Online Investing: How to Allocate Your Investments

Written By Mary Beth Eastman
Last updated January 27, 2021

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Investing
May 1, 2019

Simple. Thrifty. Living.

Online platforms make investing easier than ever. No matter how you invest, though, you need to take a balanced approach to asset allocation that helps you earn money while protecting you from losses.

How you allocate your assets will vary depending on the investment service that you use. The following tips will help you get the most out of some of the internet’s most popular investment platforms.

Ally Invest lets you choose between self-directed trading and Cash-Enhanced Managed Portfolios. If you have years of experience investing in mutual funds, stocks, bonds, and other vehicles, then a self-directed membership will help you avoid fees.

If you don’t have much experience balancing investments, then you should consider letting Ally’s technology manage your portfolio. Like other robo advisors, Ally Invest uses automation to rebalance its Cash-Enhanced Managed Portfolios. In exchange for advice that will help you reach your financial goals, you pay 0.0% of your annual balance and a few dollars per month.

Betterment has plans for three types of people:

  • New investors
  • Hands-off investors
  • Hands-on investors

A new investor plan will teach you about your investment options, setting financial goals, and diversifying your portfolio.

If you have experience investing, but you don’t have time to do the research needed to make informed decisions, then you can use Betterment’s hands-off plan that will automatically diversify your portfolio and monitor your progress to make sure you reach your financial goals.

Hands-on investors can use Betterment’s online tools to optimize tax strategies, choose curated portfolios, or create a unique portfolio based on your interests.

TD Ameritrade gives you access to diverse investment products like:

  • Stocks
  • Options
  • Mutual funds
  • Cryptocurrencies
  • Futures
  • Forex

With so many options, you grow your wealth by allocating resources to rapidly growing vehicles like cryptocurrencies. You can also protect yourself by investing in mutual funds with long histories of steady performance.

No matter how you decide to invest, you don’t pay to use TD Ameritrade’s platform. Instead, you pay a $6.95 flat rate for each trade.

Personal Capital makes it easier for you to allocate your assets perfectly by putting all of your accounts in one place. Once you connect your accounts, you can view information about your checking, savings, and credit cards.

You can also access Personal Capital’s data-driven insights to decide how to invest your money. The tools take all of the guesswork out of growing wealth for important life events like retirement, having children, and paying for college.

Asset allocation differs for everyone. By choosing the right platform, you can get useful information and projections that will help you maximize your returns without taking on too much risk.

About the Author

Mary Beth Eastman

Mary Beth Eastman serves as the content manager for Simple. Thrifty. Living, where she is dedicated to helping readers use money and credit wisely. Mary Beth believes that access to the right financial information paired with a growth mindset are essential tools for getting out of debt and building wealth. Mary Beth has a degree in Journalism from Bowling Green State University and has focused her 20-year journalism career on putting readers front and center, carefully considering their concerns and presenting information that will help them in their everyday lives. She has won numerous statewide journalism awards. Her writing on personal finance as been featured on numerous websites in addition to Simple. Thrifty. Living, including Huffington Post and Lexington Law blog. Mary Beth resides in Pittsburgh, Pa., with her family and two rescue dogs.

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