Apple Stock For $5? How Fractional Investing Changes The Game

If you’ve been looking for a way to dip your toe into the investing waters but don’t want to jump right into the fire trading hundreds or thousands of dollars at once, the Stash app is one service that gives users one of the best ways to invest as little as $5 at a time.

With fractional investing, you don’t have to choose small companies to make small investments -- fractional exchange-traded fund (ETF) shares cost as little as $5 regardless of the market price of the ETF.

While invidiual stocks aren't offered, fractional ETFs do contain pre-selected stocks that are some of the top picks for a given investment theme.

Apple Inc. AAPL, Microsoft Corporation MSFT and Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM are part of a fractional share of the Vanguard Mega Cap “Blue Chips” ETF, for example.

About Fractional Shares

Even buying one single share of 20 different blue chip stocks would cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars. However, by buying fractional ETF shares, you can choose exactly how much money you want to invest, even if it’s less than the cost of a single share.

In the past, the smallest investment that you could make in a stock or an ETF would be the price of a single share. If an ETF were trading at $100 per share, $100 would be your minimum investment.

However, since Stash and others buy shares of ETFs and split them up into fractional pieces, the customer--not the market--now controls exactly how much he or she invests.

Plenty Of Choices

In addition to Stash’s Blue Chips ETF, you can select from a wide range of fractional stocks and ETF offerings for as low as $5.

The firm offers fractional shares in funds like “Roll With Buffett,” “Delicious Dividends,” “Clean & Green,” “Internet Titans,” “Defending America” and more.

No More Excuses

Fractional investing makes it easier than ever to start small, learn the ropes and build your investment portfolio at your own pace.