PenFed Just Made Investing as Easy as Checking Your Bank Balance

Here’s a scenario you probably know all too well: You’re scrolling through your banking app, see some extra cash sitting in checking, and think “I should really invest this.” Then you remember you’d have to log into a completely different platform, transfer money, wait for it to clear, and—yeah, maybe later.

PenFed Credit Union just eliminated that “maybe later” excuse.

The credit union—one of the biggest in the country with nearly 2.8 million members—has teamed up with InvestiFi to bring investing directly into their mobile and online banking platforms. Translation? You can now invest straight from your checking account without ever leaving the app you’re already using to pay bills and check balances.

This isn’t just a flashy tech upgrade. PenFed members now get access to some genuinely useful tools, all in one place:

• Self-directed investing for those who want full control over their portfolio
• Guided Investing robo-advisory service for folks who prefer a “just tell me what to do” approach
• Financial education resources because nobody’s born knowing the difference between a Roth IRA and a traditional one

The real game-changer? Everything lives in the same digital space. Fund your investments from checking, view all your balances together, and skip the password juggling act between multiple platforms. It’s the financial equivalent of finally getting all your streaming services in one place.

For PenFed, this move makes strategic sense beyond just member convenience. When people have to transfer money to external investment platforms, that’s cash leaving the credit union’s ecosystem. By keeping investing in-house, PenFed can retain those deposits, boost member engagement, and strengthen relationships by being a true one-stop financial shop.

“Our members have come to expect world-class service and that includes the ability to bank and invest on the same platform,” said Jamie Gayton, PenFed’s EVP of Member Operations and Global Fixed Assets. “By partnering with InvestiFi, we are able to deliver a seamless experience allowing members to invest out of the same checking accounts they use for their everyday spending needs.”

Gayton emphasized that this fits squarely into PenFed’s mission of making investing both approachable and accessible—removing the barriers that make people procrastinate on building wealth.

According to Kian Sarreshteh, CEO of InvestiFi, they’ve noticed something interesting in user behavior: people are actually willing to accept lower returns on their cash just for the convenience of investing from the same place they check their balance.

“We see users on 3rd party investment platforms demonstrating the behaviour to sacrifice yield on their cash deposits, for the convenience of Investing from Checking,” Sarreshteh explained. “This partnership will help members feel confident, inspired, and empowered as they engage with their finances.”

His point? Investing intimidates a lot of people. But when you strip away the friction—the separate logins, the transfers, the complexity—it suddenly feels a lot more manageable.

This partnership isn’t just about PenFed and InvestiFi. It’s setting a template for how credit unions can evolve to meet changing expectations. Members increasingly want consolidated financial experiences, not a patchwork of disconnected accounts and platforms.

By embedding investing directly into everyday banking, PenFed is essentially saying: “We’re not just where you keep your money. We’re where you grow it too.” That’s a meaningful shift in how credit unions position themselves in members’ financial lives.

And for the nearly 2.8 million PenFed members? It means one less excuse for putting off that investment plan you’ve been meaning to start.