FutureMoney Review: An Easy Way to Give Your Kids a Head Start
Review
Updated
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FutureMoney might be for you if you want to give your kids a head start on saving and investing. The platform aims to make it easy and affordable for every parent to start investing for their children. Read our full FutureMoney review for all of the details.
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FutureMoney is an app-focused platform that is designed to help families invest for their children. The idea is that by starting very early in their lives, it will give your childrens' investments several decades to grow and compound. While this isn't a full-featured broker, it can be a solid choice for parents who want a platform that can help walk them through the ins and outs of investing for minor children.
$0 to $4 monthly subscription for accounts below $20,000
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FutureMoney isn't a full-service online broker, but is focused on a single niche. It offers an app-based platform that is designed to help parents invest money on behalf of their children.
At Motley Fool Money, brokerages are rated on a scale of one to five stars. We primarily focus on fees, available assets, and user experience; however, we also take into account features like research, education, tax-loss harvesting, and customer service. Our highest-rated brokerages generally include low fees, a diverse range of assets and account types, and useful platform features.
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I've been an investor for more than 20 years, having opened my first online brokerage account in college when the concept of an online broker was just starting to emerge. I'm also a parent, and invest on behalf of both of my young children in 529 plans, as well as in custodial accounts. When it comes to investing for my children, my priorities are low costs and ease of use, as well as the ability to automate as much as possible.
FutureMoney is an app-based platform that offers ways for parents to invest for their children. It isn't a full-featured online broker, so it doesn't offer a wide variety of investments.
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FutureMoney offers what it calls a "Junior Roth IRA" account, which isn't technically a type of investment account. Instead, it takes advantage of a relatively new rule that allows rollovers from 529 college savings accounts to Roth IRAs after the account has been open for at least 15 years, essentially allowing parents to use the tax-advantaged nature of Roth IRA investing on behalf of their children, from as early as birth.
This can be a big benefit -- usually you need to earn income to contribute to a Roth IRA, but since the FutureMoney contributions are technically being made to a 529 plan, it gets around this rule.
FutureMoney has two different pricing structures, one of which applies to accounts with less than $20,000, and another that applies to accounts with more than $20,000. Smaller-balance accounts have a flat-fee structure, while larger accounts pay a more traditional percentage-based management fee.
| Reason | Cost |
|---|---|
| Under $20,000 in account, family income is below $30,000 | No fees |
| Under $20,000 in account, family income is between $30,000 and $50,000. | $2 per month |
| Under $20,000 in account, family income is $50,000 or more | $4 per month |
| Account balance over $20,000 | 0.25% annual management fee |
FutureMoney uses 529 plans and Roth IRAs, neither of which are designed for margin investing. Because of this, there are no margin rates involved with FutureMoney investments.
Because it is designed for passive investing, FutureMoney doesn't offer stock research or any other tools brokers commonly offer to active investors. However, it has valuable educational resources, such as a free investment class for parents who want to learn more about investing for their kids.
FutureMoney is an app-based platform, and has an easy-to-use interface. Users download the app, answer a few questions about their goals, and set up their investment contributions.
It is designed to require minimal effort on the part of the parents, and FutureMoney automates the actual investment process. The interface makes it easy to track progress of investments, view and initiate deposits and withdrawals, and to invite family members to contribute gifts to your child's investments.
FutureMoney's trading app is available in both iOS and Android formats. It is a relatively new app, launched in May 2024, so it doesn't have as many customer ratings as others we've reviewed.
However, the early results are strong. FutureMoney holds a 4.7 out of 5 star rating in the Apple App Store and a 4.8 out of 5 star average rating in the Google Play Store.
So far, the general reviews have been very positive. Many users specifically cite how easy the app is to use, and the straightforward pricing is mentioned in several reviews as well.
At this time, there is only one way to contact FutureMoney's customer support:
FutureMoney's security is on par with other app-based passive investing tools. Money in the accounts is technically invested through a registered broker-dealer (Atomic Brokerage), and are covered by SIPC protection in the unlikely event of the broker's failure.
FutureMoney claims to have industry-leading security in place to keep money safe, and users' information protected.
FutureMoney was developed by financial industry veterans who noticed that parents wanting an accessible place to invest for their children was an underserved market opportunity.
The platform launched in app-based form in May 2024, and is designed to be an easy-to-use platform to set up automated deposits, invest in appropriate portfolios automatically, and to optimize investments for taxes.
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