Upfront summary: Is Acorns Worth It?
Acorns is a legit investing and savings app that thrives on a simple premise to make investing easy. They are most known for their Round-Up feature, which can take spare change and automatically invest it into a professionally curated portfolio. They also offer an IRA (individual retirement account), a checking and savings bank account, and a custodial investment program that you can set up for your child.
Acorns is great for forward thinkers who might be overwhelmed with all of the investment opportunities and strategies. You can start investing with as little as $5 and add just a little more every time you shop.
Acorns company info
| Official Website | Acorns.com |
| Founded | August 26, 2014 |
| CEO | Noah Kerner |
| Number of Employees | 415 |
| Revenue | 4.5m |
| Location | Irvine, California |
| Customer Service Contact | Support@Acorns.com |
| Social Media | Facebook Twitter Youtube Instagram |
What is Acorns?
Acorns uses an automatic micro-investing plan to grow your portfolio. Say you buy yourself a cup of coffee, and the total comes out to $3.57. Acorns will take 43 cents leftover and automatically invest it. Forty-three cents dosnʻt sound like much, but over time, and with enough purchases, it can add up to a safe amount to save away each month. Round-Ups are perfect for those that might otherwise forget to invest a little every month.
Acorns doesn’t offer any advice on how to allocate your money or help you pick stocks. Instead, it focuses solely on providing an easy way to invest in set portfolios through its platform. The company offers some guidance on which portfolios they recommend, which comes at no cost to users. You can fill out a questionnaire that will assess goals and recommend one of three risk levels, Safe, Moderate, or Aggressive.
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How does Acorns work?
Acorns Spend is a checking account that lets you save, invest and spend all from one account. They even include a metal debit card made out of tungsten carbide. If you need quick access to cash, there are over 55,000 fee-free ATMs in the U.S. Spend offers all protections that you might find at a traditional bank. Such as FDIC fraud protection of up to $250,000, no minimum or overdraft fees, and mobile and direct deposit. Spend is a great way to simplify your finances with itʻs all-in-one capabilities.
Acorns Earn offers rewards when using a linked credit or debit card at one of their 12,000 partnered retailers. Users will get a small percentage extra on their Round-up. If you are a frequent shopper at one of their partners, it can be a nice bonus on regular purchases.
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Is Acorns safe and legit or a scam?
You wonʻt find any shady business, scams, or hacks at Acorns. Acorns adds multiple layers to all of their security methods to ensure your money and data stay safe.
- Acorns’ website is protected with SSL Encryption to prevent hacks and theft.
- Acorns encrypts your personal data and does not sell it to 3rd parties.
- There are no known phishing sites for Acorns, but it is still a good practice to ensure you are on their official Acorns.com site or their App Store/Google Play app.
- Acorns implements 2-factor authentication. That means, even if someone stole your password, they would be locked out without the use of your chosen authentication device.
- Acorns will automatically notify you if they think there is any suspicious activity with your account.
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Is Acorns trustworthy and reliable?
With over 9-million reported users and thousands of app store reviews, Acorns is a well-respected and socially verified company. They have hundreds of thousands of positive reviews on the app store—The likes of Dwayne Johnson, Ashton Kutcher, and many more celebrities endorse the use of Acorns.
There have not been any “scam” reports, but quite a few people are unsatisfied with Acorns not following through on signup bonuses. There have also been some complaints of inactive accounts getting charged monthly fees. Acorns is a subscription-based service, and you will be charged if you donʻt cancel. Their customer service firmly stands by their no-refund policy. So, make sure to cancel if you donʻt plan on using their services in the future.
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Who Should Choose Acorns?
Acorns is best for:
- People who are looking to save a little money every month.
- Those that want a simple way of investing their spare change into the stock market.
- Investors with less than $5,000.
- Anyone interested in learning more about stocks and how they work.
- People who want to invest in the market passively.
