Investing > M1 Finance vs. Betterment

M1 Finance vs. Betterment

Let's see if M1 Finance has what it takes to compete with Betterment — the original robo-advisor.

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Reviewed by
Updated October 15, 2024

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There is a trend of late among digital robo advisor platforms. These formerly industry-disrupting, cutting-edge business-to-consumer sites have clearly grown tired of staying within their little market niches and are ready to expand.

In the case of M1 Finance and Betterment, each platform has made aggressive efforts over the past calendar year to not tiptoe, but literally stomp into the traditional banking marketplace with directly competing products and services. In the case of Betterment, the platform has also made big moves into the business-to-business sector – yet another ground-breaking first for the company that not so long ago started the robo advising trend itself.

For M1 Finance, the big move happened last year when the platform funded its 100,000th account. The platform promptly launched a new checking account and a cash management feature, complete with a debit card, but this program has since been retired. Shortly thereafter, M1 Finance introduced M1 Borrow, allowing users to borrow against their investment portfolio through a margin loan when they need quick access to funds.

Let’s take a look under the hood of each and see what differences there are to be seen and explored.

Accounts & Fees
Management fees

None

0.25%

Account Minimum

$0

$0

Account Types
  • Individual and joint taxable accounts
  • Traditional, Roth, SEP & rollover IRA
  • Trusts
  • Cash account
  • Traditional, Roth, SEP, & rollover IRAs
  • Joint and individual and non-retirement accounts
  • Trusts
General
Best for
  • Low fees
  • Socially responsible investors
  • Hands off investors
  • Retirement accounts
Promotion

None

1 year of free management, with qualifying deposit

Human advisor?

Yes, but only with Betterment Premium (0.40% fee)

Rating
Accounts & Fees

Management fees

None

0.25%

Account Minimum

$0

$0

Account Types

  • Individual and joint taxable accounts
  • Traditional, Roth, SEP & rollover IRA
  • Trusts
  • Cash account
  • Traditional, Roth, SEP, & rollover IRAs
  • Joint and individual and non-retirement accounts
  • Trusts
General

Best for

  • Low fees
  • Socially responsible investors
  • Hands off investors
  • Retirement accounts

Promotion

None

1 year of free management, with qualifying deposit

Human advisor?

Yes, but only with Betterment Premium (0.40% fee)

M1 Finance, LLC does not charge commission, trading, or management fees for self-directed brokerage accounts. You may still be charged other fees such as M1’s platform fee, regulatory fees, account closure fees, or ADR fees. For a complete list of fees M1 may charge visit M1’s Fee Schedule.

What has Betterment been up to while M1 Finance was capturing investment news headlines? Quite a lot as it turns out.

Betterment launched its own checking and savings account product around the same time M1 Finance launched theirs. Unfortunately, because of breaking news about another (unrelated) robo advisor’s similar product, Betterment had to endure some additional regulatory scrutiny before it was permitted to move forward with the launch.

Ultimately Betterment’s launch was successful and went on to outlive its need for venture capital funding (what is called “robo retail“). Betterment then rolled out a new B2RIA (business to business serving registered investment advisors) spin-off.

With Betterment’s move to serve not just the end customer but the professional advisors who have traditionally served the end-user, the company positions itself well in all three industries: robo advisement, fintech, and traditional banking.

General Comparison and Overview 🔍

So in this review, we are looking at two equally solid options for a digital advising platform that incorporates an algorithmic-based robo advisor along with innovative options for traditional banking services.

The first step to take when comparing one robo advisor platform against another is to learn more about each platform’s ideal user. What level of investor is each robo advisor optimized to attract and serve?

What is M1 Finance? 🧠

Though you won’t find access to tax-loss harvesting or mutual funds, M1 Finance has a lot to offer. The hybrid robo advisor and traditional brokerage offers automated investment management at no-cost.

