Acorns Review: Is Acorns Worth It To Invest Your Spare Change?

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Acorns review featured

Acorns investment app can help you save small amounts of money. 

Each time you buy something at a store or online, Acorns can invest your change. It’s also possible to earn shopping rewards to invest “free money” as well.

Instead of spending your extra cash on a one-time purchase, you can earn passive income. 

This Acorns review can help you decide if this is the best app to help you save for an upcoming purchase, retirement or your child’s college education.

But is Acorns worth it? Keep reading to find out.

acorns investment app logo
4.3
Overall Rating

Summary

Acorns lets you invest as little as $5 at a time into an index fund portfolio. You can find money to invest by rounding up your payment card purchase or shopping online with over 300 retailers. All Acorns plans have a monthly fee of up to $5 that may deter some who want a free investing app.

  • Fees

    3.8

  • Minimum to invest

    4.5

  • Fractional Investing

    4.5

  • Mobile App

    4.2

Pros

  • FDIC insured
  • $5 minimum investment
  • No trade fees

Cons

  • Monthly plan fee
  • Limited investment options
  • No tax-loss harvesting

How Does Acorns Work?

Acorns homepage

Acorns is a micro-investing app that does round ups on your debit card and credit card purchases to the nearest dollar.

Once your cash balance reaches $5, Acorns invests your cash into an index fund portfolio in a taxable or retirement account. 

In addition to rounding up your purchases, you can also earn cash rewards from online purchases or transfer cash from a linked bank account to your Acorns invest bank account.

While the main reason to join Acorns is to invest and earn passive income, you can also open a checking account that gives you access to over 55,000 fee-free ATMs.

acorns app and debit card
Source: Acorns.com

Who Can Join Acorns?

  • You must be at least 18 years old and a US resident to get an Acorns invest account. 
  • Parents can also open accounts for their children under age 18.

Account Options

It’s possible to open these investment accounts to start investing with Acorns: 

  • Individual taxable account
  • Traditional IRA
  • Roth IRA
  • Custodial account (UTMA/UGMA)

The minimum initial deposit for any of these accounts is $5 to start investing. 

Depending on which monthly plan you choose, you can also open an Acorns Spend checking account.

This account has several benefits and can make it easier to invest often.

Acorns doesn’t offer joint investment or checking accounts. Spouses will need to create their own Acorns account to get a taxable account or an IRA.

Acorns app - your available checking balance
Source: Acorns.com

How Much Does Acorns Cost?

When opening an Acorns account, you pick one of two monthly plans depending on which account options you want. The account fees vary based on the plan you choose.

Acorns Pricing

Acorns fees are either $3 or $5 monthly. These account fees are affordable compared to the management fee other apps charge.

The $3 option is Acorns Personal. Acorns Family is the $5 per month option.

While there isn’t a free plan option, the monthly plan fee is the only fee the Acorns charges.

You won’t pay trade fees or a management fee when buying stock or account service fees with a checking account.

Acorns Personal

The mid-tier Acorns Personal costs $3 per month. You can open both taxable and retirement investment accounts. This tier also offers the Acorns checking account.

Acorns Family

The Acorns Family plan costs $5 per month. It includes all of the Personal plan features, plus a custodial investment account for children. 

It’s possible to open multiple custodial accounts if you have several children, and you continue to pay a flat $5 monthly plan fee.

Investing With Acorns

Acorns Investment Account

Acorns is a robo-advisor that automatically rebalances your portfolio.

You pick your investment strategy during the signup process, and Acorns invests in several different stock and bond index ETFs.

This helps you maintain a diversified portfolio.

Investment Options

Acorns offers five index Exchange Traded Funds, or ETF portfolios, built around a specific risk tolerance level using the Modern Portfolio Theory.

This investment strategy is similar to most robo-advisors.

Investing in as many US and global asset classes as possible can help reduce your downside risk as you have a diversified portfolio.  

Each portfolio holds a variation of US and international stock and bond index ETFs from Vanguard and Blackrock.

Index ETFs have low fees and are an easy way to diversify.

Conservative portfolios focus on investing in bonds while the aggressive portfolios hold more large, medium or small company stocks in your retirement accounts.

You might choose different portfolios if you have other investing goals. 

Acorns will recommend a portfolio when you open your investing account. You can go with their recommendation or choose a different portfolio. 

Acorns portfolio options and their target asset allocation:

Conservative

  • Short-term government bonds (20%)
  • Ultra short-term corporate bonds (40%)
  • Ultra short-term government bonds (20%)

This risk-averse portfolio only holds bonds and can be a good option if you’re near retirement or want to earn a fixed income. 

