Guide to ETMoney App: Safety, Features, and Investment Options

If you're a student like me, saving around 1k rupees each month is quite an achievement. You may be looking for ways to grow this money, and the ETMoney app seems like a suitable option. However, it's crucial to weigh the pros and cons before making any investment decisions. This guide will help you understand the potential risks and benefits of using ETMoney, focusing on its safety, feature richness, and investment opportunities.

Is ETMoney Safe?

When it comes to safety, ETMoney is not without its issues. Personal experiences have shown that using the app for mutual funds can be fraught with problems. While you can monitor the performance of your mutual funds, ETMoney is not always reliable when it comes to stopping Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs). If your fund is not growing and you decide to stop the SIP, ETMoney will direct you to contact your mutual fund house, indicating that the app is not equipped to handle such processes.

The most annoying issue is that even after withdrawing funds, your SIP will continue to be debited from your account, and there's no easy way to stop this. Therefore, it might be better to manage your mutual funds directly through the mutual fund house's official platform, which provides more straightforward and secure services.

Investment in Stocks with ETMoney

While ETMoney may not be the ideal choice for managing mutual funds, it can be a great tool for stock trading. Open a Direct Market Access (DMA) account and start investing in stocks. This way, you can learn more about the market and the economy, and you can potentially earn profits by choosing good stocks. A recommended strategy is to invest 500 in SIP (Systematic Investment Plan) and another 500 in stocks. However, always do thorough research before making any investment decisions.

Reliable Features of ETMoney

Despite its shortcomings, ETMoney does offer several reliable features. Here are some of the key ones:

Expense management: Easy tracking of your expenses. Notification process: Timely alerts about important activities. Transaction tracking details: Comprehensive records for your transactions.

However, the app also has some areas for improvement:

Portfolio understanding: The app can be very confusing, especially when it mixes investments from other apps/Websites with their own. Customer service: The support is often inadequate and unhelpful. Transaction delays: Success and failure of transactions often take longer than expected.

What to Consider Before Using ETMoney

Here are some important considerations to keep in mind when using ETMoney:

ETMoney is a middleman: The funds you invest go to Asset Management Companies (AMCs) and are managed by RTAs. ETMoney is just a distributor, not the primary investor. Data privacy: ETMoney reviews your SMS and possibly creates a profile, which means your data is not entirely private. Loan offers: Loan rates are often subprime, and you do not get loans from good banks at good interest rates. Unclear business model: The app's business model is so unclear that it's hard to predict if ETMoney will continue to exist in the long term or be acquired by another company.

Recently, ETMoney has made significant improvements to its mutual fund screens, making them much more user-friendly and clean.

In conclusion, while ETMoney can be a useful tool for stock trading, it is not the safest choice for mutual fund management. Always conduct your own research and consider alternatives such as the mutual fund house's official platform. Happy investing!