Charles Schwab was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Westlake, Texas. It is one of the premier online brokerage firms and is our choice as the provider of the best overall custodial account for parents and guardians to consider. In addition to providing users with an easy account opening process, users can do so without having to shell out a minimum depo🧸sit.

Once the account is established in the child's name and adequately funded, the parent or guardian has many options for investing on behalf of the child, such as stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds. Parents who are skilled traders can also trade derivatives such as options and futures.

In addition to its rich trading features, Schwab also offers excellent education and research amenities. Children, parents, and guardians  can learn together about the importance of investing through Schwab's free educational resources. Users also have access to great research materials from outlets such as Morningstar, Argus, and CFRA alongside proprietary research provided by Schwab itself.

While Schwab won for the best overall custodial account, prospective users should consider its drawbacks. For one, Schwab does not offer users the opportunity to invest in fractional ETFs; however, it does allow trading in fractional stocks. Users also earn a paltry interest rate of just 0.05% on uninvested cash. Schwab also charges high fees for some of its services, such as account transfers of $50, wire fees of $25, and broker-assisted trades of $25. Still, customers who need help can contact customer service 24 hours, seven days a week.

Read the full 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Charles Schwab Review    

Fidelity Investments was founded in 1946 and has its headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts. It is our choice for users seeking a custodial account pr🍌ovider that values low fees but offers high-quality service, including robust trading features, research amenities, and the ability to invest in fractional shares of stocks and ETFs.

Parents and guardians who want to open a custodial account with Fidelity Investments can choose between a UGMA or a UTMA account without a minimum deposit. In addition, they can enjoy $0 fees or commissions for stocks, bonds, ETFs, and Fidelity-operated mutual funds. Fidelity also allows trading i💖n options in custodial accounts, which are subject to a $0.65 fee per contrౠact.

The custodial account also comes equipped with an excellent array of research tools and resources. For instance, custodians have access to multiple screeners for stocks and mutual funds. Fidelity also provides proprietary research along with access to external professional research sources, the most notable being CFRA, Morningstar, Argus, and Zacks Investment Research.

However, it is important to note the drawbacks of Fidelity Investments. 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Fidelity Go, the robo-advisor for the online brokerage firm, does not allow users to open a custodial account. While Fidelity is the best provider of custodial accounts with low fees, it does asses some hefty fees that prospective clients should be aware of. Non-Fidelity mutual funds come with a $49.95 transaction fee, but Fidelity offers a good selection of no-transaction fees mutual funds as an alternative. Still, Fidelity does charge upwards of $100 for some ETFs in its custodial accounts. However, Fidelity offers many ETFs that are not subject to fees.

Read the full 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Fidelity Review 

Acorns was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Irvine, California. Due to its rich features and beginner-friendly approach, i♓t is our choice for parents and guardians seeking to automate their ch🧸ild’s custodial accounts.

Acorns custodial accounts can be opened with a $0 minimum deposit. While stocks and ETFs don’t have a fee associated with them, Acorns itself levies monthly tiered-level subscription fees. For example, Acorns Bronze costs $3 monthly, Acorns Silver costs $6 monthly, and Acorns Gold costs $12 monthly. Not surprisingly, the higher the subscription, the better the features, amenities, and perks a user is entitled to.  

Even though Acorns charges a subscription fee, it has a lot to offer that many other robo-advisors do not. For instance, custodians have access to checking and retirement services. Furthermore, depending on your subscription, users can get a 1% or 3% percent match on contributions to their children's IRA. Another valuable feature is the spare change service Acorns offers. Custodians can link a credit or debit card to their Acorns account and deposit the spare change into that account on expenditures outside of Acorns by rounding up to the nearest dollar.   

Another plus is that Acorns offers educational opportunities in the form of lessons, quizzes, videos, stories, and so on to help children of all ages learn about topics such as investing, retirement, borrowing, and planning. However, Acorns does not offer research tools or proprietary financial reports from services such as Morningstar and Argus. Custodians should also understand that the robo-advisor's investment selection is limited to stocks and ETFs. 

Read the full 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Acorns Review

Founded in 1975 and headquartered in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, Vanguard is our choice for the best provider of mutual funds for custodial accounts due to its rich selection, which includes over 160 Vanguard-operated mutual funds and 3,000 non-Vanguard mutual funds. Vanguard also allows its users to invest in stocks and ETFs. Keep in mind that Vanguard does not offer fractional shares of stocks and non-Vanguard ETFs. For now, it only offers fractional shares for Vanguard-operated ETFs.

If you open an account, you get excellent service. For instance, users get a big lineup of good research tools, including a screener that can help identify stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds that meet your specific criteria, as well as calculators that can be useful to help plan for retirement, college, and much more. As for professional research analysis, Vanguard provides its own proprietary reports along with reports from institutions such as Argus and Market Grader. Vanguard also provides an excellent interest rate for uninvested cash at 3.65% APY.

However, don’t ignore potential drawbacks before opening a custodial account. Every account opened at Vanguard is subject to a $25 annual fee. However, the fee is fairly easy to avoid by signing up for the e-delivery of statements and other important notices that Vanguard is required to send. Potentially more daunting for some account openers is the $3,000 minimum initial investment required for most Vanguard mutual funds, which is steep for a custodial account.

Read the full 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Vanguard Review

Ally was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. It is our choice for the provider of the best custodial bank account. While many brokerage firms offer custodial accounts with the added ability to invest in stocks and ETFs, Ally Bank is design🦋ed for risk-averse users who only need banking features to build their custodial accounts.

Users can open FDIC-insured checking, savings, or money market accounts, as well as 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:certificates of deposit (CD) for their beneficiaries. Those types of accounts hꦰave a lower risk of volatility and loss of principal than accounts that let you invest in securities that are subject to market flu𓆏ctuations. Since Ally Bank's custodial account is operated by banking features, it’s important to note the differences in interest rates for each account.

For instance, Ally’s custodial checking account has a 0.10% APY, whereas its savings and money market custodial accounts currently enjoy an interest rate of 3.60% APY. With its CD offering, users can choose between three different types of CDs, which include a high-yield CD, a “Raise Your Rate” CD, and a no penalty CD.

Rates are subject to change, so check them before opening an account. Users should also be aware that Ally is an online bank without brick-and-mortar locations. Ally’s custodial accounts are built with bank features and cannot offer stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds. If a bank is what you are looking for to drive your custodial account, parents and guardians can easily open an account without an account minimum.

Read the full 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Ally Invest Review