9 Ethical Investing Apps Putting Earth & You In The Green

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of investing?

You’d be forgiven for conjuring The Wolf of Wall Street, but we’d venture (capitalist) a guess that “ethics” probably isn’t it. While the industry as a whole is light years away from adopting a true triple bottom line, some financial institutions, organizations, and start-ups are bucking the trend.

Apps for impact investing instead put your hard-earned money into companies that avoid or have minimal involvement in “sin sectors” or stigmatized activities that include firearms, fossil fuels, tobacco, alcohol, and gambling.

In addition to that, our new Brand Rating System will be extending our selection process across 22 criteria including diversity and inclusion and reviews collated from real customers. To learn more about this new system and what to expect from future versions of this list, read about it here.

*See parenthetical hyperlinks for disclosures

Ethical Investments: Redwood fund can be invested in either as a regular taxable investment account or Traditional IRA.

Fees & Minimum Amounts: $10 account minimum (+$1 for subsequent investments in the IRA); $0 custodial fee on taxable accounts and $15 for IRAs;

Risk & Returns: No tax-loss harvesting.

Investing in Aspiration ⁽¹⁾ through the Redwood Fund means you can support rigorously vetted companies that are leading their respective industries in ESP performance and innovation, each one selected not only for their ethics, but for their performance and growth potential.

Not only do these funds not contribute to sin sectors like fossil fuels, but you can double check yourself who your dollars are backing thanks to Aspiration’s transparent breakdown of how much your investment funds what industries and which companies within each one. Track and manage it all through their user-friendly ethical investment app that allows you to manage both your bank account and/or investment fund.

Each fund requires you to set Pay What Is Fair fees, but a portion of these are donated to nonprofits like American Forests’ REPLANT program.

Ethical Investments: Ellevest’s investment strategy of low-cost ETFs and mutual funds includes a mix of stocks, bonds, and alternative funds. With an Ellevest Impact fund, up to 53% is invested in ESG and impact funds that support women-led companies, affordable housing, community services, and sustainability.

Fees & Minimum Amounts: Membership costs $12 a month. There is no minimum investment deposit or balance, but some portfolios have a minimum requirement ranging from $1 to $240. A Private Wealth Management account is available for members with $1M or more.

Risk & Returns: They don’t offer tax-loss harvesting but do provide tax minimization strategies.

Ellevest is one of the best impact investing apps built by women, for women. Membership includes online investing, educational resources, and a 50% discount on 1:1 financial planning sessions. Viewing investment through a gender-conscious lens, they factor the gender pay gap and lifespan estimates into portfolio projections.

Note that Ellevest primarily uses ETFs provided by Vanguard, some of which have fossil fuel exposure, and we are unsure if these are included in the Impact Portfolio.

Ethical Investments: Betterment’s portfolios are custom-built with low-cost, diversified EFTs that support Climate Impact, Social Impact, or Broad Impact (both).

Fees & Minimum Amounts: There is no minimum investment amount, and Betterment charges a relatively low annual management fee: 0.25% of assets under management or $4 per month (based on investment amounts and deposits). The Premium plan requires a minimum investment amount of $100,000, charges 0.65% annually, and gives you unlimited access to certified financial planners for investing advice (also available for a fee).

Risk & Returns: Free tax-loss harvesting is available.

If you’re looking to invest specifically in climate or social impact, Betterment can help your money be better. Their green investment app’s portfolios make it easy to support sustainably and socially conscious companies that share your values—from promoting gender diversity to funding green projects.

While technically a robo-advisor, Betterment is equipped with a team of economists, PhDs, and industry experts, and they clearly share their methodology for their SRI-focused funds.

However, Betterment’s Broad Impact portfolio primarily utilizes the ESGU (the largest ETF in the sphere)—of which ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Hess hold large shares. Several of the ETFs in their Climate Impact portfolio have ties with companies that hold fossil fuel reserves, so it’s important to be aware that it may not eliminate fossil fuel investments completely.

Ethical Investments: Earthfolio offers tailor-made diversified ESG portfolios based on a broad range of sustainable mutual funds and ETFs.

Fees & Minimum Amounts: The minimum investment is $25,000, and the annual management fee is 0.50%. Additional charges from the underlying mutual funds range from 0.25% to 0.78% per year.

Risk & Returns: They do not offer tax-loss harvesting.

The world’s first sustainable robo-advisor, Earthfolio is the only ethical investment platform that invests exclusively in “Sustainable” or “Responsible” funds. Setting up an account is quick and easy, and Eartholio will design your portfolio based on your financial goals and risk tolerance.

Funds are assessed using multiple ESG criteria, including Animal Welfare, Clean Tech, Community Development, Corporate Governance, Conservation, Equality & Diversity, Fair Labor, Fossil Fuel-Free, Healthy Living, Human Rights, Non-Violence, and Shareholder Advocacy. Earthfolio is managed by Blue Marble Investments, an ethical funding specialist.

Ethical Investments: Empower’s Socially Responsible Personal Strategy supports companies committed to ESG performance. It uses a range of mutual funds, low-cost ETFs, individual equities, and fixed-income securities. Note that its other investment offerings aren’t ethically aligned.