Moderately Conservative

  • Large Cap (24%)
  • Mid Cap (4%)
  • International (12%)
  • Government and corporate bonds (60%)

The Moderately Conservative portfolio holds 40% stocks and 60% bonds. 

Moderate

  • Large Cap (35%)
  • Mid Cap (5%)
  • Small Cap (2%)
  • International (18%)
  • Government and corporate bonds (40%)

You can hold 60% large, medium or small company stocks and 40% bonds with the Moderate portfolio option. This portfolio can be a good option when you want to avoid risk.

However, you still have a healthy exposure to stocks that have several years until you plan on accessing your cash.

Moderately Aggressive

  • Large Cap (47%)
  • Mid Cap (6%)
  • Small Cap (3%)
  • International (24%)
  • Government and corporate bonds (20%)

This portfolio has 80% company stocks and 20% bonds and can be the best option for most young investors in their 20s and early 30s. 

Aggressive

  • Large Cap (55%)
  • Mid Cap (10%)
  • Small Cap (5%)
  • International (30%)

The youngest of investors might consider the Aggressive portfolio that only holds stocks.

This asset mix can be the most volatile as stocks are inherently riskier than bonds.

Automatic Rebalancing

One benefit of using Acorns is its automated portfolio rebalancing feature. Each time you invest, Acorns buys fractional shares of the ETFs that are under allocation. 

Acorns doesn’t offer tax-loss harvesting and won’t sell any assets to minimize your tax bill.

Also, Acorns doesn’t sell the portion of a position that drifts above its asset allocation to trigger a potential tax event. 

You will need to keep investing new money to maintain a balanced portfolio. However, you won’t have to monitor your own investments.

Purchase Round-Ups

After choosing your portfolio, the next step is funding your Acorns account and start investing. You can link a debit card or credit card, then Acorns rounds up the purchase amount to the next dollar.

For example, a $3.45 purchase rounds up to the nearest dollar of $4.00, and Acorns invests the extra 55 cents. This round up can be helpful in growing your investment account.

Once your round-up balance reaches $5, Acorns transfers the money from your linked bank account to your investment account. Acorns rounds up your purchases until you stop this feature.

Basically, this feature allows you to make recurring investments.

It’s also possible to multiply your round-up amount by up to ten times. Boosting your round-up amount can help you invest more cash and makes it easier to offset the monthly plan fee. 

Found Money

Another exciting way to earn extra cash is by shopping online on the Found Money shopping portal.

This portal lets you earn rewards that Acorns invests for you at over 300 stores. Most merchants award between 1% and 2% back, yet some stores offer a higher rate or a fixed dollar amount.

You can access this feature from the Acorns website, mobile app or Google Chrome extension. 

It can take between 90 and 120 days for your rewards to deposit into your account. This waiting period is similar to most shopping apps so that the merchant can verify the purchase. 

Recurring Transfers

It’s also possible to schedule recurring transfers from your bank account to Acorns. These transfers can be in addition to the purchase round-ups and Found Money shopping rewards.

However, if you’re not in a financial position to do routine transfers, you can schedule one-time transfers. So when there’s extra money in your bank account, for example, you could invest $100 at a time

Added Features

You might decide to start with an Acorns taxable account using the $1 monthly Acorns Lite plan. Here are some of the other platform features you may enjoy too.

Acorns Later

Acorns Later

Acorns Later are the traditional IRA and Roth IRA account types. You can open an IRA with the Personal or Family monthly plan.

You can only open one type of IRA with Acorns Later. Acorns will recommend which IRA type is best for your age and financial goals. 

Acorns will also recommend a model portfolio by considering your current age and how many years until you reach the “retirement age” of 59 ½ years.

As you approach retirement age, Acorns can suggest a more conservative portfolio.

The minimum investment for either IRA is $5, like the other investment accounts. Your IRA investment portfolio can be different than what you pick for your taxable account.

You might choose one with more stocks as you pay fewer taxes on potential growth.

While you won’t retire on your Acorns Later savings, setting aside your cash for retirement can help you earn the most compound interest for your money.

Acorns Early

Acorns Early

Most micro-investing apps don’t offer a children’s investment account option, yet Acorns does. Parents or legal guardians can open a separate account for each child. 

You can also open an account for children that you don’t take care of but want to help kids make money. You will need the child’s name, address and Social Security number to open a custodial account. 

While minors cannot open an account, parents can open an Early investment account for their children. This account is a Uniform Gift to Minors Act or Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UGMA/UTMA) account. 

Parents or legal guardians can transfer the account to their child when they become an adult. In most states, that’s once they reach age 18 and 25. The funds do not need to be used for education expenses exclusively, like a 529 plan.

