Albert
Product Name: Albert
Product Description: Albert is an all in one financial app that offers a checking account, savings account, budgeting, investing, and financial advice.
Summary
Albert is an all-in-one financial platform that offers a checking account, high-yield savings, a budget, an investing account, and personalized financial advice from human financial advisors. There is a monthly fee to access premium features, including the financial advice.
Pros
- Access to personal financial advice
- Cash back on debit card
- High-yield savings account
- Budgeting tools
- Investing tools
Cons
- Monthly fee for all but the most basic account
- No credit-building tools
Many personal finance apps specialize in specific tasks like saving money, earning a high-interest rate, paying bills, and potentially earning spending rewards. Finding one platform offering both banking and investing accounts can be challenging.
That’s not the case with Albert. Albert can help you save, invest, and receive hands-on financial guidance with a single app. This Albert app review dives into the various features that can help improve your finances, potentially for free.
At a Glance
- Free checking account
- High-yield savings
- Budgeting tools
- Investing tools
- Personalized financial advice from a financial expert (not AI)
- Monthly fee for all but the most basic account
Who Should Use Albert
Albert is best for someone who wants to take full advantage of the financial advice. You have to sign up for the most expensive plan, but that is still much cheaper than you would pay to speak to a financial advisor, plus you’ll get all the other services as well.
If you aren’t going to take full advantage of the advice, then you can probably put together these same services for less, although they will not all be under one roof. If that’s important to you, then you may get value from the lower plans.
Albert Alternatives
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| Monthly fee | No | No | $1 |
| Credit building | Yes | Yes | No |
| Budgeting tools | No | No | No |
| Learn more | Learn more | Learn more |
Table of Contents
What Is Albert?
Albert is a personal finance app for Android or iOS devices powered by Sutton Bank, a member of FDIC #5962. You can open an FDIC-insured savings account (up to $250,000 in coverage) and a SIPC-insured brokerage account ($500,000 coverage limit).
While Albert isn’t a banking app, you may consider it as a supplement to your existing checking account as you can enjoy more features.
Some of the available services include:
- Savings account
- Rewards debit card
- Investing account
- Budgeting tools
- On-demand, personalized money advice
You can open an account if you’re at least 18 years old, a U.S. resident or citizen, and have an existing bank account.
This external bank account is necessary to qualify for amenities such as cash advances, automated savings, and opening an investing account.
Checking Account
Albert Cash is similar to a free online checking account. There are zero balance requirements or maintenance fees.
Your online spending account includes these perks:
- Receive direct deposits up to two days sooner
- Up to $250,000 in FDIC insurance from partner banks (i.e., Coastal Community Bank and Wells Fargo, N.A.)
A Genius subscription is necessary (16.99 per month) if you want to access the 55,000+ fee-free AllPoint ATMs for cash withdrawals, and fees can still apply for non-network ATM withdrawals.
With the Genius subscription, you can also earn cash back by using your debit card. Here’s what you can earn.
Along with offering a free spending account, Albert can analyze your linked accounts and categorize your expenses to look for spending trends. In addition, real-time alerts can notify you of your latest transactions and current account balance to avoid going into an overdraft.
The service can also monitor your linked accounts for overdraft fees, late fees, and other hidden charges that can be easily overlooked.
Savings
You’ll need the Basic subscription, which is $11.99 per month, to access this high-interest savings account.
In addition to setting up recurring or one-off transactions to savings, you can enroll in the “Smart money” plan, which analyzes your linked account daily. Then, the app initiates a “safe withdrawal amount” between $5 and $350.
You can also set savings goals with custom targets and prioritization.
✨ Related: 9 Apps Like Moneylion
Genius subscribers can also open a taxable non-retirement investing account.
You can self-manage your account by investing in stocks and ETFs. The investment options can include index funds, ESG investments, and sector ETFs for a customized portfolio.
A more appealing option might be the automated Portfolios managed by Albert. You can choose an aggressive, moderate, or conservative risk tolerance, and the platform holds corresponding funds.
The app lets you invest for different financial goals to help customize your asset allocation. It’s possible to schedule recurring investments or manual contributions. If you use the Smart money feature, your automatic investments will be invested based on a predetermined asset allocation.
There are no trading fees, and the minimum investment is $1.
