The brokerage app you choose to use could make (or lose) you tens of thousands of dollars.

Let us explain.

If you could earn a few hundred bucks every year just for using one brokerage app over another, would you?

We would. That’s because a few hundred bucks is worth so much more in 30 years if you start investing it now. $300 now is $2,434.95 in 30 years (at 7% interest rate). 

But $300 every year for 30 years at 7% interest is $30,621.91.

What about earning 4% or more on uninvested cash, getting access to level II Nasdaq data, leverage…? The list goes on.

The point we’re making is: the seemingly tiny differences between the brokerages you can choose from matter a lot. We want you to make an educated choice (this is not sponsored content, just thought this was a relevant topic for you guys).

So we’re going to look at three different brokerages you could choose to trade with (and some honorable mentions). We’ll walk you through the practical details that actually impact real investors like you.

Note: none of this is sponsored. We just wanted to find out what the incentives are right now on different brokerage apps so we could suggest the best ones wholeheartedly to you.

We’ll show you brokerage accounts that offer:

And we will ignore (most of) the brokerages that don’t offer any benefits like those.

Let’s begin.

The brokerage app that rose to fame (or infamy) during the Covid lock downs of 2020 and led many a retail trader to riches (or disaster): Robinhood.

This is one of the most popular trading apps in the world, and its competitors are constantly having to adapt to the new standards Robinhood sets and what it does for its users.

And boy, does it do a lot for its users.

You can read through the features Robinhood offers below. You only get access to most of the really good features when you pay for a Robinhood Gold membership, which is $5 a month (but is often worth it from a cost-benefit analysis standpoint).

One feature that we want to highlight is the 3% IRA match. That means that each year, if you’re maxing out your IRA contributions ($7,000 per year), Robinhood will contribute $210 to your account. That contribution adds up over time.

And if you already have a 401(k) or an IRA somewhere else and transfer that to Robinhood, the platform will give you a 1% match. That means if you have a $50,000 401(k) but want to turn it into a Robinhood IRA, they will pay you $500 to do that. Just because they want your business.

And even if you just keep cash in your account doing nothing for a while, you still earn 4% APY on it. Which is almost as good as the rates that top banks offer in their savings accounts (and is better than some).

If Robinhood had a nemesis, it would be Webull, its more technical but less aesthetically pleasing brother.

It seems like everything that Webull does is in an effort to differentiate itself from Robinhood. It’s kind of like the Apple vs. Android debate, where Webull (Android) beats Robinhood (Apple) on a lot of features…

But Apple has the Apple brand, following, and aesthetics.

You’ll see what we mean in the features list below, but to give a taste:

Robinhood offers 3% IRA matching? Webull does 3.5%.

Robinhood offers 4% APY on sitting cash? Webull does 4.1%.

And yet, we all know that at the end of the day, many traders pick Robinhood because the app just looks and feels way better. You can trade more technically in Webull, but you can trade ✨beautifully✨ in Robinhood.

Overall, if you want to truly optimize for every bit of cash you can get, take Webull. If you don’t mind missing a few percents of a percent, and maybe prefer the human traders in Robinhood’s auto trading to Webull’s robo advisor, take Robinhood for the UX.

And here’s an institutional name you may not have considered before, but that we wanted to include for comparison’s sake.

There’s a lot that Robinhood and Webull do that Charles Schwab can’t do; but the opposite is just as true.

If Robinhood and Webull are all about rewarding the user with benefits, Charles Schwab entices users with more trading options and flexibility than either of the other two.

For example: Charles Schwab has forex, international stocks, bonds, options, and IPOs. Robinhood and Webull have some of those, but not forex or global stocks.

And that’s a big deal to some people, and a small deal to others. It’s all about what you prefer.

We don’t have much more to say about Charles Schwab, just that if you want the widest possible selection of assets to trade (minus crypto), it’s probably the brokerage for you.

Overall, you want to get the best value out of your investments. We’re no financial advisors, but it seems obvious to us that if there’s a zero-drawback brokerage that’s offering us hundreds of dollars a year to invest with them, we should take that offer over the brokerages that are giving us less (or nothing) for our business.

And remember, those extra couple hundred dollars (or more) each year can seriously add up over time.

That’s all for today’s special edition. We hope you got value from it. Reply and let us know if you did. 

Until next week,

— Brandon & Blake