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Your first investment app is a big choice. Here is a practical checklist for someone who has never invested before, without the jargon or the pressure.
Every investing app looks trustworthy on its App Store page. Clean design, five-star reviews, promises about your money doing good. But the marketing and the product are different things. Before you download anything, run it through these five questions. If a platform can't clearly answer them, move on.
This is the first real decision and it determines what kind of app you need.
Managed platforms handle everything for you. You sign up, set a contribution amount, and the platform builds and manages a portfolio on your behalf. You don't pick individual companies or make trading decisions. This is where most beginners should start. It's like the difference between cooking from scratch and ordering a meal kit. The ingredients are chosen for you, but they're still good ingredients.
Self-directed platforms give you a brokerage account and let you buy whatever you want. ETFs, individual shares, bonds. Full control, full responsibility. If you know what an ETF is and how to evaluate one (our ETF guide covers this), self-directed can work. If you're genuinely starting from zero, a managed platform will serve you better for the first year or two.
| platform | type | minimum | fees | impact depth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| inaam | Managed | $10/month | $10/month flat | 24 companies, 5 impact pillars, per-holding data |
| Australian Ethical | Managed | $1,000 | 0.95-1.69% p.a. | Comprehensive ESG charter, annual impact report |
| Raiz Invest | Managed | $5 | $3.50/month + 0.275% p.a. | One ethical portfolio (of seven options) |
| Spaceship | Managed | No minimum | 0.05-0.10% p.a. | Earth portfolio (sustainability tilt) |
| BetaShares ETHI | Self-directed (ETF) | ~$10-15 | 0.59% p.a. + brokerage | Ethical screening, 200+ holdings |
This is the part nobody explains. You set up an account, link your bank, choose an amount, and tap a button. Then what?
On a managed platform, your money gets pooled with other investors' contributions and allocated across the fund's holdings. If the fund holds 24 companies, your $10 buys a proportional slice of all 24. The fund manager rebalances the portfolio periodically. Some do it quarterly, some continuously. You don't need to do anything. Your holdings grow (or shrink) with the market, and the fund handles all the trading.
On a self-directed platform, your money sits in a cash account until you manually buy something. You search for an ETF code (like ETHI or FAIR), decide how many units to buy, place the order, and it executes during market hours. If you don't buy anything, your money just sits there earning nothing.
The difference matters for beginners because managed platforms remove the "now what?" moment. Your money starts working immediately. On self-directed platforms, you need to know what to buy and when. That friction is why a lot of first-time investors open an account and then never actually invest.
These come up often enough that they're worth flagging before you start:
Choosing based on the app design, not the fund. A beautiful interface doesn't mean the underlying investment is good. Some of the best-performing ethical funds have the plainest apps. Read the PDSProduct Disclosure Statement. A legal document that must be provided before you invest, outlining the fund's strategy, risks, fees, and key information. before the App Store reviews.
Ignoring fees because they're percentages. A 1.5% management fee doesn't sound like much. On $10,000 over 30 years at 7% return, the difference between 0.5% and 1.5% in fees is over $15,000. ASIC's MoneySmart fund comparison tool lets you model this.
Switching every time a friend recommends something new. Compounding needs time. Moving your money between platforms every few months resets your position. Pick one that passes the five-question filter and give it at least 12 months.
Assuming "ethical" means "safe." Ethical investments still carry market risk. A portfolio of renewable energy companies can drop in value during a market downturn just like any other portfolio. The ethics relate to what the companies do, not whether the share price goes up.
Not setting up automation. The biggest predictor of long-term investing success isn't which fund you choose. It's whether you contribute consistently. Set up a recurring contribution the day you sign up. Even $10/month. Our recurring contributions guide covers why this matters.
Here's a realistic timeline for someone starting from scratch:
That's it. The whole process takes less time than setting up a Netflix account. The hard part isn't the setup. It's the decision to start.
inaam is a managed impact fund. $10/month flat fee. 24 companies across health, energy, waste, food systems, and responsible consumption. All holdings visible, all mapped to impact pillars. No trading decisions, no stock picking, no brokerage fees. You can see exactly how we select companies on our methodology page, or take the money values quiz to see which themes match your priorities.
If you want to compare before committing, our comparison page puts inaam next to other platforms on fees, features, and impact depth.
Five things: ASIC regulation, transparent fees, clear impact methodology, portfolio transparency, and a low minimum investment. If a platform can't clearly answer these, keep looking.
Investing based on marketing rather than methodology, ignoring fees, not reading the PDS, switching platforms frequently, and expecting guaranteed returns. All investments carry risk, including ethical ones.
Check for an AFSL number, a published PDS, and a listed Responsible Entity. You can verify these on ASIC's website. If a platform doesn't have these, it's not legally authorised to offer financial products in Australia.
ready to put this into practice?
Impact investing for $10/month. Five themes. One app. ASIC registered.