Sure, I know I should be investing for my future and all, but pulling more money out of my paycheck and researching what to invest in has always felt like more energy than it’s worth. After all, my workdays are endless, and keeping up with the cost of living keeps me perpetually burnt out. Yet, I realized recently that life isn’t slowing down any time soon, and the last thing I want is to continue letting financial opportunities pass me by.
Not long after this realization, the universe made me aware of a new investment app called Alinea, which confidently claims that you can “do nothing” and still build wealth. I was skeptical but curious, so I decided to test the app out myself. And so far, the results have been staggering, so ahead, I’m sharing a full breakdown of the Alinea app, including why I love it, how it’s growing my money passively, and more.
What is the Alinea app?
Founded by Gen Z women, Anam Lahkani and Eve Halimi, Alinea is an AI-powered investment app specifically geared toward women, Gen Z, and investing novices. The wealth management platform makes investing accessible to everyone by curating investment plans tailored to the unique needs and goals of its users. Then, it helps them start investing and building wealth passively. Along the way, it provides its users with tools to become more knowledgeable about investing.
The Alinea app currently has over 1 million users, 92 percent of whom are women, and a user base with an average age of 22. In a world where investing apps are a dime a dozen, these statistics speak volumes about Alinea’s interface and accessibility. For just $120 per year—which comes out to $10 per month—Alinea is helping people set their financial future up for success.
How does the Alinea app work?
Normally, strategic investing requires research, but Alinea lets you skip this step. The app does the work for you once you complete the onboarding questionnaire, which will ask you details about your financial background, interests and values, risk tolerance, and money goals. Real-life investment managers then use your responses to create your investment “playlist.” This is basically a curated basket of investments specifically tailored to you that helps you diversify your investment plans, spread your assets, and minimize risk. Users can edit these playlists as they please, create their own, or search for others aligned with their interests and investing goals under the “Discover” tab on the app.
Additionally, Alinea’s built-in AI assistant, “AI Allie,” uses your questionnaire to build your financial profile. This is where you’ll find personalized recommendations and investing guidance, as well as an easily digestible breakdown of your playlist. Likewise, AI Allie acts as your personal finance coach; she answers questions and takes you through daily lessons designed to make you savvier with investing.
The app also has an interactive visualization tool that shows users how their money can potentially grow over time, and finally, daily briefings that break down what’s happening in the stock market so users are always informed.
What I love about the Alinea app
The onboarding process makes you confident about its capabilities
I’ll admit that I initially rolled my eyes when I came face-to-face with Alinea’s onboarding process. I expected it to be time-consuming and complex, like most setup questionnaires are. However, it pleasantly surprised me. I found the whole process disarming, and it felt like Alinea was truly getting to know me so it could work efficiently for me. This made me feel confident about Alinea’s capabilities, and I trusted that it would guide me in the right direction. More importantly, it made me feel like I was investing on my own terms.
My investment playlist is tailored for moderate growth. Because of this, my investments are diversified and spread across multiple industries with varying percentages for each to balance risk level with reward. Initially, Alinea recommended I invest $250 every two weeks into this playlist, but I dropped that to $25 every four weeks. I wanted to get my feet wet before going all in, especially while I got comfortable using the app, and I felt no shame in doing this. (The app never made me feel like I was “missing out” in any way.) Plus, being able to modify my curated playlist or create my own and change my investment plan (the amount and frequency you invest) made me feel like I was firmly in charge of my money, even though my investments were automated.
It has a gorgeous, user-friendly interface
I’ve been using Alinea for a few months now, and I’m still in awe of its gorgeous, user-friendly interface. Its simplicity is genius. I can easily find information about my portfolio, the market, and specific stocks and ETFs, all of which are accompanied by statistics and recent news. Plus, each section has highlighted questions that you can click on and get answered by AI Allie. What’s more, the app also makes it easy to visually see how your investments are performing, while the visualization tracker makes it easy to see potential earnings, which is motivating. All in all, Alinea’s interface makes me excited to open the app, explore, and learn something new.
It provides an engaging, fun experience
Another thing that sets Alinea apart from other investment apps is its playlists and community experience. In addition to being able to modify as you please, I love that you can search for and invest in playlists based on specific themes, like green tech or clean beauty, and check out playlists created by other users under the “Discover” tab. If you find a playlist you like from another user, you can invest in it directly or copy and modify it if you want to. Likewise, playlists you want to follow and potentially invest in down the road can be saved to your favorites.
It promotes financial literacy
Anyone can toss money into a portfolio that’s been curated for them or speaks to them. The problem with this is that there’s no learning involved. The way I see it, your money and the moves you’re making with it are arguably the one area you should be well-versed in.
“Alinea offers passive wealth growth, meaning you don’t have to seriously cut into your paycheck or dip into your bank account to build your portfolio.”
Alinea’s daily briefs make you more financially and economically educated, while the app’s lessons teach you everything to know about investing. Each lesson is broken down into a short chapter read aloud by AI Allie and accompanied by a brief quiz at the end (which are typically five questions or fewer). You can’t move on to the next lesson until you complete these quizzes, which ensures you’re actually retaining important investing information. For example, I recently learned that reinvesting investment dividends or distributions back into the same stock or ETF can compound your investments and boost overall returns over time. Before downloading Alinea, that sentence was basically gibberish to me. But now, I get it and can apply that knowledge to grow my portfolios.
The recurring investments remove stress
Although I find myself opening Alinea every day for my daily lesson and brief, I’m the kind of person who ultimately likes to forget about my money. Making sure I pull from my bank account and deposit money into an investment portfolio isn’t for me; I find it too stressful. Alinea allows you to set up recurring contributions that remove this unnecessary stress, which speaks to their whole “do nothing” claim. The best part about this, though, is that the recurring investments keep me accountable.
Is the Alinea app worth it?
Although Alinea is marketed as an investment app for beginners, I wholeheartedly believe that newbies and investment pros alike would enjoy this app. No matter where you are on your financial journey, there’s always room for improvement. Alinea makes sure you never stop learning and helps you continually build your financial intelligence. Better yet, Alinea offers passive wealth growth, meaning you don’t have to seriously cut into your paycheck or dip into your bank account to build your portfolio. And I think we can all agree that that’s a relief in this economy.
Alinea also allows you to make contributions to your portfolio and cash out of your investments freely. The money you make from cashing out an asset is treated like profit and will therefore be taxed; however, you won’t be penalized the same way you would be if you cashed out of a retirement fund. Having investments to fall back on can save you during an unforeseen financial event, like a job loss or a month where you can’t afford to pay your bills. Plus, the stock market will always be there, and you can always re-invest your money.
Lastly, the price point is too good to pass up. A yearly membership fee of $120 per year comes out to $10 per month. That’s cheaper than most streaming subscriptions—especially the ones without ads. If you ask me, the financial peace of mind Alinea offers, combined with its ability to grow your wealth for you, makes it 100 percent worth the price.
Arianna Reardon, Contributing Writer
Arianna is a freelance writer and journalist, and the self-proclaimed hot and dirty martini queen. At The Everygirl, Arianna uses her authenticity and relatability to empower, inspire, and motivate women everywhere. Whether she’s writing about sex and relationships, career and finance, beauty and fashion, wellness, or home and living, Arianna’s passion shines through in all her work.
