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Acorns App Review - How To Make Money With The Acorns App - YouTube
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- Today, we're reviewing
the Acorns investment app.
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I'll be covering all the
new features that have come
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to Acorns, sharing my
experience after using the app
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for two years and I'll
also briefly touch on how
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the Acorns app compares to
other popular investing apps.
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(upbeat music)
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Hey, welcome back guys.
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This is Erik of Everyday
Investing and on this channel,
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I'm all about helping the
everyday investor like you
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and I get started saving and investing.
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So if you're new here today,
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definitely feel free to subscribe
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and hit that bell notification down below,
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so you don't miss any future videos
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on investing app reviews,
just like today's.
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Just to let you know guys,
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if after the video you
would like to learn more
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about the Acorns app,
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feel free to check out
my full in-depth review
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on my blog on my website,
I'll link that down below,
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as well as my referral link,
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where you can get your
free $5 signup bonus
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when joining Acorns.
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So I've been using the
Acorns app myself now
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for about two years.
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It was actually one of the
first three investing apps
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I ever started using when
I first got into investing,
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and I would have to
say that the Acorns app
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has probably been by far the simplest
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and cleanest app over that time frame.
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Now don't get me wrong,
Acorns has continued
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to add new features and
constantly update their app
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for us users, which I really appreciate,
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but they've kept the app
relatively clutter-free,
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easy to navigate, they've made it a really
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user-friendly experience,
especially for newer investors.
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Now, if you're new to the Acorns
app, you may be wondering,
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well, Erik, what actually
is the Acorns app?
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Well, let me explain.
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The Acorns app is actually a
popular micro investing app
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that makes it easy for new investors
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to invest in the stock
market, through their prebuilt
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and diversified portfolios.
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So they already have the
portfolio investment portfolios
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prebuilt and designed for you.
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You get to choose which
ones you want to invest in,
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and I'll get into that in just a second,
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but the app is available on
both Android and iOS devices.
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So let's now take a second and
talk about how the Acorns app
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actually works because they
do have several built-in
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automation tools that help
make it easy to invest
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without really having to think about it.
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Now they do this through
a couple different ways
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and the first way is called
their Round-Ups feature.
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Now the Acorns app was initially built
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on this Round-Ups feature.
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It's basically investing the spare change
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from your everyday purchases.
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So on the homepage of the app here,
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you'll notice that if
you go on where it says
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to Invest for Your Future,
if you click on that,
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it'll open up your Core Investment account
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and you'll see where it
says Round-Ups Settings.
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If you open up that,
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this is where you can turn on a round-up.
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So essentially with Round-Ups,
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you can link unlimited
debit or credit cards
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to your Acorns account, and
you can turn on Round-Ups here.
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And what that does is
anytime you make a purchase
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for your everyday purchases,
if you're at a restaurant,
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if you're doing any online shopping,
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Acorns will then round up that purchase
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to the nearest dollar
or the amount you set,
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because you could set
whole dollar round-ups
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or less if you'd like, and it
will take that spare change
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and set it aside for you in a pool.
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And once you have
reached at least $5 worth
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of spare round-up change,
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Acorns will then automatically
invest that money
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into your Acorns Investment Portfolio.
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Now, as you notice, you can
actually turn this feature
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on and off at any time
where it says Round-Ups.
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If you want to turn that feature
back on, just click that,
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turn it off, hit that.
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Now the Round-Ups feature
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is the bread and butter of the Acorns app,
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because it does allow
you to invest passively
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without having to think about it,
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but you don't have to use
it if you don't want to,
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you can always turn that off
right there, just like that.
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And instead you can choose One-Time.
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Where it says One-Time,
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you can manually make a
one-time lump sum investment,
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just the same.
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So let's say you want
to invest $5, $25, $50
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or a hundred dollars as it says,
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you can choose any one of those,
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or you can put a custom amount.
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So you do have that option.
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You also have the option to
automate recurring deposits
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into your Acorns account.
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And that is beneath Round-Ups Settings
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where it says Recurring.
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And on this page, you can set
up recurring deposits directly
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into your Acorns investment account.
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Simply toggle on that switch right there,
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you can set your custom amount,
say you want to invest $5,
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you can set recurring amount
and you can choose the cycle.
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You can say, I want to invest
this daily, weekly or monthly.
