If you somehow stumbled upon this article without knowing what Robinhood is, let’s just get this out of the way: it’s an investment app for Android and iOS. It also offers a web app for use on your PC. You can use it to buy/sell/trade stocks, ETFs, Options and Crypto Currency. Onto the bullet points.

Why Robinhood might be for you

Simplicity and easy of use: This is a great platform for people just starting their investment journey. It offers at-a-glance market analysis and reporting and if you just wanna buy a few stocks here and there, it’s a great way to figure things out as you go. One of the other reasons it’s a great option for people just starting with the market is…

Commission-free trading: other services charge around five bucks per trade, independent of how much you’re investing. If you’re making multiple low-value trades a day, Robinhood could really save you money down the road. Money you could be using to, for example, buy more stock. Speaking of saving money, with Robinhood you get a…

Free stock: When you sign up for Robinhood, with a referral code, you get a free stock. It’s random. If you’re lucky, you might get something of value. You could sell it and get started playing around with the funds you just received for free. As of writing this, you wouldn’t even need to attach a bank account. In any case an easy way into the thrilling pastime of watching a number go up and down!

Insured by the SIPC: If Robinhood, the company, declares bankruptcy or otherwise decides to abscond with your money, you will be insured up to $500,000 dollars. Advice: you shouldn't trust your money with anything or anyone named Robinhood without such protection.

Why Robinhood might not be for you

Simplicity and ease of use: It might be too simple. Maybe you want a more comprehensive suite of analytics tools. Maybe you want integrated advice from a broker. Maybe you want your finance app to look a bit more fully featured. There’s going to be better options out there if you’re a more serious trader.

Money clearing times: If you have a free account with Robinhood up to $1,000 can be made available instantly for trading per week, with a deposit. Anything more than that can take up to four days to post into your account. A lot can change in four days and if you’re looking to quickly take advantage of a situation, that wait time could spell trouble. A paid account (5 dollars a month) bumps those instantly available funds up to $10,000 per week… Though if you’re throwing that much money into investments per week, remember there might be better options than Robinhood.

All the other risks of investment: this isn’t specific to Robinhood, but there are always reasons not to invest and these reasons wont be changed by ease of use. Before investing any amount that is significant to you: do your research. The most simple advice I could give that is suitable for this article: invest in stable ETFs.

One final opinion

Whether or not Robinhood becomes your investment platform and independent of whether or not you end up using it… you can get a free stock by signing up. If you’re anything like me, that might be enough for you. If you’ve found this article at all helpful, please check out my YouTube channel, or consider using my referral code for Robinhood: here.

Happy investing.