As a thank you for their service to this country, members of the US Armed Forces have exclusive rights to a number of banking and financial institutions meant to care for their economic future. When it comes to investments, USAA and Navy Federal Credit Union are two of the best ones out there.

USAA short for United Services Automobile Association has been providing financial services to military members since , and has Navy Federal, meanwhile, has been around since , chiefly as a bank.

If you or a family member is in the Armed Forces, both companies provide security and reputable financial services for this specific population. One of the major things to consider about these particular investment solutions, particularly Navy Federal, is that their online presence is fairly limited compared to more conventional brokerage firms.

USAA membership give you access to a web-based trading platform and several mobile apps that allows you to access your account from anywhere you might need. In addition to their basic investment options, USAA and Navy Federal provide some resources to allow its customers to educate themselves and research the best possible ways to maximize their portfolios. Navy Federal offers financial calculators, credit and debt calculators, free financial seminars, and personal finance counseling for their overall services.

This puts their functionality and flexibility slightly above Navy Federal, particularly for the modern investor who wants to get the most out of their portfolio. Navy Federal provides members with the ability to set up investment accounts for retirements, or general brokerage accounts, as does USAA.

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Both also provide the ability to trade in stocks and bonds, as well as mutual funds. However, USAA provides a few more options for its customers in terms of asset classes, also allowing them to trade in futures, options and forex trading.

USAA, for instance, have award-winning mutual funds that their members can customize quite easily, choosing among many different fund options using their platform. Navy Federal undoubtedly has the better fee structures, perhaps some of the best in the business. As such, your brokerage accounts are handled through Investment Representatives, who make it harder to keep your own account under control.

Another interesting advantage to USAA is that they lack a lot of fees that many other brokerage firms have. There are no charges for account transfers, maintenance, penny stocks of after-hours trading, for instance.

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The USAA Platinum Plan even offers you discounted commissions, provided you trade above the minimums they set. While their additional fees are smaller, this can hurt you in terms of your overall expenditures, given your trading volume.

Asset allocation is an important part of investing, as the way your money is distributed along your various asset classes and risk horizons can help keep your money safe. When it comes to investments, however, both USAA and Navy Federal provide basic recommendations and education in the form of blog posts and the like about how best to diversify, a glossary of terms, etc.

While this is admirable in both cases, USAA and Navy Federal have little in the way of online trading platforms and resources to help you with that asset allocation. Both do have financial advisors on hand to personally help you with these kinds of decisions, but in the case of Navy Federal that is practically all they offer. For those who are more hands-on investors, this can prove problematic.

In fact, one major thing to consider about Navy Federal is that it seems they perform a lot of their investing through a third-party provider, Folio Investing. Navy Federal customers looking to find a more codified way to diversify their portfolios are encouraged to check them out and work through one of their plus pre-made portfolios, as that is their primary means of asset allocation. Both USAA and Navy Federal cater to members of the Armed Forces, so whichever one you choose, traders who are military members or family of military members can count on high-quality service and investment options with both companies.

Navy Federal caters more specifically to members of the Navy, and those who live on Navy bases can gain easy access to their resources. For the most part, both USAA and Navy Federal the latter, in particular are best for investors who just want to get a basic plan set up and not have to think too much about it later.

Due to the relative lack of robust investment tracking software and interfaces, investors have to leave a lot of their account maintenance to their financial advisors. Traders who value reputable customer service might do well to go with USAA, as their highly-rated customer service stands head and shoulders above Navy Federal, which has had some problems in the past with accessibility.

However, if you want something more modern, not to mention rates that you know about upfront, USAA might be the better choice.

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Deep Research and No-Balance Trading. Comparing Two Solid Online Trading Platforms. Which Stock Trader Is Best For You? Limited online interface, chiefly focuses on banking; financial advisors do most of the work. Fairly inflexible; mostly banking and credit union, but invests through third-party.