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Acorns App Review
Acorns is supported on both IOS and Android. The app maintains almost 5 stars on both platforms with a combined 900,000 reviews. The user interface is straightforward to use and navigate, making it very enjoyable to check your portfolio. There are a few complaints, mainly that you canʻt check your monthly statement on the app. Your statements can only be accessed through a mobile browser or desktop. The limitations of the app are both itʻs strength and weakness.
On the one hand, itʻs simplicity can make new investors feel like they are in charge of their finances. On the other hand, it can be frustrating for seasoned investors because some of your portfolio data can only be found on the browser version.
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Is Acorns Insured and Regulated?
Acorns is a Member of the SIPC, so you can rest assured that your investments are insured up to $500,000. Acorns is regulated by the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and registered with The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). FINRA is a non-government agency that helps protect investors from brokerage fraud. All-in-all, Acorns takes every precaution to provide a safe and legal investment platform.
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Acorns Fees and Costs
Acorns is free to sign up for and has no hidden fees, but an open three-tiered pricing structure:
- $1 per month gives you access to their “Lite” plan. It includes Round-Ups, recurring investments, Acorns Earn, and unlimited access to their financial education resources.
- For $3 per month, you get the “Personal” plan. It includes everything in Lite, a retirement account, and a checking account.
- At $5 a month, you get everything in the plans below but with the added early investment account for kids.
You should be aware that you are not charged for their “Earn” service. Instead, Acorns makes money from deals with brands to incentivize you to make purchases with them. If you were already a regular customer at one of their Earn partners, then itʻs a great way to earn extra rewards. However, the bonus shouldnʻt be enough to persuade you to spend money that could otherwise be saved.
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Does Acorns have good customer service?
If you ever run into any problems or questions while trying to use Acorns, then you will be able to get answers from real people who care. Acorns makes it easy to get in touch with their customer service representatives through their chat function, email, or you can call directly.
If you want to learn more about investing, some of your general finance questions may have already been answered in their Learn library. Learn provides resources on stock market and banking basics.
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Supported Countries
Unfortunately, Acorns is only supported for those in the United States. There are exceptions for U.S citizens actively deployed overseas in the armed forces and those who are only temporarily out of the Country.
The pros and cons of Acorns
Pros
- Easy to get started
- Their questionnaire can help you set and keep financial goals
- Round-Ups can be a good nudge to get you to invest regularly
Cons
- Monthly fees can be too high for small accounts
- No clarity on where exactly your money is invested
Acorn Careers
Acorns Financial is a relatively new company, and as such, there may be some growing pains for their employees. Overall, web reviews show that the sentiment is mostly positive, with many remaking the positive atmosphere. The company currently employs around 400 people, but at only seven years old, they are sure to continue expansion and further hires.
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Best Acorns Alternatives
- Stash has a similar auto-invest program for a monthly fee.
- Robinhood has zero commission fees and allows for trading of individual stocks and ETFs. It does not have any auto investment options, but maybe a good choice if you want more control over your portfolio.
- Betterment has an auto-investing, IRA, and banking, similar to Acorns and Stash, but charges a yearly fee of .25%
Additional FAQs
What are the drawbacks of Acorns?
High fees on small account balances.
What are the benefits of Acorns?
Acorns’ spare-change savings tool and cash-back rewards program make investing easy.
Is the Acorns personal plan worth it?
Acorns’ flat fees may be a pro or a con depending on your account balance: $3 or $5 a month sounds cheap but can be a high percentage of assets for investors with small balances. If you are only investing a few hundred dollars to start with, then the $36 per year might cost you more than the gains your portfolio might report.
Can I roll an existing IRA into Acorns?
You can roll an existing IRA into Acorns without too much of a hassle. Using Acorns for your IRA can be an excellent way to save on management fees.
Is Acorns Family plan worth the $5?
Five bucks a month might be a little steep, depending on how much you plan on investing in the custodial account. $60 a year for $18 years is $1080—thatʻs no small sum when you consider the benefits of investing that thousand dollars over just paying fees.
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