Fast Facts

  • Account Minimum: $0
  • Fees: $3 monthly platform fee
  • Best for: Low-fee management and customizable portfolios, including options for socially responsible investing
  • Highlight: No-cost automated investing

Ratings

  • Commissions & Fees: 9/10
  • Investment Selection: 9/10
  • Account Options & Features: 9/10
  • Usability: 9/10
  • Educational Resources: 8/10
  • Customer Service: 6/10
  • Overall: 9/10
Visit M1 Finance on M1 Finance’s website

M1 Finance, LLC does not charge commission, trading, or management fees for self-directed brokerage accounts. You may still be charged other fees such as M1’s platform fee, regulatory fees, account closure fees, or ADR fees. For a complete list of fees M1 may charge visit M1’s Fee Schedule.

Investor Warning: Investing with M1 Finance involves risk, including the risk of losing the money you invest, and past performance does not guarantee future performance. Borrowing on margin can add to these risks, and you should learn more before borrowing. Nothing in this informational site is an offer, solicitation of an offer, or advice to buy or sell any security and you are encouraged to consult your personal investment, legal, and tax advisors.

M1 Finance is better for:

  • ☑️ Investors who want the option to use a template portfolio or customize their portfolio.
  • ☑️ Investors seeking more of an active investing role (passive investing is also available).
  • ☑️ Investors who have at least $100 to fund their initial investment account.
  • ☑️ Investors who want to begin with a low-fee platform.
  • ☑️ Investors who may want to consolidate banking and investing together on one platform (and even leave their traditional bank behind).

What is Betterment? 🤔

Betterment aligns your investment strategy to life-oriented goals. So no matter what stage of life you’re in — Betterment appeals to all types of investors. They’re one of the few robo advisors to offer a Premium plan with access to top-tier human advisors.

Fast Facts

  • Account Minimum: $0
  • Fees: 0.25%
  • Best for: Hands-off investors and retirement accounts
  • Highlight: Automated management with optional human advisor

Ratings

  • Account Types: 10/10
  • Investment Options: 9/10
  • Fees & Account Minimums: 9/10
  • Responsible Investing: 8/10
  • Human Advisor: 8/10
  • Overall:9.5/10
Visit Betterment on Betterment’s website

Investor Warning: Investing in securities involves risks, and there is always the potential of losing money when you invest in securities. Before investing, consider your investment objectives and Betterment LLC’s charges and expenses.

Betterment is better for:

  • ☑️ Investors who want to opt into pre-made portfolios adjusted for risk tolerance.
  • ☑️ Investors who strongly favor a passive investing model.
  • ☑️ Investors with very low or very high levels of funds to be invested.
  • ☑️ Users who are interested in accessing the high-yield savings account feature.
  • ☑️ Investors who don’t mind paying an account management fee (averages 0.25 to 0.40 percent depending on account amount) in exchange for the option to reach out to human financial advisors for guidance.

Aside from the important differences highlighted above here, and unlike many of the best robo advisor platforms active in the fintech industry today, M1 Finance and Betterment are actually quite similar in many important and desirable ways.

This can make it slightly more challenging to choose between them without taking a closer look into the behind-the-scenes mechanics of each.

Read on to learn more about what you can expect when you open an investing account with each platform.

Robo Advisor Experience: M1 Finance vs. Betterment ⚔️

Without the digital algorithm at the helm, there is no such thing as a robo advisor. It is somewhat strange to think back and realize that before Betterment opened its digital doors in 2008, the concept of a “robo advisor” didn’t exist.

Betterment completely disrupted the fintech industry with its introduction of a proprietary investing algorithm made available directly to end users – to you.

It took until 2016 for M1 Finance to catch up and open its doors, but the platform has been earning awards ever since.

Platforms and Fees Structure 📱

So let’s take an up-close look at how each platform is structured from a digital perspective.

M1 Finance 📊

Screenshot of M1 Finance website homepage
M1 Finance online platform offers excellent portfolio customization features.
  • Standard M1: Free access to portfolio customization and automation with no management fees. Investors can borrow with M1 Borrow at competitive rates once they have $2,000 in their account. ATM fee waivers and special debit cards are not part of this plan.

M1 Finance, LLC does not charge commission, trading, or management fees for self-directed brokerage accounts. You may still be charged other fees such as M1’s platform fee, regulatory fees, account closure fees, or ADR fees. For a complete list of fees M1 may charge visit M1’s Fee Schedule.

