M1 Finance Review 2025

The investment craze is at its peak, and everyone wants to cash in on the chance to create wealth for themselves. But navigating the sea of investment options can be a challenging task to handle.

For starters, you need to be constantly ahead of the curve and build a diversified portfolio. It’s a type of work that requires full-time attention. 

That’s why a resource or tool to automate the investment process is indispensable. One of the most efficient providers of that type of service is M1 Finance.

M1 Finance Overview

Our review begins with founder Brian Barnes, who started investing at a young age. Over the years, Barnes realized there weren’t many automated resources that could execute the tasks of advising, automatic deposits, and portfolio building.

He sought to create an investment space where investors could have their investment activities run on an automatic basis.

So, in 2015, he launched M1 Finance, a money-management resource that lets investors run automated processes while exercising complete control over their money.

It may sound unbelievable, but the service is completely free to use, and there are no hidden account fees involved.

Of course, there is a premium tier for those who seek access to more investment options than what the free membership offers.

It should be noted that M1 Finance doesn’t offer the services of financial advisors. Rather, it provides the tools necessary for wealth creation through portfolio building. There is a range of features that come with the package, so let’s take a look at them.

Key Features

Here are the main features you can expect with M1 Finance:

M1 Borrow

Through the M1 Borrow feature, users can borrow against their M1 Invest account securities to access loans with low interest. The purpose of these margin loans can range from medical expenses to repairs to motor vehicles or homes. Whatever securities lie in the accounts count as collateral for the loan.

The interest rates are lower in comparison to the interest rates for traditional loans since your assets are backing this loan. This means that if you don’t pay off the loan, M1 Finance keeps your assets and sells them to repay it. Additionally, the loan application process is much simpler, as is the repayment process.

Investors with extensive expertise have used the feature to increase their portfolios’ returns when they invest through margin accounts.

Investors with a higher risk tolerance can adopt this method, but if you generally prefer to stay on the safe side, the regular process is already set up to optimize activities and build portfolios that contribute to the holders’ wealth.

In conclusion, the M1 Borrow feature is unlike any other provided.

M1 Finance

When you create an account, you are given a pie with various slices you need to fill up. The pie represents your investment portfolio, and each slice stands for an investment option, from individual stocks to ETFs.

Through the pie, M1 Finance helps you with portfolio management. There are over 60 pie templates to choose from, such as passive investing and socially responsible investing, whereas users can also create their own pies from options on the stock market.

Once all selections have been made, you are ready to start investing: The platform automatically disburses financial resources based on pie proportions. The financial resources available to each account consist of initial deposits and additional cash.

M1 Finance Plus

While signing up with M1 Finance gives you access to its tools and services with no commission or annual fee, the platform does have a paid service listing. It’s called M1 Plus and comes with the reimbursement of four monthly ATM fees, 1% cash back, and 1% APY.

In addition, this premium offer gives users an M1 Borrow loan rate lower than the rate for free subscribers, interest on the balance of your M1 Spend account, and access to an extra M1 trading window for accounts with $25,000 or more. Some users prefer to have a basic plan, and that’s understandable. However, the Plus plan is like VIP treatment in everything you already get with the basic plan.

Even though the pricing is a little over-the-top for yearly access, in retrospect, the available features are well worth the amount paid for the Plus plan. Not to mention that the chances of making a more profitable portfolio pie are inherent when you subscribe to M1 Plus.

Pricing

Whereas operating a free M1 account comes at no extra cost, members who choose the M1 Finance Plus plan are charged a subscription fee for premium accounts, which is $3/month or $36/year.

Plus account holders get more flexibility with their own investments and financial planning, can unlock Smart Transfers, and borrow at lower rates. They also enjoy a special cashback bonus – earning 1% on whatever they spend. Even when they are not spending, they get a 1% Annual Percentage Yield.

M1 Finance Retirement Plans

Retirement investment accounts on the M1 platform can be traditional or Roth individual retirement accounts. Both types of retirement accounts give the account holder complete control over account operations and are free from any commission or management fees. 

The difference between them lies in tax deductibles, and where one is funded with pretax dollars, the other is funded with after-tax dollars.

• IRA and Roth IRAs require initial investments totaling $500. Both types of accounts are designed for investors with no active work history or those who have retired from active work. For instance, the Roth IRA doesn’t deduct taxes on any contributions or earnings.

M1 Finance Roth IRA

M1 Finance is one of the few platforms that offer Roth IRAs with no fees attached. Since the funds that go into Roth IRAs are often after-tax dollars, tax cannot be deducted from any withdrawals made on the investments. 

As is the case with every other type of account under the platform, there are no fees involved. Additionally, Roth IRAs are simple to run and give the owners complete control over their portfolios and investment strategy. There’s less paperwork involved and limited interference.