Investing is a pivotal part of building wealth—one that’s more effective the earlier you begin. Thus, if you can, you should start investing at a young age.
Oh, there are certainly roadblocks to navigate. Consider this: According to the Council for Economic Education, fewer than half of America’s states require students to have a class in personal finance to graduate, meaning many teens can’t rely on schools to teach them about investing. Compounding the problem: Many parents also don’t feel confident enough in their financial knowledge to teach teens how to invest.
The good news? Teens can get both educational content and hands-on investing experience through a few financial apps—and one such app of note is Bloom: Investing for Teens.
Bloom is an investment app that offers features such as parental controls and fractional shares that greatly tamp down the risk of teens breaking their bank accounts while they practice investing. And after proving they’ve learned the basics, teens can even get their first stock free.
If that sounds interesting to you, read along with us as we take a deeper dive into the Bloom: Investing for Teens app. We’ll explore the pros and the cons of the app—and to ensure that you find the right fit for you, we’ll also dive into some of the best teen investing app alternatives.
Investing even a little while you’re young opens up the possibility of earning great sums down the road. So now is the time to start doing your research into the best teen investment app for you.
What Is the Bloom Investing App for Teens?
Bloom is an investment app that’s designed specifically for teens ages 13 through 17. It has a focus on education—boasting more than 150 interactive educational lessons taught by Ivy League professors—and features parental controls to keep teenagers on the right path.
What Type of Investment Account Does Bloom Offer?
The Bloom app lets teens enjoy fractional trading through Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA) / Uniform Gifts to Minors Act (UGMA) custodial brokerage accounts.
Bloom Investing Features
No Account Minimums
A Bloom investing account has no required minimum account balance. has no required account balance.
Tiny Minimum Deposits and Stock Orders
Bloom requires a mere $1 minimum for deposits. And because Bloom allows for fractional shares, stock and ETF orders can be as small as $1.
No Trading Commissions
Bloom offers commission-free trading on U.S. stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Parental Controls and Safety Features
Parents or guardians sponsor accounts for teenagers. They can fund the teenager’s account with a bank account or debit card, and they can also make withdrawals.
On the investment side, Bloom gives teens the ability to invest in stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies. However, parents can approve or deny trades if they decide such stocks or ETFs are too risky, set limitations on which types of securities their teen can trade, and even limit how frequently their teen can trade. (Note: Bloom already prohibits the trading of options, as well as day trading and margin trading.)
Educational Content
Bloom comes equipped with more than 150 interactive financial lessons taught by Ivy League professors. The lessons cover basic knowledge and advanced concepts across personal finance, investing, economics, crypto, and more. They can even learn about noteworthy investors and business leaders.
They’re incentivized to learn, too. Bloom’s “Learn & Earn” center rewards teens by allowing them to redeem in-app currencies, earn free stocks from Fortune 500 companies, and participate in raffles.
Investable Assets
Bloom allows investors to trade stocks and ETFs, both of which are excellent for long-term investments. The platform supports more than 5,000 U.S. stocks and ETFs, and teens can even start out with a free stock of their choice by passing the Beginner Stock Quiz.
Bloom doesn’t advocate any specific security, but rather leaves the choices up to the teens and their parents. (In other words, a security’s eligibility to be added to your portfolio is not an endorsement.)
And Bloom doesn’t just allow for market orders—users can set conditional orders to buy a stock or ETF when it reaches a certain price. They can also set custom price alerts so they know when a particular stock or fund is near a level where they might want to buy or sell.
Teens also have the option to invest in five popular cryptocurrencies, but parents can control whether their teen can trade in crypto.
Fractional Shares
Teens aren’t exactly loaded with cash—and that’s no problem! Bloom allows you to buy fractional shares of stocks and ETFs for as little as $1. (Just note that fractional share transactions can only be executed through market orders during normal market hours.)
The site also allows fractional share trading in cryptocurrencies, though the minimum to invest with those is $5, not $1.
Related: 11 Best Fractional Share Brokerages
Security
Security is a high priority for Bloom, which uses bank-grade encryption and authentication to keep your account safe. Also, account funds are Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC)-insured up to $500,000. The brokerage services are provided by Alpaca Securities LLC (“Alpaca”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of AlpacaDB, Inc.
Mobile Capabilities
Bloom is compatible with the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Mac.
Related: The 13 Best Investment Apps for Beginners
How Much Does Bloom Cost?
Parents can join Bloom for $15 per month or $60 for 180 days. They can add up to five teens to an account, so there is no need to pay extra if you have multiple teenagers. (Also note: Only the parents have to pay for the app; the teenagers don’t.) Also, while Bloom doesn’t list any charges for directly depositing funds via your bank account, it will charge a 5% deposit fee on debit card deposits made to the investment account.
