SoFi Review 2022: All-in-one Financial Tool

In this Sofi review, you’ll see why SoFi is different from most other financial products. Most financial companies mainly focus on a specific issue related to Personal Finance – for example, you’ll have Robo-advisors such as Betterment, Brokerages such as Robinhood or Webull, loan providers such as Ascent, banks such as Aspiration, and budget tools such as Tiller Money.

SoFi, on the other hand, combines all the above. They originally started off as a loan provider, but since then their services have grown to include automated investing, savings accounts, budgets, and more.

So, is SoFi worth using over some of their competitors? Continue reading this Sofi review to find out if SoFi is right for you!

What is SoFi?

Sofi Technologies, more commonly known as simply SoFi, was founded in 2011 by 4 students at Stanford Graduate School of Business with the goal to help provide students with more affordable loan options.

Over the next few years, SoFi began to expand their loan business, as they started offering personal loans, home loans, loan refinancing, and more, becoming one of the largest marketplace lenders in the world.

In 2018, they expanded even further – this time into the world of investing. They started off as a standard brokerage offering 0 fee trading, but they soon expanded further, unveiling a Robo-advisor offering an unprecedented 0 fees, adding IRA support, cryptocurrency trading, and more.

In addition, as alluded to above, SoFi has also added many other features, such as banking options and budget tools. Each of SoFi’s tools offers features that are hard to find elsewhere, and in this SoFi review, we’ll discuss every service they offer, and how they compare to the competition.

SoFi Review: SoFi Invest

Student Loans were how SoFi got started, but their investment tools are quickly becoming their flagship product. And when looking at all the different options they offer, it’s easy to see why.

There are 2 main ways to invest in the stock market:

• Actively buying and trading stocks based on research
• Letting an algorithm, or Robo-advisor, invest your money for you.

SoFi, unlike most other competitors, offers both of these options. Let’s quickly look at each one individually:

Active Investing

              As has become the new industry standard, SoFi offers 0 fee trading when buying and selling stocks. In addition, SoFi has no minimum account balance and offers fractional share trading, which means you can start investing with any amount of money.

SoFi allows you to actively invest in the following asset classes:

• Individual Stocks
• ETFs
• Crypto

In addition, SoFi supports the following investment account types:

• Standard Brokerage Account
• Traditional IRA
• Roth IRA
• SEP IRA

SoFi Robo-advisor

              If you would prefer to give your money to an algorithm and not have to worry about beating the market, SoFi has you covered.

SoFi’s Robo-advisor’s biggest selling point is that there is no management fee, which is unheard of in the Robo-advisor space. You don’t get access to advanced features like Tax-Loss Harvesting, but if you’re just looking for a cheap way to automatically diversify and rebalance your stock holdings, it’s hard to beat SoFi.

In addition, SoFi does not have a minimum account requirement for their automated investment service, which, along with their 0 fees, makes it perfect for newer investors.

SoFi Review: SoFi Money

SoFi Money is SoFi’s version of a bank account. It can do everything a regular bank does – store your money, receive your paychecks, pay you interest, and more.

Here are some cool features SoFi Money offers:

• Access to paychecks up to 2 days early
• No account or overdraft fees
• .25% interest rate once your account hits $500
• No-Fee Overdraft coverage
• $100 Welcome Bonus
• Your money is FDIC Insured up to $1.5 million
• Cash Back programs up to 15% when you pay with SoFi Money
• Deposit checks, get real-time alerts, freeze or unfreeze your card, change your pin, and more—all from your phone
• Access to SoFi Vaults (see below)
• Automatically invest your spare change with Roundups

SoFi Vaults

Vaults lets you divide up the money into your account and set each section aside for a specific goal.

For example, if you’re saving up to pay for your children’s college education and also want to buy a house in 5 years, you can set up 2 vaults and keep a certain percentage of your money in each. This way, you can help keep your savings goals organized.

SoFi Credit Card

In addition to a bank account, SoFi also gives you access to a credit card. This credit card has no annual fee and offers 2% cashback on all purchases when used in any SoFi product.

This includes investing with SoFi, paying off a SoFi loan, saving with SoFi, and more. You can even redeem the points and receive crypto on SoFi in return, making it the first credit card to offer this feature.

Another sweet perk is that you can apply for this credit card without affecting your credit score. Most credit cards pull your credit when you apply, which can hurt your credit score slightly regardless of whether you’re accepted or not. However, SoFi does not pull your credit until you’re actually accepted, so you can apply without worry.

SoFi Review: SoFi Loans

SoFi offers the following loan options:

• Student Loans (Undergraduate & Graduate)
• Student Loan Refinancing
• Credit Card Consolidation Loans
• Home Improvement Loans
• Family Planning Loans
• Travel Loans
• Wedding Loans
• Mortgages
• Mortgage Refinancing

SoFi has focused on loan offerings since the company’s inception, so it’s no wonder they have so many options. No matter what type of loan you’re looking for, SoFi has you covered.

If you’re just curious about what interest rate you’d qualify for but don’t want to apply just yet, SoFi lets you view all loan options that you’re preapproved for without pulling your credit. This makes the decision of whether to take out a loan much easier to make.

The process to apply for a loan is extremely simple, taking an average of only 3 minutes!

Max Kimmel

Max Kimmel graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.S in Mathematics and Minors in Finance and Information Technology. He is a data expert and uses these skills to make sure all facts mentioned in his articles are accurate. Max has grown multiple e-commerce businesses to 6 figures in sales, invests in Index Funds, Rental Properties, and Cryptocurrency, and has been featured by HuffPost and Forbes.

Max Kimmel graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.S in Mathematics and Minors in Finance and Information Technology. He is a data expert and uses these skills to make sure all facts mentioned in his articles are accurate. Max has grown multiple e-commerce businesses to 6 figures in sales, invests in Index Funds, Rental Properties, and Cryptocurrency, and has been featured by HuffPost and Forbes.