Social investing is intriguing... but it's new. And when you think about investing your hard-earned money, 'new' doesn't immediately inspire confidence. New means you don't really understand how it works, if it works, and why you would choose it in place of more established methods. So when it comes to stock market investing, many prefer the old way of doing things: mutual funds or index funds issued by traditional institutions.

But here's what's really new with Covestor: more transparency, a democratized investing platform that gives you access to extraordinary portfolio managers, and (in many cases) lower fees.

We know it's our challenge to help you overcome the natural skepticism of investing in new ways, so you can make an informed decision if our new way is right for you.

That's why we created our trial account.

A trial account is a free, no-obligation, virtual $100,000 Covestor account. You don't need to enter a credit card, or even your name. It's just a way to get familiar with Covestor over a short period of time. Select models to follow in whatever amounts you want, and observe results dynamically with daily updates.

Give it a try. You have nothing to lose but your lame, overpriced mutual fund: