Frequently Asked Questions

About Bloom

What is Bloom?
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Bloom is an app for learning to invest. Bloom charges a subscription fee for access to an investing account (including UTMA/UGMA custodial brokerage accounts for teens 13-17), 150+ interactive financial lessons, and stock rewards for learning.

Who do you partner or work with?
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Our brokerage services are provided by Alpaca Securities LLC ("Alpaca"), member FINRA/SIPC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AlpacaDB, Inc. Our banking integration is securely done through Plaid, which provides the highest industry standard for security with banking.

We are backed by Y Combinator, the accelerator that launched Stripe, DoorDash, AirBnB, Coinbase and countless other tech start-ups.

How much money do you need to start investing on Bloom?
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After opening an account, Bloom does not have a minimum required account balance. However, please note that deposits and stock orders must be at least $1.

Is Bloom a safe investing app?
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Bloom uses bank-level security and SSL to ensure your information is fully protected. We also offer fractional investing, $0 commission on trades, a learning center with 60+ education lessons and an overall top-tier investing experience.

We use Plaid, Inc. to link your bank accounts and will never store your online banking credentials. Security and safety is the most important priority to Bloom. We hold ourselves to the highest industry standards to ensure this is the case.

Where does the charting technology and economic calendar come from?
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The charting technology is provided by TradingView, a platform with advanced charting tools where people driven by markets can chat, chart, and prepare for trades. TradingView offers market data and advanced charting tools such as the Economic calendar that helps track major upcoming events.

For Teens & 18+ Users

How old do I have to be to join Bloom?
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Anyone 13 years or older can open an account! You’ll just need a parent or guardian to sponsor your account if you're under 18.

Can I use Bloom if I'm over 18?
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Yes, absolutely! If you're over 18, you don't need a parent to start investing on Bloom, and can access all of our financial lessons to learn about investing and money. Now is the best time to get smart about money!

Why is a phone number required to create my account?
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We use your phone number to verify your account & ensure that only you can access our account. When you first download Bloom, we send a SMS code to verify that your account is linked to the correct number.

How / when do I link a bank account?
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After your parent signs up for Bloom, they can link their bank account and deposit funds. They can also allow you to link your own bank account instead (see next question).

As a teen, can I link my own bank account?
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Yes, absolutely! When your parent signs up for Bloom, they can select whose bank account should be linked.

If they select yours, you will be prompted to link your bank account and make a deposit in the app.

How do I link a bank account that is not listed on Plaid?
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1. Once you're in the Plaid modal, type in "manual" to the search bar.

2. Below "No results found" select the button that says "Link with account numbers".

3. Enter your bank credentials in the Plaid window to connect your bank and click "continue".

4. Next, type in the name of your bank institution followed by the account type (Checking or Savings).

5. Complete the connection process by selecting the account type (Personal or Business).

6. On the next screen, enter your routing number and then continue to the final screen where you'll enter your account number. Plaid handles this data with bank-grade encryption.

7. Plaid will send 2 micro-deposits (between $0.01 and $0.99) to your bank account, once you receive these micro-deposits, which can take 1-2 business days to arrive, you'll need to verify their amounts in Bloom.

8. After verifying the amounts, you can authorize a deposit!

I'm a teen, why do I need my parent to sign up?
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In the United States, you can’t legally have your own investment account until you turn 18, but your parent can help you open a custodial brokerage account.

How do I invite my parent to Bloom?
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Two ways: you can do it 1) when you first onboard onto the app (you will be prompted during the sign up process) or 2) go to the Account tab and tap Invite Parent.

You'll be prompted to enter your parent's phone #, and you can send them an invite right from the Bloom app!

What can I invest in?
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You can currently buy & sell 5,000+ U.S. stocks and ETFs. We will never allow users to trade options or on margin. We value the safety of our end users, and we believe offering these instruments is unsafe.

Who can be my sponsor (parent)?
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You just need an adult over 18 to act as your sponsor.

Your parent / sponsor will have their own Bloom account and have some visibility until you turn 18. We recommend picking a parent or guardian, or someone who you trust to help manage your money.

What is a custodial account?
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Custodial accounts are investing accounts set up by guardians (sponsors) for the benefit of minors under the age of 18. The sponsor owns the account but must use the account for the benefit of the teen.

When the minor comes of age (usually 18-21), they will gain full ownership of the account.

For Parents

What controls do I have as a sponsor?
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You can fund your teen's account through deposits, as well as make withdrawals.

If you choose, you also have the authority to approve or deny your teen's stock trades, as well as set limitations on what types of securities they can trade.

What education features does Bloom offer?
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Bloom has 80+ financial education lessons, styled like Instagram Stories to help teens become financially savvy effortlessly. The lessons cover all four fundamental finance concepts and beyond. Teens can learn about personal finance, investing, the basics of economics, crypto and even famous investors and CEOs.

Why do I need a U.S. Social Security Number or a Tax Identification Number?
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This is a requirement by the FINRA/SIPC to open a brokerage account in the United States. More specified here.

We do not store this information in our servers, and only ask for purposes of compliance through our partner Alpaca Securities LLC and FINRA/SIPC.

I'm a parent but have an Android phone, can I still use Bloom?
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Yes! We offer a parent web portal that you can access here.

How can I, or my teen, withdraw funds?
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In the Transfers page of the Bloom parent portal, you should see a "Withdraw" button, assuming a bank account has been linked. Clicking this will lead you to the withdraw page, where you can withdraw funds to the bank account linked. Deposited funds may take up to 6 business days before they are available for withdrawal. Please note that due to regulatory reasons, only parents can withdraw funds at this time.

Subscription

Do I need to pay to use Bloom?
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Bloom charges a subscription fee for access to our custodial and individual investing accounts, as well as our premium interactive financial lessons. However, users can always access our basic investing lessons for free, as well as stock data and our games and rewards on Oink Hub.

We currently offer two subscription plans: an annual plan at $120 / year, and a monthly plan at $15 / month.

Why does Bloom charge a subscription fee?
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Unlike other investing apps, we do not make any money off of users' trades or withdrawals, so while they may incentivize to encourage users to trade risky assets like options and certain cryptocurrencies in order to rake in trading fees, our mission is to help the next generation achieve long term financial success, so we chose not to monetize trading volume.

We also give out a large amount of free stock rewards to users in exchange for learning.

In turn, in order to cover the cost of stock rewards as well as our own costs, we need to charge a subscription fee for access to our services. We believe this is the best way to align incentives between us and our customers, and enable us to continue providing a premium product for our clients.

How can I cancel my subscription?
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If you're a parent of a teen, or a teen account with a parent, the parent can cancel their subscription at anytime, by going to Settings > Subscription > Unsubscribe from the parent portal.

If you're over 18 and subscribed by yourself, you can cancel the subscription from the Bloom app directly by going to Settings > Subscription > Unsubscribe.

The app will walk you through collecting all funds as well.

What is your refund policy?
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Bloom does not and cannot charge without consent. The subscription is disclosed on the first pages of sign up and confirmed when selecting a plan and paying.

A customer can manage their subscription at anytime by going to Settings > Subscription from the parent portal. As a subscription based business, we are not able to refund accounts that were active for more than 7 days.

Please contact support@joinbloom.co for direct refunds if you do not recognize the service, were unable to sign up or have a special inquiry.