Stash is an investing app that was founded in 2015 by former Wall Street investors Brandon Krieg and Ed Robinson after they realized that "wealth creation systems were stacked against everyday Americans." With this in mind, Stash has a self described mission to, "make investing easy and affordable for everyone."

Since Stash is primarily focused on helping you invest, the app works in two ways. After you have completed the sign up process, you can opt to invest using Stash's automated investing feature, or invest on your own using the invest your way feature. Basically, you can either have Stash build an investing portfolio for you if you don't know what to invest in, or you can choose your own stocks, ETFs, and crypto if you do know what you want to invest in.

Stash allows you to investing your money in one of two ways: automated investing or invest your way.

Automated Investing: Stash offers what they call a Smart Portfolio, which is their in house robo advisor. The idea here is to build you a complete investing portfolio made up of a mix stocks, ETFs, and crytpo based upon your goals and risk tolerance. Stash will also reinvest your dividends, keep your portfolio optimally balanced, and help you set up recurring investments.

In order to use this feature, you simply have to answer a few questions from Stash and make your initial deposit after Stash has built your portfolio based upon the answers you gave them. There is a $5 initial deposit required to open a smart portolio.

Invest Your Way: As the name implies, the invest your way feature allows you to actively buy and sell a range of stocks, ETFs, and crypto. Stash offers commission free investing on stocks and ETFs, but you will pay a small fee of 0.8% to 1% depending upon your plan.

Stash does offer the ability to buy these assets using fractional shares. This simply means that you don't have to buy a full share of an asset, you can own just a piece of it. So if a stock was $1,000 you could buy a fractional share for $100.

Stash's bank account has no fees, offers instant transfers, and allows you to get your paycheck 2 days early with direct deposit. Stash also offers budgeting and savings tools within the app that work in tandem with your account so you can track your spending and set savings goals.

Stash's stock back debit card is one of their best features. As the name implies, you can earn stock rewards every time you use the debit card to make a purchase. You can earn stock from well known brands when you shop at that company, or get rewarded with a default investment when you shop at a local or privately owned company.

The amount of stock you will get back will depend upon what subscription plan you are on. If you are on the entry level Stash Growth Plan, you will earn 0.125% stock back on every qualifying purchase. If you are on the Stash+ plan, you will earn 1% stock back on every purchase up to $1,000 per month, and then 0.125% after that.

The card does not have any fees, offers access to over 55k fee free ATMs, has strong security with the ability to lock and unlock your card through the app, and works well with the Stash bank account.

Finally, Stash offers a library of both videos and written articles to educate you on financial topics ranging from financial news, to budgeting and saving, taxes and insurance, and more. The videos and articles are simple and easy for anyone to understand.

Stash has two monthly subscription plans: Stash Growth and Stash+.  
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Included in Stash Growth: You get investing advice for yourself and your family, access to both automated and invest your way strategies, access to a retirement and bank account, and the stock back debit card (you earn the lower rate of 0.125% stock back on this plan).

Included in Stash+: You get everything included in Stash Growth, plus Stash Market Insights to help you make better investment choices, 2 kids custodial portfolios, and 1% stock back rewards on the stock back debit card.

The customer support of Stash is strong overall. First, Stash offers their online help center for basic inquiries, and email support is also available if you don't find your answer within the online help center. Secondly, phone support is offered from 8 am to 8 pm ET on weekdays.

The main advantage of Stash is that it is beginner friendly, and is a good place to start building long term wealth even if you don't plan on staying on the app forever. If you are just getting started on your investing journey, having both the option to select your own investments, as well as an option to have a portfolio built for you are huge advantages. The stock back debit card provides another avenue for you to build wealth, and the educational content is easy to consume and understand.

The first disadvantage of Stash is that the cost is a bit high. Although $3 to $9 per month sounds reasonable, these fees can eat away at small account balances. If you only have a $100 account balance and are paying $3 per month in fees, that is the equivalent of a 3% fee which is quite high when compared to industry standards.

Secondly, Stash loosely falls into the category of a robo advisor. We mention this because Stash does not offer any sort of tax strategy or access to human advisors, where as other robo advisors do. This is a bit of a nit pick as Stash would classify themself as an investing app, and not just a robo advisor, but you should still be aware that Stash lacks these features.