M1 Finance is an investment platform that was first launched in 2015. It has three key areas of focus, allowing you to access each element quickly seamlessly. These areas are investment, borrowing, and spending. Unfortunately, right now, the service is restricted to the US. However, there are a few alternatives that users in Europe can make use of. While M1 Finance is not available in Europe, you can still make the most of the services it has inspired.
M1 Finance is not available in Europe. While there is some speculation that it will one day be made available in the region, right now, the only way to access it is by being a US citizen, or a permanent resident with a Green Card. However, people based outside of the US are perfectly positioned to take advantage of other similar services.
Before we dive into the alternatives, let’s go through exactly what M1 finance is.
Table of Contents
What is M1 Finance?
As we mentioned above, M1 Finance is a platform for investing, borrowing, and spending.
- Investing – Using M1 Finance, you can invest in over 6000 stocks or funds, including ETFs and Index Funds. One of the best parts of the investment element of the service is the lack of fees. You can also build custom investment pies and even view more than 100 expert pies. Using these, you can also automatically adjust your portfolio, ensuring it’s well balanced.
- Borrowing – With M1 Finance, you can request a loan of up to 35% of your current investment portfolio. There’s an interest rate of just 2% on this loan, with scheduled paybacks available. This opens up the spending power to users, whether they need the loan for expenses or emergencies.
- Spending – With M1 Finance, you get access to a debit card for spending. You can even upgrade to an M1 Plus card for $125 per year to get 1% cashback on your spending.
European Alternatives
Essentially, M1 Finance is an automated advisor that helps you manage your investment portfolio automatically. The lack of fees is what makes it most attractive, but you can also borrow money if you need to make a quick deal and then pay it back later at a low interest.
These are the requirements of all European equivalents.
eToro
You can sign up to eToro and begin trading commission-free stocks today. This includes ETFs and fractional shares, perfect for diversifying your portfolio. One of the key aspects of eToro is seeing what other traders are doing and following the trends automatically. This helps you keep on top of them and monitor profitability.
Much like M1 Finance being an automated advisor, eToro’s copy trading features steps in to cover this for the European market. You copy traders with a good track record automatically, you can pick and choose which traders to copy yourself, sit back and enjoy.
If you’d like to know how much you can make with eToro affiliate commission, check out our article on it here.
Trading 212
Just like M1 Finance, Trading 212 offers free trading on ETFs and stocks. There’s no currency translation fee as long as you invest in a currency that’s not your home one. It’s been rated as the best trading app in the UK by multiple press sites, making it well worth checking out.
Revolut Trading
Revolut Trading is a sub-platform inside the Revolut app. It’s an excellent platform for investing in all sorts of stocks and shares as and when you need to. However, you’re restricted to just three free trades per month, and there’s no desktop version. This is a great opportunity for those looking to start out with trading.
What Aspect of M1 Finance are you Most Interested in?
To help you understand which European alternative is best for you because M1 Finance is not available in Europe, let’s break things down by feature.
Robo-Advisor
If the robo-advisor aspect of M1 Finance is the most important part of the service for you, then there are two key alternatives.
Trading 212 – As well as everything we’ve outlined above, Trading 212 also offers what they call an AutoInvest & Pies feature. This allows you to create your own investment pies, defining the target weight for each asset type, stocks, or ETFs. When you see that the investments are deviating too far from what you initially set out, you can come back in and re-adjust the pie.
ETFmatic – This is the most-downloaded Robo-advisor in Europe. It opens up a feed for checking in on your investments that’s as easy as scrolling through Twitter or Facebook. The cost structure is also simple to understand too. You’re charged 0.48% per year.
Debit Card
It could be that what’s most important to you is having a debit card associated with your portfolio. If that’s the case, then Naga is the better choice. This links your bank account with your investment account. Every time you invest, it comes out of your bank account, and you’ll be able to monitor it all on your statement.
Naga provides the opportunity to manage up to three different types of currency. The card is even secured by Mastercard, adding an extra layer of protection over every investment. However, you’ll still be restricted to the money that’s in your account.
Conclusion
While it’s not possible to use M1 Finance outside of the US at the time of wiring, there are plenty of alternatives. As we’ve covered, plenty of online investment platforms offer similar services, each of which is freely open for users to apply to right now.
William Westerlund
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