Betterment 💎

Screenshot of Betterment homepage
Betterment provides great risk management and passive investing options.
  • Level Digital: 0.25 account management fee. There is no account level minimum for the Digital level. You get complete access to the automated passive investing via the robo advisor algorithm plus the option to sync all your financial accounts in one place for ease of access.
  • Level Premium: 0.40 account management fee. This level requires a minimum $100,000 account balance. With this level comes unfettered access to Betterment’s in-house team of certified financial planners who will help on both Betterment-related investing and outside investment holdings.

Trading Experience: M1 Finance vs. Betterment ☯️

What is it like to build and manage your portfolio online with M1 Finance and Betterment? A big key to answering this question can be found by tracing each company’s growth and development over the years.

M1 Finance: A Short History 📜

M1 Finance was launched by a 25-year-old named Brian Barnes in 2016. Barnes got into investing as a child when his folks funded him to invest in “real securities” on the market for a school project.

But when he graduated college and went searching for a low cost, easy way to invest online, he couldn’t find exactly what he was looking for. The ending here is clear: Barnes decided to create and launch his own platform to serve, first and foremost, his own investing needs.

This kind of story always bodes well for the experience of the end user – you. Up until 2017, M1 Finance did charge an account management fee of 0.25 percent. But in 2017, Barnes eliminated the management fees and made M1 Finance free to use. As of September 2024, a $3 monthly platform fee applies to accounts with less than $10,000 in assets or without an active Personal Loan. This fee is waived if certain conditions are met.

You do need to fund your account to $100 to start investing via the robo advisor algorithm. But you don’t need to deposit anything in your account to start using the platform’s tools and learning resources.

M1 Finance site, Make the most of your money promotional page
The M1 Finance learning tools are free to use, while the robo-advisor services come with fees.

M1 Finance places trades once daily. Once your account is funded to $2,000, you can choose to use M1 Borrow and trade on margin or borrow against yourself at up to 50 percent of your account value.

M1 Finance will help you fund and invest into individual taxable accounts, retirement accounts and trusts.

Betterment: A Short History ✍️

Jon Stein launched Betterment in 2008. The company was the first of its kind and turned the entire fintech industry upside down. To say it was a hit would be an understatement and it didn’t take long for the company to begin attracting investors and venture capital infusions.

As Betterment has grown, it has branched out into the business-to-business marketplace with a spin-off targeting RIAs (registered investment advisors) and a commercial 401k product. The former is called Betterment for Advisors and the latter is called Betterment for Business. Both use Betterment’s foundational strategy of passive investing using the proprietary digital algorithm.

Betterment supports investing in individual taxable accounts, retirement accounts and trusts.

Betterment places trades once daily in accordance with day trading laws. Accounts of any value can customize portfolios based on personal data.

Overall Trading Experience 📚

One important difference between the two platforms is in how tax time concerns are addressed…or not.

Betterment practices both automatic portfolio rebalancing and tax loss harvesting as well as tax minimization strategies. The former is done periodically to adjust for “drift.” The latter is done to ease the tax time impact of capital gains during the previous tax year.

M1 Finance offers automatic portfolio balancing along with some tax minimization strategies designed to offset current and projected future capital gains. But the platform does not offer tax loss harvesting, which can be important as your portfolio holdings grow and appreciate.

In terms of overall trading experience, these are the most important points to keep in mind:

M1 Finance 📊

  • ☑ You can build your own customized portfolio through M1 Finance or use one of the platform’s so-named Model Portfolios as a template for investing.
  • ☑ You can trade in straight stocks or ETFs made up of stocks and bonds, both domestic and international.
three smartphone screens showing different M1 Finance mobile app options and tabs
Custom Pies serve as a great portfolio analysis tool.

Betterment 💎

  • ☑ Betterment will build you a portfolio from scratch based on data you input (age, risk tolerance, estimated retirement date, et al).
  • ☑ You are only able to trade in ETFs and may only alter your investing portfolio by adjusting the initial data you input into the robo advisor algorithm.

