Grifin Review: Invest Where You Shop

What Is Grifin?

Grifin is a mobile investing platform based on the concept of linking your spending and investing. The fintech, founded in 2017 by Aaron Froug, Bo Starr, and Robin Froug, has grown to over 500,000 registered users and 1 million app downloads. 

How Grifin Works

There is no shortage of automated, micro-investing apps on the market, but Grifin is somewhat unique. Here's a closer look at how it works: 

Connect Your Accounts 

After signing up with Grifin, the first step is to connect your accounts. This includes the credit or debit cards you use most often, as well as a checking or savings account. This way, Griffin can see your transactions each week and withdraw the funds needed to invest. Grifin uses Plaid to link your accounts. It's a secure, third-party platform used by thousands of fintechs and banks to transfer money. 

Simple Weekly Investing 

With your accounts connected, Grifin will monitor your spending at publicly-traded companies (your local farmer's market won't count). At the end of the week, it adds up the number of qualifying purchases you made and withdraws $1 for each transaction from your bank account. So, if you made 12 qualifying purchases, Grifing will withdraw $12 and invest it in the companies where you shopped. It all happens automatically, so aside from making sure you have enough money in your account for the investment, there's no work involved. 

Adaptive Investing

Grifin's technology is built around the concept of "Adaptive Investing". By linking your investment purchases to where you shop, Grifin is adapting to your lifestyle, as your shopping habits evolve. According to Grifin, the technology is "inherently built to create healthy habits around the spending that you're already doing; no need to time the market, no need to pick and choose stocks." 

But Grifin's automation doesn't require you to give up all control. Its investment settings allow you to pause your investments for a week if you want to take a break, adjust the per-transaction investment amount (between $1 and $99), and block companies you shop at but don't want to own stock in. 

Also, Grifin assigns a risk level to individual companies: Conservative, Moderate, or Aggressive. Grifin will only invest in companies that are at or below your established risk tolerance. 

What Stocks Can I Invest In?

You can buy and sell over 400 individual stocks, but Griffin works with over 3,500 businesses because many stocks comprise multiple subsidiaries. Take Whole Foods, for example. Amazon owns it, so if you spend money at Whole Foods, Grifin will purchase stock in Amazon. 

Here is a list of just a few of the over 400 companies you can invest in through Grifin: 

• 3M Company
• Abercrombie & Fitch
• Adobe
• Amazon
• American Express
• Bank of America
• Best Buy
• Capital One
• Coca-Cola
• Dollar General
• Honda
• Kellog's
• Lowe's Microsoft
• Motorola
• Papa John's
• Planet Fitness
• Ralph Lauren
• Shopify  
• Starbucks
• TD Bank
• Uber
• United Airlines
• Verizon
• Wendy's
• Wynn Resorts
• Zillow
• Zoom

How Are Dividends Treated? 

If the stock(s) you hold payout dividends, they will be paid out to the investible cash portion of your portfolio, where you can reinvest them manually by purchasing shares. Grifin does not automatically reinvest dividends via DRIP. 

Are There Any Fees?

Grifin charges a monthly subscription fee of $5, or $60 annually, though you can cancel at anytime. There are no other commission fees of any kind. You'll need to decide if the membership fee is worth it, but the transparent pricing is refreshing. 

How Does Grifin Compare?

Grifin isn't the only beginner-friendly investment app on the market today. Two similar apps include M1 Finance and Acorns, although both work somewhat differently. Acorns is a round-up savings platform that rounds up the spare change from your purchases and invests it in low-cost ETFs, based on your risk tolerance. It doesn't offer individual stocks like Grifin, but tends to be more diversified and better suited to a long-term investing strategy. M1 Finance is a hybrid investing app. You can build portfolios of individual stocks and ETFs with fractional shares and automated contributions. It's more customizable than Grifin or Acorns, but it's also slightly more complex, which can be a good or bad thing, depending on the individual investor. All three platforms operate on a fee-based model with no trading fees. 

How Do I Open An Account?

You can get started with Grifin by downloading its app on iOS or Android, then opening an account. You'll have to provide your email address and some personal information (including your SSN), as it is a regulated investing service. From there, you'll connect your bank account and cards so Griffin can begin tracking your spending transactions. Setup shouldn't take more than 10-15 minutes. 

Is It Safe And Secure?

Safety is always a concern with financial apps. Grifin's brokerage services are provided through Alpaca Securities, LLC and Apex Clearing Corporation. Both entities are registered with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and are members of FINRA and SIPC. As mentioned, Grifin uses Plaid, a trusted third-party to connect to your bank accounts. 

How Do I Contact Grifin?

Grifin doesn't provide a customer support phone line on its website, but you can email [email protected] if you require assistance. 

Is It Worth It?

If you're looking to build a regular investing habit and are looking for a low-barrier entry point into stock investing, Grifin is worth considering. By pairing an investing habit with your regular spending, you don't have to think too much about asset allocation or portfolio construction. 

That said, I cannot recommend Grifin as a primary investment platform for most investors. Individual stock investing is considered high risk, as it can be challenging to achieve optimal diversification. It concerns me that Grifin considers any individual stock to be "Conservative", regardless of the industry. Most beginner investors should choose a diversified, professionally managed portfolio (e.g., ETFs) over individual stocks if the goal is to build a serious long-term investment plan. Platforms like Acorns, M1 Finance, or other low-cost brokers or robo-advisors are better suited for that purpose. 

Check out Grifin here >>