the Robinhood app in 2015. Before founding Robinhood, Tenev and Bhatt built trading platforms for financial institutions in New York. It was while doing this that the pair realized that investing was only built for the rich as fees and account minimums were significant. This realization birthed Robinhood with a simple mission to, "democratize finance for all."

Robinhood offers commission free investing of stocks, options, ETFs, and crypto. After you open your account and make an initial deposit, you can start investing through the Robinhood app which has an easy to use interface. Besides commission free investing, Robinhood also offers a few banking features, as well as a unique retirement option.

In addition to commission free investing, Robinhood has some other investing features worth mentioning. First, Robinhood offers IPO access on select stocks. Basically, when a company first sells their stock to the public, you can be the first one to have access to that stock through Robinhood. Secondly, Robinhood offers fractional shares for as low as a single dollar. All this means is that you can buy just a fraction of an asset, as oppossed to having to purchase a complete share at full price.

Recently, Robinhood rolled out their own retirement plan. Robinhood will contribute a 1% match on every dollar you contribute to either a Roth or Traditional IRA when you hold the account through Robinhood. Think of it like an employer sponsored retirement plan, except you don't need to have an employer. You can transfer outside IRAs as well as 401(k)s to this program to take advantage of the match.

For this plan, Robinhood offers either a Roth or a Traditional IRA. Roth IRA contributions are typically made with after tax dollars, and withdrawals in retirement are then tax free. Traditional IRA contributions are typically made with pre-tax dollars, and withdrawals are then taxed in retirement. Please note that there are limitations to these accounts and you must qualify. Check out the IRS website and consult a tax professional to see which account is best for you.

Robinhood's spending account is a basic bank account designed for daily use. The account has no fees, is FDIC insured up to $250k and offers a direct deposit feature in which you can get your paycheck 2 days early. You can spend the funds in your account using Robinhood's Cash Card. The card has three unique features.

Round Ups: Every time you make a purchase using the card, Robinhood will "round up" that purchase to the nearest dollar and invest it automatically on your behalf. Lets say you bought a cup of coffee for $4.50 using the card. Robinhood would round up that purchase to $5 and invest the difference of $0.50 automatically into your brokerage or brokerage cash account. Round Ups are limited to $100 per week.

Round Up Bonuses: Every week, Robinhood will also pay you a 10% to 100% bonus of the total value of your round ups for that week. So lets say you had $10 worth of round ups for a week, you could earn a 50% bonus of $5. Each week, your round up bonus will automatically be transferred with your round ups to your investing or brokerage account. There is a $10 limit on round up bonuses per week.

Cash Card Offers: Thirdly, you can earn cash back to your spending account when you use your card at qualifying retailers. You can see eligible retailers and offers in the Cash Card Offers section of the Robinhood app. Rewards will vary by retailer and Robinhood states that you should see your rewards in your spending account after the transaction clears which is typically around 2 days.

Robinhood Gold is Robinhood's premier subscription based service that is designed to offer more features than the standard commission free investing. The service costs $5 a month, (an introductory 30 day free trial is available) and includes the following features.

Robinhood primarily encourges users to contact them through the help tab within the app. You can select what you are having trouble with and how you want to connect with Robinhood's team. You can either use the chat feature 24/7, or request to have a customer support reprensentative give you a call back. Robinhood states that you can typically expect a call back from their team with half an hour.

The primary advantages of Robinhood is that it is cost effective, convenient and easy to use. Keep in mind that Robinhood is not a full service brokerage. They don't have a complete range of assets, don't offer human advisors, and don't offer a wide range of account options.

However, if you are just getting started and want something that is going to make taking your first investing steps easy, Robinhood can still be a good choice. Some bonus advantages are the retirement match (especially if your employer does not offer this), and the cash card if you use it the correct way.

By far the biggest disadvantage of Robinhood is their poor reputation and questionable dealings. Between 2020 and 2021, Robinhood was involved in a variety of questionable dealings that have left them with a poor reputation. Some of the notable incidents include the following.

Since these incidents, Robinhood has tried to increase security measures and transparancy. These circumstances should not necessarily disqualify Robinhood as a solid investing app, but you should definetly be aware of them and factor them into your decision.

Robinhood is right for you if: