I started my journey to financial independence in late Feburary of 2019, and that’s when I discovered the Acorns investing app. I always find myself talking personal finance with my co-workers, and one of the first steps I tell them to do is start investing with Acorns. Today we are going to go over just what is the Acorns investing app.
Acorns is a financial technology company that offers a popular investment app that allows users to automatically invest their spare change from everyday purchases into a diversified portfolio of exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
The company was founded in 2012 by Jeff Cruttenden and his father, Walter Cruttenden, with the goal of making it easy for people to start investing and building wealth, even if they don’t have a lot of money to start with. Lets take in depth look to all of Acorns features.
Sign up for Acorns and receive a free $5 dollars to start you on your journey to financial independence.
What are Acorns Round-Ups
Acorns Round-Ups are a feature of the Acorns investment app that allows users to automatically invest their spare change from everyday purchases. When you make a purchase using a linked debit or credit card, the app rounds up the purchase price to the nearest dollar and invests the spare change. For example, if you purchase a coffee for $3.50, the app will round up the purchase to $4.00 and invest the additional $0.50.
The Round-Up feature is designed to make it easy for users to start investing with minimal upfront investment. By investing small amounts of money on a regular basis, users can potentially build wealth over time. The app also allows users to set up recurring investments and make one-time investments, in addition to the Round-Up feature.
Start investing with as little as $5 Dollars
In addition to the Round-Up feature, Acorns also offers a variety of other investment options, including the ability to set up recurring investments, make one-time investments with as little as $5 dollars.
Diversified investment
Acorns uses a diversified investment approach, which means that users’ money is spread across a variety of different ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds), such as stocks, bonds, real estate, and bitcoin. This can help to reduce the risk of their investments and potentially increase the chances of earning a positive return over the long term.
Key Benfits of using Acorns
- Beginner friendly-Acorns app has a simple and intuitive user interface, making it easy for users to track their investments and monitor their progress.
- Multiple Features- Acorns is just not an investing app it also has many features that include Banking, retirement accounts, investing accounts for kids, and Acorns earn.
- Low Fees- Acorns charges a monthly subscription fee that ranges from $3 to $5, depending on the account type and features selected. The company also charges a small fee for each investment transaction, which is typically around $0.25. These fees are lower than the average for traditional brokerage firms, making Acorns an attractive option for those who want to start investing without incurring high costs.
Acorns Invest
Acorns Invest is Acorns standard investment feature which is just a standard brokerage account. A standard brokerage account is a type of brokerage account that is not specifically designated as a retirement account or a custodial account. This means that you can use the account to buy and sell a wide range of investments, and the profits or losses you earn will be taxed as ordinary income.
Acorns offers five different portfillo options for its Acorns core invest account. The five prortfillo are as follows
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Conservative-This account invests 100% of your money into 5 different types of bond ETFs
- Moderately Conservative- This account invests 60% of your money into bond ETFs and 40% into company stock ETFs
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Moderate- This account invests 60% of your money into company stock ETFs and 40% into bond ETFs
- Moderately Aggressive- This account invests 80% of your money into company stock ETFs and 20% into bond ETFs
- Aggressive- This account invests 100% of your money into company stock.
*In addition you can choose to add a portion of your portfolio to be invested into the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) . The amount invested varies from 1-5% depending on the risk tolerance of your portfolio.
Acorns Later
Acorns also offers a retirement account called Acorns Later. This is a traditional or Roth individual retirement account (IRA) that allows you to save for retirement on a tax-advantaged basis. You can set up automatic investments or make one-time contributions to your Acorns Later account through the app.
Acorns Later offers the same 5 different types of portfillos offered in Acorns core invest account. I personally have my Roth IRA through Acorns and recommend it to anyone who once a set and forget it type of retirment acount.
Acorns Spend
Acorns offers a checking account called Acorns Spend, which is linked to your investment account. You can use Acorns Spend to make purchases and withdraw cash, and any round-ups from your purchases will be automatically invested in your Acorns account.
When you sign up for Acorns spend you will receive an awesome green metal debit card. I always get complemnts on my acorns card and is a great way to recomend the app to people to help them start their investing journey.
Acorns Grow
Acorns offers educational resources for you to grow knowledge on personal finance. If you are new to investing and want to learn more, Acorns offers a variety of educational resources through its app and website.
Acorns Early
Acorns Early allows you to open an investment account for kids in under 3 minutes. With Acorns early you get exclusive financial literacy content powered by CNBC and you can easily hand over the account when the child is an adult.
Every Acorns Early account is a UGMA/UTMA depending on your place of residence. Early accounts can be set up as soon as the child is born. As we know it’s not timing the market but time in the market.
Acorns Earn
Acorns Earn is another feature of the app, which allows you to earn cash back on your purchases from participating retailers. When you shop at a participating retailer, a percentage of your purchase will be automatically invested in your linked Acorns account.
I really enjoy the Acorn earn feature I’ve downloaded the Acorn chrome extension and find myself earning extra money for everyday shopping purchases.
Cons of Acorns
One potential downside to using Acorns is that it does not offer as much flexibility as some other investment options. For example, users cannot choose specific ETFs or stocks to invest in and are instead limited to the portfolios offered by the app. Additionally, the app only offers a limited selection of ETFs, so users may not have as much control over the specific investments
This is only a Con for serious investors, Most people including myself find it better to have a set and forget it, style of investing app than one that has to be actively managed.
Final Statements
Overall, Acorns is a convenient and user-friendly investment app that offers a variety of investment options and educational resources to help users start investing and building wealth.
Its diversified investment approach and low fees make it a popular choice for those who want to invest small amounts of money on a regular basis. While investing carries risks and there are no guarantees of positive returns, Acorns can be a good option for those who want to start investing and are looking for a simple and convenient way to do so.