Fees & Minimum Amounts: Wealth management fees are 0.89% up to the first $1 million (decreasing after that).

Risk & Returns: Empower uses Smart Weighting™, ongoing rebalancing, and tax-loss harvesting to maximize return and reduce risk.

Empower’s ethical investing app uses a Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) strategy to prioritize companies managing ESG. Using a blend of inclusive and exclusive filters, they create portfolios that avoid companies engaged in controversial categories (e.g., the fossil fuel energy sector, adult entertainment, and small arms), while supporting those with high ESG scores. They’re best-in-class in managing carbon intensity, GHG reduction, diversity programs, bribery and corruption programs, whistleblower programs, and other social and environmental metrics.

The FDIC-insured company is taking steps towards a more diverse and inclusive future and provides its employees with equitable benefits like LGBTQ-inclusive healthcare benefits, paternity and maternity benefits, and paid volunteer hours.

Ethical Investments: IMPACT’s socially responsible portfolios are made up of US stocks and ETFs. With every $1,000 added to an IMPACT account, 25 trees are planted.

Fees & Minimum Amounts: There are no minimum investment amounts or platform fees and $0 commissions on US stocks, ETFs, and free mutual funds. Other mutual funds are charged at 3% or $14.95 per trade (whichever is lower). Expensive stocks can be purchased via a fractional share (meaning investments as little as $1).

Designed exclusively for socially responsible investing, InteractiveBrokers’ IMPACT ethical investing app makes it easy to find—and invest in—socially conscious companies that align with your values. Choose between 13 values that you find important or very important (e.g., land health, LGBTQ inclusion, and ocean life). Then, select the business practices you’d like to avoid, such as greenhouse emissions and animal testing.

The app can be used to trade stock, purchase carbon offsets, and make direct donations to charity. For those new to investing, it offers simulated trading before a full brokerage account is opened.

IMPACT was designed and managed by Interactive Brokers LLC, a highly-rated global brokerage firm based in Canada that focuses on market access and low-cost investing.

Ethical Investments: A personalized portfolio based on six investment themes is generated based on a methodology aligned with the Global Impact Investing Network’s (GIIN) recommendations.

Fees & Minimum Amounts: A monthly plan costs $5 per month, and an annual plan is $50 per year. Get started with a minimum investment amount of just $10. There are no tiers or extra features for higher-valued portfolios, all in an effort to “democratize investing.”

Risk & Returns: Your personalized portfolio is based on your financial goals, risk level, and impact profile.

With a name inspired by “financial literacy,” FLIT Invest keeps confusing jargon at a minimum and allow investors to make changes in the areas they care about most. Choose the industries you wish to avoid (e.g., fossil fuels and weapons) and the values you’re most passionate about (e.g., gender equality and climate solutions) to create your personalized portfolio. The impact—financial and otherwise—can be tracked in real-time using various metrics. You can see carbon exposure and intensity (exposure to high-carbon industries and CO₂ emissions), among other measures.

Ethical Investments: Professionally managed personalized portfolios comprising a mix of equities and bonds to suit your financial goals.

Fees & Minimum Amounts: The Core Plan has 0.5% management fees and a minimum investment of $1. If you have $100,000 in assets, the Premium Plan costs 0.4% in management fees and comes with complimentary USD accounts, advisor check-ins, and tax-loss harvesting.

Risk & Returns: Wealthsimple will design your portfolio to be risk-appropriate for your needs. Portfolios are automatically rebalanced and tax-optimized.

Canadian fintech Wealthsimple offers investors a simple way to get started with their socially responsible investing app and globally diversified portfolio of low-cost index funds. Their Socially Responsible portfolio ensures you don’t compromise on your values. Bonds are certified by the Climate Bond Initiative, and they eliminate the top 25% of carbon emitters in each industry. They also only include companies whose board of directors includes 25% (or at least 3) women.

Wealthsimple’s own socially responsible EFTs (WSRI and WSRD) exclude companies involved in fossil fuel extraction, human rights controversies, weapon manufacturing, adult entertainment, gambling, alcohol, and tobacco.

Ethical Investments: Wealthify blends actively managed mutual funds and ETFs, providing a balance of shares, bonds, and some thematic investments.

Fees & Minimum Amounts: You can kick-start your investment account with £1. An ethical plan has an annual 0.6% management fee and additional investment costs of 0.7%.

Risk & Returns: The investment plans are available across five risk tolerance levels: cautious, tentative, confident, ambitious, and adventurous.

In the UK, Wealthify’s impact investing app is centered around five ethical plans that support organizations committed to positive environmental and social impacts. The plans aim to exclude “sin sectors’ (weapons, tobacco, gambling, and adult entertainment) as well as genetic engineering, intensive farming, deforestation, oppressive regimes, unfair labor practices, excessive political donations, and human rights issues.

All fund providers are signatories of the Principles of Responsible Investing (PRI), the world’s leading authority on responsible investing. However, they may still receive up to 10% of their overall profits from excluded activities.