I came across the Acorns app recently and I must say it is kind of amazing.  Since the beginning of time, spending has been the nemesis of investing; every dollar you spend, becomes a dollar you are unable to invest.

Then, one day, Acorns was born.  And in a weird, twilight zone, bizarro world, moment, spending became the ally of investing.  With this app, spending is no longer the Lex Luthor of investing; it has morphed into investing’s sidekick.

Has your brain exploded yet from confusion?  Don’t worry we are going to break this down for you.

Acorns uses your spare change to invest

You can download the Acorns app on your phone for a grand total of $0.  You can also sign up via their website.  Here is the most exciting thing about Acorns: it will round up your purchases and automatically invest your change!

For example:

Say you purchase your daughters very first purple soccer ball for $19.80.  If you use the card linked to your Acorns account to purchase the soccer ball, Acorns is going to round up to the nearest dollar and add that money to your investment account.

In this scenario, acorns will take 20 cents and invest it in your acorns investment account.  Now you invest that small amount of change so you can one day afford your daughters expensive college education 😊

This will happen each time you make a purchase with your card.  So as you spend, you actually save.

All these years as you spent money, it meant you didn’t invest money.  Now it is just the opposite!

Mind boggling, isn’t it? 

Acorns is perfect for the undisciplined investor

The undisciplined investor is going to benefit the most from the Acorns app.  Are you a non-savvy investor?  Are you overwhelmed with brokerage accounts, stocks and mutual funds?  If so, this app is an easy way for you to enter the investing world doing a very minimal amount of work.

You just link the app to your account you use to spend, and, voilà, it starts investing your extra change leftover from purchases.

Negatives of the Acorns app

Bank account management

Like everything in this world, Acorns is not perfect.  If you are REALLY undisciplined with money, you may end up investing too much change, and over-withdrawal your account.  It is important you make sure you keep an eye on your account so this does not happen.

Fees

The fee for Acorns if you have less than $5,000 is $1.25 per month.  Acorns is going to take $15 per year out of your account.  However, this money would likely not have been invested anyway, so you are still netting a better result using Acorns in my opinion.

The fee if you have more than $5,000 is .275% per year.  This fee is low in comparison to a mutual fund which may pay a fee of 1% or higher.  However, for a robo-advisor platform, this fee is higher than you would hope.

For this reason, Acorns is a great tool for creating a way to invest for those who would otherwise not invest.  But for those who are proactive with their money and have no trouble adding money to investments, you are better off just sticking with your TD Ameritrade account. 

Use Acorns as an investment accumulator

I would not suggest you accumulate vast sums of money with Acorns.  I view it as a way to help the undisciplined accumulate wealth, but not as a great way to grow wealth long term.  This is due to the fee structure, as well the lack of options available to you for investing.

I would personally distribute my funds as they grow and add them to a low-cost index fund or ETF over the long run, perhaps inside a Roth IRA or IRA.

How to sign up for Acorns

If you want to sign up for the Acorns app, you can do so clicking here: Acorns $5 Sign Up

Once you click on this sign up, you will be directed to a page asking you for details such as your net worth, personal  information, and questions to help Acorns decipher how much risk you should take.

The whole process shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes.

You have the option of five different portfolios:

• Conservative
• Moderately Conservative
• Moderate
• Moderate Aggressive
• Aggressive

The portfolios invest in exchange traded funds (ETF) including:

• VOO: Vanguard S&P 500
• VB: Vanguard Small-Cap
• VWO: Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets
• VNQ: Vanguard Real Estate Investment Trust
• SHY: iShares Barclays Treasury Bond
• CORP: PIMCO Investment Grade Corporate Bond

We can both get $5 to invest

If you are interested in signing up for Acorns, you can use my link: Acorns $5 Sign Up

If you do, you will receive $5 in your account!  And guess what, I will receive $5 in my account!  We will both save together like one big happy family!

If you don’t want the extra $5, you can just go to the website and sign up; but you will miss your $5, and I will miss my $5.

If you think of it from an economic perspective, $5 invested just over 30 years at a rate of return of 7% grows to $40.  So, economically, you are being given the future value equivalent of $40.

You can invite your friends and they will get $5

After you sign up, you can invite your family and friends to join the app.  You will receive $5 when they sign up, and they will receive $5 when they sign up.  So if you have multiple people you know who could benefit from Acorns, you can invite them and automatically jumpstart your account balance just off referral cash!

Acorns isn’t perfect, but it is a great tool for those who are undisciplined when it comes to investing.  If you are this undisciplined person, you know who you are.  You feel like you should be saving, yet you haven’t put enough effort into it yet.  This may be your solution.

Thanks for reading!  Here is the link again if you want to sign up.

If you want to sign up for the Acorns app, you can do so clicking here: Acorns $5 Sign Up

Does anyone have any positive or negative reviews of Acorns?  Are there any undisciplined people out there when it comes to money who think they would benefit from this?

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