Entrepreneurs are famously bad at investing outside their own business — everything gets plowed back into the company, and personal wealth stays undiversified. The platforms below make it realistic to fix that with minimal time: some automate everything, some give you control, and the right one depends on how much attention you honestly want to spend.
Disclosure: Some links on this page may be affiliate links; we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This article is educational information about platforms and their published features and fees — it is not financial or investment advice. We are not licensed financial advisors. Investing involves risk, including loss of principal. Consider consulting a licensed financial advisor for guidance specific to your situation.
The platforms fall into three camps. Robo-advisors (Betterment, Wealthfront) build and manage a diversified portfolio for a ~0.25% annual fee — appropriate for people who want zero involvement. Self-directed brokers (Robinhood, Public) hand you the keys with commission-free trades — flexibility that's only as good as your discipline. Hybrids and micro-investors (M1, Acorns, Stash) automate the structure while leaving you choices. Fees compound just like returns, so the fee column in our table deserves more attention than any feature list.
The robo-advisor that made the category mainstream. Betterment asks about your goals, builds a diversified ETF portfolio, then handles everything ongoing: automatic rebalancing, dividend reinvestment, and tax-loss harvesting that can offset much of the 0.25% fee for taxable accounts. Goal-based buckets (emergency fund, house, retirement) map well to how business owners actually think about money. Access to human CFP advisors is available on the premium tier. For a founder with no time, it's the classic set-and-forget option.
Betterment's closest rival, with a more technical flavor. Same core proposition — automated ETF portfolios at 0.25% — but Wealthfront adds more portfolio customization (add individual ETFs, crypto exposure, or an automated bond ladder), direct indexing on larger taxable accounts for extra tax efficiency, and a consistently high-yield cash account that many entrepreneurs use for business cash reserves. There's no human-advisor option at all; Wealthfront's bet is that software is enough, and for most of its users it is.
The middle path many entrepreneurs end up preferring. M1's "Pies" let you design your own portfolio — any mix of stocks and ETFs with target percentages — and then the platform automates it: every deposit is split to your targets, and rebalancing happens with a click. You get the control of self-directed investing with the discipline of automation, for no management fee (M1 monetizes through its banking/borrowing products and a platform fee on small accounts). Trading executes in daily windows, not real-time — a feature, honestly, for long-term investors.
The app that forced the whole industry to drop commissions. Robinhood today is a more mature product than its meme-stock-era reputation: stocks, ETFs, options, crypto, IRAs with a match, and a Gold tier ($5/mo) with high cash yields and a 3% IRA match that's genuinely hard to beat. The interface remains the smoothest in investing — which is both its strength and the honest criticism: it makes trading feel easy, and frequent trading is how most self-directed investors underperform. Powerful tool; bring your own discipline.
The calmer self-directed broker. Public covers stocks, ETFs, bonds, options, and crypto, but its personality is different from Robinhood's: no payment for order flow on equities (it routes for price improvement instead), a high-yield cash offering, direct access to Treasury bills, and AI-generated research summaries (Alpha) on any asset. The social layer — seeing what others invest in, with context — is either a feature or noise depending on your taste. A good fit for investors who want full control with fewer casino vibes.
The habit-builder. Acorns rounds up every card purchase to the dollar and invests the spare change into a diversified ETF portfolio, alongside recurring deposits and a retirement account option. The magic is psychological: investing happens without decisions, which is exactly what people who "never got around to investing" need. The honest math: the flat $3–12/month fee is a high percentage on a small balance, so the value grows as your contributions do. Best treated as a starting ramp, not a destination.
Acorns' educational cousin. Stash combines automated investing (its Smart Portfolio) with the ability to buy fractional shares of individual stocks, wrapped in genuinely good beginner education that explains what you own and why. The Stock-Back® card earns fractional shares on purchases instead of cash back — a clever nudge. Like Acorns, the flat monthly fee stings on tiny balances, and confident investors will outgrow the hand-holding. As a first platform for someone intimidated by investing, it earns its spot.
| Platform | Type | Fees | Minimum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Betterment | Robo-advisor | 0.25%/yr | $0 |
| Wealthfront | Robo-advisor | 0.25%/yr | $500 |
| M1 Finance | Hybrid automation | $0 mgmt | $100 |
| Robinhood | Self-directed | $0 (+Gold $5/mo) | $0 |
| Public | Self-directed | $0 | $0 |
| Acorns | Micro-investing | $3–12/mo | $0 |
| Stash | Micro-investing | $3–9/mo | $0 |
Match the platform to your attention, not your ambition. If you know you'll never log in — a robo-advisor (Betterment or Wealthfront) exists for exactly you. If you want to choose investments but automate the discipline — M1 Finance is the sweet spot many founders land on. If you actively want to manage things — Robinhood or Public, with Public suiting the research-minded. If the honest problem is that you never start — Acorns or Stash make starting automatic.
Whatever you pick, the boring fundamentals matter more than the platform: consistent contributions, low fees, diversification, and time. And again — this is education about tools, not advice about your money; a licensed financial advisor can address your actual situation.
Building your financial stack? See our guides to accounting software, business payment tools, and alternative business lenders — or browse everything on the My Seven Stars homepage.