What Happens When the Teen Becomes an Adult?
A teen’s Bloom account will automatically transfer over to them once they reach the age of majority. Now, this age varies by state, so make sure to know the age of majority for your state. By this time, teens should feel more prepared to continue as adult investors.
Bloom Investing App Review
Bloom is an overall strong entry in the teen investment app space. It gives teens the freedom to explore thousands of stocks and funds, as well as the educational tools they need to grow their investing and personal finance know-how.
We’re not the only ones who feel that way: Bloom currently enjoys an overall 4.7/5 rating on the Apple App Store across more than seven thousand ratings. The feedback is largely positive, and the developers seem responsive to both positive and negative reviews.
Our big hang-up? The cost. At $15 per month (or even at $10 per month with the six-month option), Bloom presents a relatively hefty price to get your teen started investing—especially considering that you can get other highly rated teen investment apps for free, like the ones we’ll discuss below. We also flinched a little bit at the 5% fee for depositing funds via debit card; that’s a sizable charge period, but especially noteworthy given you’re already paying a high monthly price for the app.
If you do go to download Bloom, be careful: The apps Bloom: Stock Market Research, Blooom (which has shut down), and the Australian app Bloom, are all different from the teen investment app described in this piece. If you choose to use Bloom: Investing for Teens, make sure you download the correct app—the logo should look like the one below.
- Bloom: Investing for Teens is a custodial brokerage account provider that lets your teen invest in stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrency while giving parents enough guardrails that they can sleep well at night.
- Teens can buy whole or fractional shares of more than 5,000 U.S.-based stocks and ETFs.
- Parents can approve or deny any trades, as well as set limits on what securities their teen can trade, and how often.
- Bloom offers up more than 150 educational lessons crafted by Ivy Leaguers, and it provides your teen with various rewards for learning.
- Account is SIPC-insured up to $500,000.
- Wide selection of stocks and ETFs for teens to choose from
- Fractional shares
- Conditional trade orders
- Educational resources + rewards for learning
- Parental controls
- High monthly fees
- High fee for depositing funds via debit card
- No connected debit or bank card
Related: 17 Best Investment Apps and Platforms [Free + Paid]
Free Teen Investing App Alternative: E*Trade
E*Trade (Top Free Custodial Account)
- Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)
- Price: No monthly fees or trading commissions on stocks and ETFs through E*Trade’s Custodial Account
Most people know E*Trade as one of the leading providers of individual brokerage accounts, but you can also put the powerful platform to work saving for your child’s future, though a custodial account (and even a custodial IRA).
E*Trade’s custodial account for teens (and generally any minor) allows you to open up a custodial account that offers the chance to build a personalized portfolio through thousands of stocks, bonds, ETFs, and mutual funds, or you can have E*Trade select your holdings for you through its Core Portfolio robo-advisory service (minimum account size of $500 is needed to use this product). Further, you can choose to open a traditional custodial IRA or a custodial Roth IRA for children under age 18 who have earned income.
Just like with its individual brokerage accounts for adults, E*Trade custodial accounts offer zero-commission stock, ETF, and options trading. It also has a leg up on some platforms by offering $0-commission mutual fund, Treasury, and new-issue bond trading.
And if you want to learn more about investing—or want your young one to learn alongside you—E*Trade also boasts educational resources, including articles, videos, classes, monthly webinars, and even live events.
For a limited time, E*Trade offers a new account funding bonus when you use reward code “OFFER24” in the following amounts:
- $1,000-$4,999 earns $50.
- $5,000-$19,999 earns $150.
- $20,000-$49,999 earns $200.
- $50,000-$99,999 earns $300.
- $100,000-$199,999 earns $600.
- $200,000-$499,999 earns $800.
- $500,000-$999,999 earns $1,000.
- $1,000,000-$1,499,999 earns $3,000.
- $1,500,000-$1,999,999 earns $5,000.
- $2,000,000 or more earns $6,000.
To open a free E*Trade custodial account, click “Open Account” below.
Related: 13 Best Money Apps for Teens [Invest, Spend, Budget + Pay]
Why Should Teens Invest?
One of the main reasons teenagers should invest is so they get hands-on experience in how investing works. Investing young teaches the necessity of researching assets and understanding the balance between risk and reward.
Another reason teens should invest is because the younger you are, the more you can benefit from the power of compounding. Even if a teen is able to invest just a small amount of money, that money has many decades to grow.
And if you make an investment mistake when you’re young, sure, you’ll be disappointed, but you’ll have a very, very long time to financially recover from that mistake.
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