M1 Finance provides exciting possibilities for automatic investment and broad portfolio customization in addition to borrowing and spending options. You can develop your strategy or select one of more than 60 pre-built portfolios or "pies" (a play on portfolio pie charts). Experienced investors who wish to automate their strategy while adhering to individual preferences, tolerance for risk, and diversification goals should utilize this adaptable investment tool. M1 receives high marks for the platform's overall low cost, putting more of your money to work for you, with no fees for trading or investment management. To assist you determine if M1 Finance's Robo-advisory is the best fit for the needs of your portfolio, we'll take a closer look at it.

Creating an Account

Getting started with M1 Finance is a straightforward process. After generating a username and password, you'll be prompted to begin M1's onboarding process. You'll learn how the platform works and provide answers to some general questions about your investment history. During the procedure's portfolio development phase, you may either select one of the pre-built pies or build a portfolio that precisely meets your needs.

You will be asked to select an account before you can begin. M1 supports custodial accounts, brokerage accounts, Traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, and SEP IRAs (M1 Plus only). Remember that there is a minimum of $100 (or $500 for IRAs) to start an account. Once you've finished creating your portfolio, selected an account, and input your banking information, you're ready to begin investing.

Setting goals

M1 intentionally omits goal-setting and financial calculators in favour of automating portfolio management for seasoned investors. Due to the platform's lack of advisory services, human consultants also lack access. A sizable collection of articles on M1's blog offers an in-depth treatment of many investing and general financial education topics.

Investors seeking goal-setting tools or who want one-on-one support can find the lack of hand-holding uncomfortable. The focus on portfolio management leads to a more streamlined investment procedure for seasoned investors centred on boosting your wealth. It's important to remember that M1 isn't seeking to function as a Robo-advisor that compiles fundamental objective and risk information and produces a portfolio that fits with Modern Portfolio Theory and your time horizon. Instead, M1 is searching for investors who want to reduce management's effort without sacrificing their portfolios' adaptability, diversification, and automation.

Account Administration

You may have more control over your finances with various account options from M1 Finance. The interface makes it simple to transfer funds in and out, and you may choose to set up automatic monthly, weekly, or biweekly contributions into your portfolio. Additionally, you have more freedom because you can place individual trade orders. You can combine your interest in a single brokerage by putting money into M1 from outside trading or pension funds. In addition to these choices, once the sum hits $10,000, traders can use margin accounts to loan up to 35% of the account value.

Cash Management

In addition to the portfolio management solution, M1 Finance offers digital banking, a credit card alternative, and a cash flow allocation component to complete the platform:

With M1 Spend, combining your checking account and investments is simple. A debit card can be used for payments, direct deposits, and money transfers. There is no minimum balance requirement, and the FDIC fully ensures all warranties up to $250,000. M1 Plus users get 1% interest, 1% cash return, and check-sending capacity.

Portfolio Development

Portfolio construction is one of the M1 platform's key differentiators. Investors can select from more than 60 pre-built Expert Pies that meet a range of investment strategies, including passive funds, alternatives that resemble hedge funds, and socially conscious choices.By using just two ETFs—one bond and one equity—that track the global market and allow you to allocate your assets between the two funds in line with your risk tolerance, you can, for instance, establish a passive portfolio. This portfolio would consist of just two investments. You can also create Custom Pies to entirely choose your holdings or combine them with an existing Expert Pie.

Using Expert Pies, you can benefit from various alternate asset allocation strategies. Some of these include fundamental analysis, technical analysis, buy-and-hold investing, value investing, growth investing, income investing, investing in small-cap stocks, and dividend reinvestment programs.

Mobile Device Use

The M1 Finance app obtains high usability reviews, much like the desktop version. The workflows on the website and the app are substantially identical. You can achieve practically anything on the website and the app, depending on which experience you want.