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And you can even set the day of the month
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that you'd like this
recurring deposit to occur.
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So it does give you a
lot of customization.
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Again, you could say I'd
like to invest $5 every week,
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you can back out of there,
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you can change that to,
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"I'd like to invest $50 every month."
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So you really have a lot of customization
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to automate your investing
and make it very passive
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and really like to invest without having
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to really worry about
it or think about it.
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And again, just like the
Round-Ups feature you can turn on
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and off the Recurring
Deposit feature at any time.
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The third automation tool
they have is actually
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not only earning, but
investing cash back directly
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into your Acorns portfolio.
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Now, I really like this
feature with Acorns
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because a lot of other apps
allow you to earn cashback,
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there's a lot of cashback portals online,
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but the Acorns app takes it a step further
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because they allow you to
not only earn cashback,
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but actually invest that cashback
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right into your Acorns portfolio.
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So there are two ways to actually earn
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and invest cashback on Acorns.
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The first way is through
their Found Money program.
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So you want to click where it says,
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Earn Found Money on the Homepage Here,
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and you could see I've
earned some cashback so far
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through everyday purchases using Acorns.
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Now you'll notice here,
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there are hundreds of major
retailers, as you can see,
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you have major ones like
Amazon, eBay, Apple you'll find,
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pretty much all major, Walmart
you'll find Chevron even,
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so you could even cashback
for gas and invest that,
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it's really crazy how many
options they have here,
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but there are hundreds
of retailers that Acorns
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has partnered with that
you can earn cashback from.
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So the way it works is you can link again,
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an unlimited amount of
debit or credit cards
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to your Acorns app,
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and when you purchase any
one of these retailers
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through the Acorns investment portal,
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you'll then earn that cashback
and have it invested directly
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into your Acorns investment portfolio.
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Now, the second way to earn
cashback through Acorns
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is actually through Local Found Money.
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So their main Found Money portal,
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which I just showed you guys
here, which has hundreds
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of major online retailers
is for online purchases.
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But now they've recently
added Local Found Money,
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and if you click on that,
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that will open up a Google Map near you,
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and it will show you all
kinds of local restaurants,
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merchants, and retailers,
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where you can earn cashback locally,
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just the same as online.
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So you can scroll through here,
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you can pull this up
and click Nearby Offers
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and it will show you
different places nearby you,
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where you can earn cashback
and how much cashback
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you can actually earn just the same.
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So let's back out of
here now to the homepage,
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because now that we've
covered the different ways,
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Acorns helps you automate
your investing and saving,
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I now want to talk about
how you actually get started
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on the Acorns app, because
if you're a new investor,
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you're wondering Erik, how
hard is this to get started?
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Well, it's actually pretty easy.
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Essentially, when you sign up for Acorns,
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they're going to give you
a brief survey, very short,
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where they just want to find
out your investment objectives
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and your financial goals.
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So this will help them then recommend
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one of their five prebuilt
and diversified portfolios
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for you to choose from.
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Now they have five different portfolios
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and I'm going to show you those right now.
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So if you go back into the
investment account of Acorns
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and we click on Portfolio,
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this is where you can see they have
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five different portfolio options.
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The first is Conservative.
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This one is heavy in bonds,
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both government and corporate bonds
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and it has a lower percentage of stocks.
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Then you have Moderately
Conservative, you have Moderate,
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which is kind of a combination
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of half stocks and half bonds.
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You have Moderately
Aggressive and then lastly,
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you have Aggressive,
which is heavy in stocks
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and lower in bonds.
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So again, when you take that brief survey,
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when you first sign up for Acorns,
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though I recommend one of
these portfolios for you,
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based on your, how you answer that survey.
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Now don't worry, you can
change your portfolio
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any time without restriction.
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But again, I recommend taking the survey
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when you first sign up to find
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the right portfolio option for you.
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So let's not talk about
the account minimum
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to get started investing with Acorns.
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So one of the cool things
with Acorns is actually
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it's great for new investors
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because you can start
investing with as little as $5.
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You know, many traditional
investment brokerages,
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such as Etrade or Fidelity
or places like that,
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they do require hundreds or
even thousands of dollars
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just to get started investing.
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With Acorns, like I
said, you can get started
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with as little as $5 and
work your way up from there.