Investment Types: M1 Finance vs. Betterment 🗃

Both M1 Finance and Betterment offer the option to invest in fractional shares.

A fractional share is a portion of a single share of stock. Fractional shares are a unique type of security that can ensure your portfolio remains fully invested at all times. However, fractional shares can sometimes be problematic to sell on the open market.

Since fractional shares within Betterment are always included as part of a greater set portfolio, you are unlikely to ever run into this issue while investing with Betterment. Since M1 Finance does permit investing in straight stocks, you are more likely to encounter an offloading issue with fractional shares on this platform.

M1 Finance offers these investment options:

  • ☑️ Stocks
  • ☑️ ETFs (exchange traded funds)

Betterment offers these investment options:

  • ☑️ Stocks (domestic and international) in ETFs
  • ☑️ Bonds (domestic and international) in ETFs

As you will notice, M1 Finance permits you to invest in straight stocks or in ETFs (exchange traded funds) comprised of a diversified mix of securities.

Betterment, in contrast, does not permit any investment in straight stocks. All investing is done through the company’s ETF portfolios.

The Mobile & App Experience: M1 Finance vs. Betterment 📲

Who does it better – M1 Finance or Betterment? In the case of each platform’s app experience, they are quite well matched.

In all cases, app reviews for each platform reflect input from thousands of users.

M1 Finance App 📊

  • ☑️ iOS/Apple: 4.7 stars (out of 5)
  • ☑️ Android: 4.5 stars (out of 5)

Betterment App 💎

  • ☑️ iOS/Apple: 4.8 stars (out of 5)
  • ☑️ Android: 4.5 stars (out of 5)

Both M1 Finance and Betterment offer you the option of using the app or accessing the platform online via any smart device such as a tablet, laptop or desktop.

In Summary: M1 Finance vs. Betterment 🏁

As we mentioned in the introduction here, sometimes it can be more challenging to choose between two similar platforms than to choose between two dissimilar.

With M1 Finance vs Betterment, for many users the choice really boils down to free versus fee. M1 Finance, a platform chartered from the start to lower the fee bar for investors at all levels, outperforms Betterment hands-down in this area. You can’t compete with free.

M1 Finance, LLC does not charge commission, trading, or management fees for self-directed brokerage accounts. You may still be charged other fees such as M1’s platform fee, regulatory fees, account closure fees, or ADR fees. For a complete list of fees M1 may charge visit M1’s Fee Schedule.

However, for the future-minded advisor who isn’t keen to spend a lot of personal time navigating the fine art of portfolio building, Betterment’s passive investing algorithm comes out on top.

Betterment Portfolio Strategy page
The Betterment platform builds your portfolio by using a Nobel Prize-winning strategy.

The entire platform runs based on Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT), a Nobel Prize-winning investment strategy that underlies everything that happens on Betterment.

Both platforms offer socially responsible investing (SRI) options. Both offer some level of traditional banking services through checking accounts and debit cards. Both offer automatic portfolio rebalancing as the need arises.

If you want the option of borrowing against yourself, M1 Borrow has no counterpart through Betterment. But then again, if you want to make use of tax loss harvesting, Betterment is the only platform that offers this service.

Most importantly, Betterment is a registered legal fiduciary, meaning it is legally bound to act in your best interests. M1 Finance, on the other hand, is not a fiduciary, as it does not manage assets directly. Instead, M1 offers self-directed investing, giving users full control over their portfolios while providing automation tools to simplify the process.

In truth, with two platforms of this quality, you could even close your eyes and point and still end up choosing a reputable platform where your interests will be well served.

We don’t necessarily recommend this approach, but whichever of the two platforms you end up choosing, we have a feeling you will be pleased with the outcome of your experience.

Comparison Corner

Find out how Betterment and M1 Finance stack up against other competition.

All reviews, research, news and assessments of any kind on The Tokenist are compiled using a strict editorial review process by our editorial team. Neither our writers nor our editors receive direct compensation of any kind to publish information on tokenist.com. Our company, Tokenist Media LLC, is community supported and may receive a small commission when you purchase products or services through links on our website. Click here for a full list of our partners and an in-depth explanation on how we get paid.

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