This platform can be an excellent option to invest your first $1,000 with an easy-to-use platform. You can ask the financial experts basic investing questions that other investing apps may not answer.
However, experienced investors may prefer a different online brokerage with advanced research tools and stock screeners.
Budgeting
The Basic plan will give you access to Albert’s budget tools. You can make a custom spending plan, or Albert can make one automatically based on your spending habits. It will also automatically categorize your expenses. You can monitor your cash flow and track bills and subscriptions.
Albert will also find unwanted subscriptions and alert you if a regular bill increases. You can cancel subscriptions in the app, and Albert will also assist you in bill negotiation to help lower your existing bills.
Financial Advice
If you sign up for Genius+ at $21.99 per month, you’ll get access to personalized financial advice from financial experts. Many questions focus on these money topics:
- Budgeting
- Saving
- Investing
- Life events
- Paying off debt
- Student loans
You can text your questions to the advice hotline and chat back and forth or set up a one-on-one call for in-depth advice. The experts can analyze your linked accounts to provide hands-on help depending on the question.
Albert Pricing
There is technically a free version of Albert, but it’s pretty limited, only giving you access to the checking account. If you want any of the extra Albert features, you’ll need to sign up for one of three plans: Basic, Genius, or Genius+.
Basic – $11.99 per month
The basic plan gives you access to:
- Budgeting tools
- Savings account
Genius – $16.99 per month
The Genius plan gives you everything in Basic and:
- Cash back rewards on debit purchases
- Investing
- Identity protection
- Credit score monitoring
Genius+ – $21.99 per month
The Genius+plan gives you everything in Genius, plus:
- Financial advice
Albert Alternatives
These financial apps offer many overlapping features, but their unique strengths can make them a better fit, depending on what you’re looking for.
Here are a few alternatives to Albert and what they offer:
Varo
Varo also has a free checking account and a high-yield savings account. You can also build credit with a secured credit card. Varo offers short-term loans and personal loans for a one-time flat fee.
Like Dave, Varo doesn’t have a website; you can only use the app to access your account.
Here’s our full review of Varo for more information.
Current
Current offers a free checking and savings account. It also comes with a credit-building card that works as your debit card, so you’ll automatically build credit as you use your account. You can also get up to $250 in free overdraft protection.
Unfortunately, this platform doesn’t offer in-depth budgeting tools, automated savings, or investment accounts like Albert.
Here’s our full Current review for more information.
Dave
Dave offers a free checking and high-yield savings account, and you can qualify for up to $500 as an instant loan. You can get your direct deposit up to two days early and round up your purchases to “save your change.”
Dave does charge a small monthly fee of up to $5 per month, but most reports state the monthly fee is $1.
FAQs
Does Albert offer custodial accounts?
No, Albert is only available for individuals at least 18 years old. There are no household plans, and each person must open an individual account.
Does Albert cost money?
If you want anything more than a free checking account, then yes, Albert costs money. It has three plans that range between $11.99 per month and $21.99 per month.
What are the Albert app customer service options?
Premium members can send personalized questions by text to financial experts. There is also an online knowledge library for all users. Unfortunately, the service doesn’t offer phone support.
Final Thoughts on Albert
Albert can be an effective solution if you need help with budgeting and investing. Its hands-on tools can also help you effortlessly save money towards your financial goals and get answers to your money questions.
The premium Genius version will give you the best experience. However, the free version can also be worthwhile to access unique features like fee-free cash advances and debit card rewards.
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About Josh Patoka
After graduating in $50k with student loans in May 2008 from Virginia Military Institute with a B.A. International Studies and Political Science with a minor in Spanish (he studied abroad in Sevilla, Spain for 3 months), Josh decided to sell his soul for seven years by working in the transportation industry to get out of debt ASAP and focus on doing something else with a better work-life balance.
He is a father of three and has been writing about (almost) everything personal finance since 2015. You can also find him at his own blog Money Buffalo where he shares his personal experience of becoming debt-free (twice) and taking a 50%+ pay cut when he changed careers.
Today, Josh relishes the flexibility of being self-employed and debt-free and encourages others to pursue their dreams. Josh enjoys spending his free time reading books and spending time with his wife and three children.
Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank or financial institution. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