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This basically allows you
to start with a small amount
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and again, set up either
the recurring deposits
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or the roundup feature
or investing cashback
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and it allows you to
invest over time gradually
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with small consistent contributions.
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And this is a great way
I think for new investors
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to get started investing and
encouraging passive investing.
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So I do want to briefly
cover the different accounts
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offered through the Acorns app
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because you do have a couple options.
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Now, the first option
is called Acorns Core.
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And this one here is your core portfolio
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on the homepage here, where it
says Invest for Your Future,
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that's your core investment account.
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That's where you can invest
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in the stock market through Acorns.
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Again, using those
various automation tools
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to help you invest.
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The next type of account is
actually called Acorn Spend.
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Now this is underneath your
Core Investment account
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where it says Spin Smarter.
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If you click on that,
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this is actually their mobile checking,
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mobile banking account.
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Now this account actually does
come with a Visa Debit card.
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Let me actually show
you guys that right now.
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Hang on one second.
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All right, so this is
the actual card here.
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So it does come with an
Acorns Visa Debit card here.
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It looks pretty cool.
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Now this is linked to your
Acorns mobile banking account.
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And this will allow you to basically,
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with this mobile banking account,
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it allows you to easily
transfer your funds
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between your investment account
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and your mobile checking account
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and then you could spend those funds
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with your Acorns debit card.
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Now, I don't recommend
spending all your investments,
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you know, on things you don't need,
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but if you need to transfer any money over
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from your investments
to purchase something
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that you absolutely do
need the Acorns debit card
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is a great way to access
those funds quicker
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than having to transfer
it to your external bank.
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And there's no minimum balance requirement
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to maintain the account.
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So it's a really cool
way to access your funds
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if you need them from your
Acorns portfolio like I said.
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Now, you can actually also
choose to set up direct deposit
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into this account if you like
and there are other features
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like an ATM Finder where you
can actually find local ATMs
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near you that are fee free.
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And it also says you can
deposit checks as well
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that's a feature that's coming soon
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to the Acorns Spend Checking account.
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The third type of
account offered on Acorns
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is called Acorns Later.
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This is basically a retirement
account through Acorns.
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Now this allows you to
set up various kinds
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of individual retirement
accounts, also known as IRAs.
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It allows you to set up a
Roth IRA, a Traditional IRA,
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or a SEP IRA, which is
for self-employed persons.
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Now, I personally already
have a retirement account
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at a different place
that I've had for years
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before Acorns made a
retirement account available.
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But if I didn't already
have a retirement account,
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I would definitely consider Acorns
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because the earlier you can start saving
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for retirement guys, no
matter how young you are,
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no matter how old you are, the better
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the earlier you can actually retire.
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It's just, it really does pay
off to start saving early.
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So those are the three
different account types offered
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on the Acorns app.
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Now let's talk about how
much does Acorns cost to use?
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What are the pricing?
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What are the fees?
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Well, first of all,
there are no commissions
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to buy or sell any of your investments.
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There's no fees, no cost
to withdraw as well.
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But there is a fixed monthly
fee to be an Acorns member
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and that does vary based
on how many accounts
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you have with them.
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If you're just using the
Core Investment Portfolio,
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that is a fixed fee of $1 per month
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for balances up to $1 million.
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Now, the cool thing is if
you're a college student,
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Acorns actually waives this
fee and it's free to use
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for up to four years for as long as
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you're a college student.
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So if you're a student, definitely
consider taking advantage
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of that opportunity from Acorns.
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The second thing is the Acorns,
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if you want to get an
Acorns Later account,
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which is the retirement account,
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plus the non-retirement investing account,
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that is $2 per month.
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So basically $1 per month for each account
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for both the retirement account
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and the standard non-retirement
investment account.
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The third membership is
actually a combination
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of getting the Acorns
Core Investment account,
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the Acorns Later retirement account
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and the Acorns Spend
mobile banking account.
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If you want all three of those
accounts in your Acorns app,
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that is a fixed fee of $3 per month.
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Another question I often
get on the Acorns app
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is investing on the Acorns app safe?
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Well, the Acorns app is
registered with both the SCC
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and FINRA, and they are SIPC
insured for up to $500,000,
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including up to $250,000 in
cash for brokerage failure.
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So either way you are protected
by the SIPC insurance.
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So before I finish up this review,
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I just want to go over a
couple of pros and cons
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of the Acorns app to help you decide
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if this is the right app for you.