Under current tax rules, UGMA/UGTA withdrawals can be tax-free for the child beneficiary.

All Acorns Early accounts invest in the aggressive model portfolio that holds 100% stocks. This portfolio can have the most risk but also the most long-term growth potential.

As it can be decades before children access this cash, there can be plenty of time for the balance to recover from a short-term market correction.   

Parents can transfer account ownership to their children when they reach adulthood.

Acorns Checking 

Acorns Checking

Acorns also offer an online checking account known as Acorns Spend. This feature is optional but complimentary with the Personal and Family monthly plans. 

There is no minimum initial deposit or balance requirement. 

You can enjoy these Acorns Spend account benefits:

  • Over 55,000 fee-free ATMs
  • Up to 10% bonus investments on select card purchases
  • Can receive direct deposit
  • FDIC-insured up to $250,000
  • No overdraft fee

It’s possible to transfer funds to your PayPal wallet if you need to send money to friends. Acorns doesn’t support other money transfer apps, including Zelle, at this time.   

There’s also a Smart Deposit tool that can automatically set aside cash into a savings fund. You may appreciate this tool as it can keep your savings separate from your spending money. 

Mobile App

acorns mobile app
Source: Acorns.com

Acorns has an Android and Apple mobile app. You can access your investment and checking accounts using the Acorns app.

It’s possible to track your portfolio performance, project your future portfolio growth by adjusting your contribution amount and read learning resources.

The app has been in use since 2014, making Acorns one of the oldest micro-investing platforms.

Educational Library

Money Basics

New investors will find some learning resources to learn how to invest in the “Money Basics” section. There are many short articles about investing, retirement and taxes. 

You may enjoy the digital magazine Grow as well. There are money-related articles that highlight everyday topics, including saving money, investing and earning money. Plus, you can read financial success stories from others. 

Grow Magazine

The free magazine also syndicates financial and investing news from CNBC. Most articles are a quick read and can help you prepare your financial future.

Notably, Acorns has more educational material than most micro-investing apps.

Is Acorns Legit?

Yes, Acorns investment app is a legit investing app. Acorns invests in index ETFs that you can buy from most online brokerages.

Many robo-advisors hold the same funds in their portfolios. Any stock or bond index ETF is subject to normal market risk.

If Acorns goes out of business, your investment accounts are insured up to $500,000. Also, the checking account has up to $250,000 in FDIC Insurance through Lincoln Savings Bank. 

Acorns has a 4.5 out of 5 stars rating with Google Play and 4.7 out of 5 stars with the Apple App Store

Who Should Use Acorns?

Acorns is a good option if you want to invest small amounts of money instead of spending it on unnecessary purchases. Also, make sure that you invest enough to offset the monthly fee.

It’s also a good option for those who want to avoid a management fee.

As you can invest with each card purchase, you might be able to invest more than you imagine.

Acorns will rebalance your portfolio, which also makes investing effortless if you don’t have the time or desire or manage your portfolio.

If you want to avoid stock market risk, you might consider Digit. This micro-savings app is similar to Acorns but saves small amounts of cash into a savings account. 

Acorns Reviews

Having an app to use as a tool to invest these days is a great idea. Acorns allows you to track with their app.

SOURCERATINGREVIEWS
Apple App Store4.7 / 5.0822K
Google Play Store4.5 / 5.0217K
Trustpilot2.1 / 5.0204

After taking a look at the reviews on the major app stores, Acorns does a great job responding to the feedback received. Their customer service is great suggesting a work around. Here are a few quotes from customers.

Love the app but it could be some better things. – John B

The app works as expected and is very good to invest money. But they originally offered a nice monthly fee and raised the cost after I had a lot of money invested. – Orlando V.

This might be good for people experienced in investing, but for those of us just trying to save a little for the future, I’m sure there are better options. This app is impossible to navigate. – Sara L.

Positives and Negatives

Here are the benefits and downsides of using Acorns.

Pros

  • Can invest purchase round-ups
  • Automatic rebalancing
  • Invests in index ETFs
  • Retirement and custodial accounts are available
  • Checking account

Cons

  • Monthly fee
  • No customized investment advice
  • Cannot buy individual stocks or ETFs
  • No tax-loss harvesting

Alternatives to Acorns

Here are a few alternatives to Acorns they we have reviewed:

  • Stash
  • Public
  • Robinhood

Summary 

Acorns investment app allows you to easily invest with as little as $5 at a time. You won’t get rich, but you can save and invest in a taxable or retirement account.

However, you must decide if the monthly fee is worth it.

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