About a month ago, we started using Sofi to secondary portfolio: ‘The Nag 7’. Here is what the experience taught us…
01. Sofi is a simple, investor-friendly app with great features
When we first considered using Sofi for ‘The Nag 7’, none of us really knew much about it. In fact, we mostly knew about them from stadium sponsorships and from our ‘Nag 7’ research. However, the more we learned, the more impressed we were.
First and foremost, the app is very sleek. It has a ton of capabilities, but they do a great job laying out the app in a way that feels intuitive and easy to navigate. In addition, it feels less ‘gamified’ than some of the other platforms like Robinhood and moomoo (that give access to higher-risk features like futures and events markets), which we like for its appeal to younger audiences just starting their investing journeys.
02. It gives investors access to great features, including some unique ones we really like!
Our favorite feature of the Sofi app (by far) is the ‘Private Markets’ feature of the investing section (in particular, access to ARKVX). For those not familiar, Interval Funds like ARK Venture Fund (ARKVX) act like Private Equity investments, giving ordinary investors access to private companies (in this case, SpaceX, Epic Games, Open AI, and more). While a $500 minimum may be a lot for many investors, it could be a very exciting investment with a lot of growth potential but should be part of a larger diversified portfolio.
In addition, you get access to investment management features like recurring investments and transfers, as well as social investing (which we don’t use, but could be a good way for younger investors to learn the space).
03. However, there are a few shortcomings…
There’s no easy way to say this, but you can’t buy crypto on Sofi yet. However, you can still buy MicroStrategy (MSTR) and other crypto investment alternatives on the platform.
In addition, we noticed that there are less stocks that support fractional shares (trading in dollars, not shares) on Sofi relative to Robinhood, but we expect that to improve over time. Not a huge concern for the average investor.
Finally, we don’t love the membership plan. It’s just more expensive for less benefits than Robinhood and other competitors in the space. Again, not super important for the average investor.
04. What do we think overall?
We love it! In fact, we love it so much, we added it to our ‘Nag 7’ portfolio! However, we have to acknowledge the shortcomings. We think Robinhood is the clear leader in the neo-brokerage (among other capabilities) space and recommend it to most investors, but Sofi is an excellent app for a starter account (for newer investors) or secondary account (for more seasoned investors). Give it a try and let us know what you think!
