M1 Finance Review

M1 Finance's standout feature is its pie-based portfolio system. Instead of buying individual stocks one at a time, you create a 'Pie' with 'Slices' representing your target allocation for each investment.

For example, you might create a dividend pie with 20% in JNJ, 20% in KO, 20% in PG, and so on. Every time you deposit money, M1 automatically buys whichever slices are most underweight, keeping your portfolio balanced without any manual work.

You can also use 'Pies within Pies' for complex strategies—like having one slice be an entire dividend ETF pie and another slice be individual dividend stocks. This flexibility is unique to M1.

M1 offers three ways to handle dividends, giving you more control than most brokers. The default option adds dividends to your cash balance and invests them according to your pie allocations—effectively rebalancing with each dividend.

The second option is true DRIP: dividends are reinvested directly into the same security that paid them. This is ideal if you want to compound specific dividend stocks faster.

The third option transfers dividends to an M1 High-Yield Cash Account, which is great if you want to collect dividends as income rather than reinvesting them.

Traditional rebalancing requires selling winners and buying losers, which triggers taxable events. M1's dynamic rebalancing is smarter—it only uses new deposits and dividends to buy underweight positions, avoiding unnecessary sales.

When you deposit money, M1 automatically calculates which slices are below their target percentage and directs your cash there. Over time, this keeps your portfolio aligned with your targets without triggering capital gains.

If you do want to rebalance by selling, you can click the 'Rebalance' button for a one-click portfolio reset. Just be aware this will trigger taxable events in non-retirement accounts.

M1 is not built for active trading. There's only one trading window per day at 9:30 AM EST when the market opens. Premium subscribers get a second window at 3:00 PM EST.

This limitation is intentional—M1 is designed for long-term, buy-and-hold investors who don't need to react to intraday price movements. If you want to trade actively or time your entries, look elsewhere.

The upside is that this model allows M1 to offer commission-free trading and sophisticated automation. For dividend investors building wealth over decades, the trading window limitation is rarely an issue.

M1 charges a $3/month platform fee if your account balance is under $10,000. Once you hit $10,000 in M1 assets, the fee is waived permanently (as long as you stay above that threshold).

The minimum to open a brokerage account is $100. For IRAs, the minimum is $500. These are higher than Fidelity or Schwab's $0 minimums, but still accessible for most investors.

There's also a $50 inactivity fee if your balance drops below $50 with no activity for 90+ days. And watch out for the $100 outgoing transfer fee if you ever want to move your account to another broker.

If you don't want to build your own portfolio, M1 offers 80+ Expert Pies created by their investment team. These include dividend-focused pies, sector pies, and portfolios mimicking famous investors' strategies.

Research tools are basic compared to Fidelity or Schwab. You'll see fundamental data and charts, but there's no advanced screening, analyst reports, or dividend-specific research tools.

M1 is best for investors who already know what they want to buy. If you need help researching dividend stocks, you'll want to use external tools and then execute your trades on M1.