Stash Review [2024]: Is Earning Stock-Back Real? (2024)

Saving money is a goal everyone should have, but I’ve learned that it needs to go well beyond “just saving.” Sure, a savings account earns interest; evenhigh-yield savings accountscan boost your earnings, but you won’t reach long-term goals with the minimal interest earned in these accounts.

Whether your goals include early retirement or you have a shorter-term goal, such as making a large down payment on a house,passive income is the key to reaching your goals, and investing is a top contender. The good news is that it doesn’t need to be complicated.Stash¹² makes it easy for anyone to invest, whether you have a few dollars or a few thousand to invest.

Stash Basics

Who should use Stash?

With 1.5 million active subscribers and an average 4.7 star review in the Apple store, you’d assume Stash is right for everyone. But it’s not.

While it’s a user-friendly investment app with low minimum investment requirements, it’s best suited for beginners or people who want a completely hands-off approach to investing. I like the simplicity and ability to choose automated investing (robo-advisor) or guided investing, where I make my own choices, but Stash guides me along the way.

The pricing throws some people off, especially those with only a little capital to invest. Even $3 a month can be a large percentage of your investment if you only invest a few dollars, so make sure the pricing makes sense compared to the capital you’ll invest.

How does Stash work?

Stash offers users a wide variety of different ways to make money, including opening a taxable account so you can begin investing your cash in the market. You can also use a debit card⁹ that offers rewards in the form of stocks or funds¹⁰. Various programs have different features and fees, so it's important to understand all the ways you could grow your wealth by using Stash products.

Stash debit card

The Stash debit card⁹ is available to you if you open an account with Stash. It helps you make money because you earn Stock-Back® rewards when you spend on gas, groceries, dining, or purchases of any type at participating merchants.

With the Stash Growth plan, you can earn 0.125% Stock-Back®, and the Stash+ plan pays 1% Stock-Back® on the first $1,000 you spend monthly. Both plans offer bonuses of up to 2% and 3%, respectively, at certain merchants.

These Stock-Back® rewards actually give you shares of stocks at the companies you shop at. For example, if you shop with your Stash debit card at any store listed on Stash's platform — including popular places such as Walmart, Starbucks, and Amazon — your rewards are used to buy stock in that company¹⁰. If you make purchases at other stores not on Stash's platform, such as local shops, you get your Stock-Back® invested in a diversified investment fund¹¹.

This good news is that the account charges no monthly maintenance fees, overdraft fees, has no minimum balance requirements, and charges no fees for direct deposits, ACH transfers from other banks, or obtaining your debit card. You can also make withdrawals from more than 55,000 ATMs without paying any fees — although you do have to pay $2.50 if you use your card at a non-participating ATM or if you withdraw funds from a teller.

Stash investments

Stash offers a simple investing app that allows you to start with just a $1 investment and build a portfolio of individual stocks, bonds, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). You can choose from two different Stash investment account options:

• Growth: This $3-per-month intermediate account comes with a personal investment account as well as a retirement investment account. You'll have your choice of a traditional or Roth IRA (Individual Retirement Account), and Stash will help you pick the best account type for your situation. You can also earn Stock-Back® from the debit account¹⁰ and get financial education.
• Stash+: This account offers you a personal investment account, plus a retirement investment account and a custodial investment account for up to two children. It costs $9 per month and comes with financial education as well as monthly market insight reports. You can earn Stock-Back®¹⁰ with this plan as well — and you get a metal debit card rather than a typical plastic card.

Both of these plans enable the purchase of fractional stock shares and give you a choice of how to fund your investment accounts:

• Investing on a set schedule: You can set recurring transfers from your bank account so you save automatically.
• Round-ups: Purchases you make with your debit card⁹ are rounded up to the nearest dollar, and the "spare change" from every purchase is invested for you¹².
• Smart Portfolios: Investors also have the option to invest in Stash's Smart Portfolios⁶. These carefully designed portfolios make it so you don't have to make all your individual investing decisions. Stash will also rebalance your portfolio for you, as well as reinvest your dividends.

After transferring your money into your Stash investment account, you can build your own portfolio and invest in any stocks, bonds, or ETFs you want within Stash's vast list of companies and funds. Stash makes choosing investment options easy by asking you a few questions when you set up your account, after which you receive personalized recommendations that fit your financial goals. You have the freedom to accept as much of that guidance as you want, so you can take every recommendation or none, depending on what you prefer.

Who can start an account with Stash?

Here are some of the prerequisites for a Stash invest account:

• You have a bank account with a U.S. bank.
• You have a Social Security number.
• You’re a U.S. citizen, have a Green Card, or have certain types of approved visas.

Opening a Stash account is simple. Here’s all I did:

• Download the app
• Create an account
• Select your Stash plan
• Answer questions to receive investment guidance

The final step to pay Stash's fees, which start at $3 per month for the Growth plan³.

How much can you earn with Stash?

I wish I had a crystal ball to tell you how much you’d earn using Stash, but like any investment app or robo-advisor, there are risks and no guarantees.

As with any investment app, my portfolio has its ups and downs. The key is focusing on the long-term gains. I know that when my portfolio falls, I need to ride out the storm, which is why I like the Stash Smart Portfolio. I know their experts have everything handled and will reallocate my portfolio as needed throughout the market's ups and downs.

How to stay safe

Stash aims to make investing easy for beginners, but there’s always a risk whenever you invest — whether you pick stocks, bonds, or ETFs. While you can't always prevent investment losses, you can reduce your risk by building a diversified portfolio, understanding asset allocation, and ensuring you never invest in anything you don’t understand.

If you have more complicated goals or situations, you may want to seek professional investment advice from a financial advisor.

FAQ

Other investment apps to consider

A Stash account isn’t necessarily right for every investor, but there are many great investment apps to consider. If you want both a personal investment account and a retirement account with Stash, you have to commit to paying at least $3 per month. There are other discount online brokers that don't charge you any monthly fees for an account, but you might sacrifice the guidance that Stash provides.

For example, if you'd prefer a more hands-off approach, a robo-advisor might be a better fit. One such robo-advisor is Wealthfront. We created a comparison of Stash vs. Wealthfront to help you see how they compare and make a more informed choice on which approach better fits your goals.

Wealthsimple and Fundrise are two other investment apps I’ve tried and also use. I’m all about diversification, so spreading my capital across several apps gives me peace of mind and allows me to explore all my options.

Wealthsimple is a top online broker that works differently than Stash in that you don't make money with Stock-Back® rewards¹⁰ for purchases. Instead, all your gains come from your investments. There's no minimum deposit required to get started, and Wealthsimple is a robo-advisor.

That means it manages your investments for you, whereas with Stash, you build your portfolio based on Stash’s recommendations⁶. Wealthsimple offers benefits like tax-loss harvesting — which helps you reduce the tax consequences of investing — and the ability to talk with financial experts about your investment strategy, but only if you have at least $100,000 invested and subscribe to the Premium plan.

With Fundrise, you also make money through investments — but this time through real estate instead of the stock market. Fundrise has a minimum investment of just $10. It offers some great perks, too, including quarterly redemption opportunities without penalty. I like Fundrise because it provides portfolio diversification. Rather than focusing on stocks, bonds, and ETFs, I put my money into real estate investing.