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So firstly, on the pro side,
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I will say that the Acorns app
is great for new investors.
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The reason for this is because it's easy
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to get started investing.
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They make it easy with
as little as just $5.
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They use very easy to
understand terminology
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inside their app.
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It's a clean and simple
user-friendly interface
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just the same.
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The second type of investor
I would say the Acorns app
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is ideal for is actually,
like I said, college students.
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Again, it's a $1 per
month fee to use Acorns,
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but if you're a college student it's free
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for up to four years.
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So if you're a college student,
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the Acorns app definitely
makes a lot of sense.
[762]
And the third type of
investor I would recommend
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the Acorns app for is actually an investor
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who wants to get a lot
out of a single app.
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Because like I said, the
Acorns app is very versatile
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not only do they offer
an investing account
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inside their app.
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But they also have the option to open up
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a retirement account, a
mobile banking account
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where you can transfer funds
with the Acorns debit card
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between your investments
and your checking account.
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So it really does give you a
lot of versatility in one app.
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Plus they provide several automation tools
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to help you invest easily and passively
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without having to think about it.
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Now let's go over some of
the cons of the Acorns app
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and who I would not recommend it for.
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So firstly, I would say the
Acorns app is not as ideal
[801]
for active stock traders.
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The Acorns app really does
encourage long-term investing
[807]
long-term growth of your investments.
[809]
But if you're an active stock
trader and you want to day trade
[812]
or swing trade or trade stocks actively,
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Acorns is not as ideal for
you because like I said,
[818]
it's more geared towards
long-term investing.
[820]
If you want to do short-term
trading active and trade stocks,
[824]
individual stocks actively,
[825]
I would probably recommend checking out
[827]
my Webull app review or
my Robinhood app review.
[830]
Those are two stock trading apps,
[831]
which are more ideal for that.
[833]
Acorns app is much more ideal
[835]
for long-term passive investing.
[837]
The second type of investor
I would not recommend
[839]
the Acorns app for would probably be those
[841]
who are looking to invest
in individual stocks.
[843]
The reason I say this is because Acorns
[846]
again, is kind of limited
with their investment options.
[848]
They only give you those
five prebuilt portfolios
[851]
and although they are
diversified and well-built,
[853]
you only can choose from those five
[855]
and you can not invest
in individual stocks.
[857]
If you want to invest outside of one
[859]
of their prebuilt
portfolios and invest in,
[861]
make your own investment options,
[863]
choose what stocks you want to invest in
[865]
and invest in individual
companies like Amazon,
[867]
Walmart, Apple, and Google,
[869]
you may want to instead consider looking
[871]
into the M1 Finance app
or the Stash invest app.
[874]
Those are two other micro investing apps
[876]
that allow you to invest
in individual stocks.
[879]
So if you've made it all
the way through to the end
[881]
of this video, I give you a high-five.
[882]
And if you're still not
sure if the Acorns app
[884]
is the right investing app for you,
[886]
I encourage you to check
out my full in-depth review
[888]
on my website, on my blog,
at everydayinvesting.com.
[892]
I'll link that blog post
down below I go full in depth
[894]
on the Acorns app to
really help you determine
[896]
if it's the right investing app to you
[898]
as well as compared to some
other alternative options
[900]
just the same.
[901]
On the other hand, if you
do feel that the Acorns app
[903]
is the right investing app for you,
[905]
feel free to join through my referral link
[906]
in the description box
below where you can get
[908]
a free $5 signup bonus
when first joining Acorns.
[911]
As always guys, if you
found this video helpful,
[914]
please give it a thumbs up,
[915]
leave me a comment down below.
[916]
Or if you have any
questions on the Acorns app,
[918]
always happy to answer your questions.
[919]
If you'd like to see how
the Acorns app compares
[921]
to some of my other
favorite investing apps
[923]
for new investors, feel free
to check out my playlist
[925]
of my investing app reviews
right over there on the bottom.
[928]
And if you'd like to learn more about
[929]
how to actually use the Acorns app,
[931]
I actually do have a tutorial playlist
[932]
of different Acorns tutorials
I made and I'll link up
[935]
that Acorns tutorial playlist
right up there on top as well.
[938]
And thank you for watching
and I appreciate you being
[940]
a part of the Everyday
Investing community,
[942]
see you guys soon.
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