These days, there are countless investing apps out there with new ones popping up every few months.
It is common to start out with one brokerage, only to realize you might be looking for something different. The good news is, it's relatively easy to transfer your brokerage account in most cases.
Two popular investing apps today are Public and M1 Finance.
Public is more of a social investing app, allowing you to follow friends and celebrities as well as see what they are investing in.
M1 Finance, on the other hand, is more of a passive investing app for long term investors. They offer custom portfolios, rebalancing and other features.
If you are still on the fence, check out our comparison article on Public vs M1 Finance here.
Here's how to transfer from Public over to M1 Finance, step by step!
In order to transfer your assets over to M1 Finance, you will need some information from your current brokerage platform. In this case, it would be Public.
The first piece of information you need is your account number. You also need a copy of your most recent account statement, which conveniently has your account number right on it.
So, go ahead and download a copy of your most recent statement from Public.
Next, you need to take a look at what assets you currently own over on Public.
Public offers investing in:
Transferring stocks and ETFs from Public to M1 Finance shouldn't be an issue, as they both support the same stocks and funds.
However, M1 Finance does not offer any cryptocurrency investments at this time.
If you have assets that M1 does not accept, you will need to sell these and transfer it over as cash.
So, if you own crypto on Public, you will need to sell it to complete a full account transfer.
Keep in mind, you will have to pay taxes on any capital gains that may arise from the sale.
Next, you will need to open an M1 Finance account.
Here are the requirements to open an account:
If you meet the qualifications, you can continue on to open a new M1 account.
The process is relatively straightforward and everything is handled within the app. M1 Finance will ask you for information such as your name, address, employer and social.
Once you have opened your M1 Finance account, retrieved your statement and checked over your assets, you are ready to initiate the transfer.
Everything will be initiated and handled by M1 Finance: