Investing For Immigrants: Can I Use Robinhood With An ITIN?
Robinhood is a great way to start investing but does Robinhood accept an ITIN? We’ll explain why investing is so important, what Robinhood is, and how new immigrants can buy and sell stocks in the U.S.
Investing is essential
Saving money is not enough. If you want to create wealth, you must invest. Think of money sitting in a savings account. At the time of writing, the average interest rate a saving account pays is just 0.09%. And the rate of inflation is 8.2%. That means the money in that savings account is losing value.
That’s not to say you should have some money in a savings account. A savings account is a very safe place to keep your emergency fund. But when you have tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars sitting around earning less than 1% interest, your money is not working for you; you’re not growing your wealth. You have to invest.
If we have $10,000 in that savings account for ten years, we will earn just $90.37. Between 2012 and 2021, the average return for the stock market (using the S&P 500 index) was 14.83%. If we invested that same $10,000, we would earn $29,861.50.
And those numbers are just from our initial $10,000 and ten years. Imagine how much more money you’ll have if you invest additional money regularly and for decades more! You don’t have to imagine. You can use an interest calculator and play around with different numbers to see for yourself.
When you see how powerful investing can be, you’ll never leave all of your savings to waste away in a savings account again!
How Robinhood works
Robinhood is a commission-free, app-based investing platform. Users can buy stocks (including fractional shares), ETFs, options, and some cryptocurrencies. Users create and fund their accounts and can start trading.
Unfortunately, you cannot use Robinhood without an SSN; an ITIN is not accepted, which means you must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident to use the app.
How to trade stocks without an SSN
Buying and selling stocks with an ITIN is possible. Legal and undocumented immigrants are free to invest in the stock market, and no Social Security Number is required; that is a requirement Robinhood implemented as a company, but it was not legally required to do so.
You can open a brokerage account using an ITIN with companies including Charles Schwab, Fidelity, and Vanguard. Users can create an account, fund it with money from a checking or savings account, and start buying and selling stocks within a business day or two.
Upwardli and you
Investing is only one aspect of American personal finance. There are so many things to learn as a newly arrived-resident! What is a credit score, and why are they so important in the U.S.? What do all the investing terms mean? What is the average cost of living in the U.S.?
It’s a lot! That’s where Upwardli comes in! Upwardli was created to help those new to the country navigate and thrive in the personal finance system. We have created dozens of resources that can help you answer all the questions above and lots more, and we can help you build your credit score, something that will make many aspects of your financial life easier. Upwardli is here for you during every step of your financial journey!
