Acorns is squarely focused on helping new investors get in the investing habit. However, if you did want to compare two directly, here’s how Acorns stacks up. Your money is invested for you before it ever hits your checking account. Acorns allows you to claim a sign-up $20 bonus investment offer via our Acorns link in three simple steps. This is a limited time offer where terms and conditions apply (of course). Then there are the features that make Acorns Premium really stand out from the other plan options.
Investing Small Amounts Can Limit Growth
It offers access to its robo-advisor platform, tax-advantaged IRAs for retirement, plus a checking account. Its main micro-investing feature allows budding investors to start small by investing the spare change from xcritical their everyday purchases. The Acorns app makes it easy to invest your money in one of five different portfolios, from conservative to aggressive. Because Acorns is a robo-advisor, they recommend a portfolio that aligns with your financial goals and automatically invests your money with recurring deposits or its famous “Round-Ups” feature. Overall, the app offers a simple, passive investing experience that breaks down barriers to traditional investing. Acorns offers investment options based on low-cost stock and bond ETFs based on your risk tolerance, time horizon, and investment goals.
The rates, terms and fees presented are accurate at the time of publication, but these change often. We recommend verifying with the source to confirm the most up to date information. Or, if you want instant access to your money, you could open an Acorns Checking account which is part of the Acorns Personal package, which costs $3 a month.
Saving is also a major emphasis at Acorns and you can “round up” your purchases to the nearest scammed by xcritical dollar, investing the extra change into your portfolio. These are good habits to build, even if they aren’t likely to help you achieve major goals such as retirement. Acorns Invest and Stash Invest are investment apps offering automated investing, round-ups, banking perks, and more. However, the two investment apps diverge regarding investment choices, fees, and features.
Does Acorns offer tax-loss harvesting?
Acorns no longer offers the core investment app at no charge for college students; everyone pays the same rate. Earn cash-back investments when you shop with Acorns’ partner brands. These rewards are automatically deposited into your account.
How do we review robo-advisors?
We will help to challenge your ideas, skills, and perceptions of the stock market. Every day people join our community and we welcome them with open arms. We are much more than just a place to learn how to trade stocks. The bottom line is that this app is a great way to build a nest egg, and you should let Acorns invest spare change to simplify it. You are missing an opportunity if you aren’t earning cashback for what you buy. When you shop with Found Money partners, they’ll automatically invest in your Acorns Core account!
Portfolio mix
For more details about Atomic Brokerage, please see the Form CRS, the Atomic Brokerage General Disclosures, and the Privacy Policy. Check the background of Atomic Brokerage on FINRA’s BrokerCheck. Fees such as regulatory fees, transaction fees, fund expenses, brokerage commissions and services fees may apply to your brokerage account. Some robo-advisors offer access to a financial advisor, either for free or for an added fee. Unfortunately, Acorns does not offer its clients access to financial advisors. Many other robo-advisors offer tax-loss harvesting, which is an investment strategy that can reduce the amount of tax you may have to pay after you sell your investments.
If you invest in a mutual fund with a 1% expense ratio, for example, you’ll pay the fund $10 per year for every $1,000 invested. If high, these fees can significantly drag down your portfolio returns. The expense ratios of the funds used in Acorns’ portfolios range from 0.04% and 0.22%.
How We Picked the Best Robo-Advisors
Merrill offers several positives, including access to human advisors and low-cost investment funds, but premium features such as tax-loss harvesting are missing. Acorns is a good choice for those looking to invest money without prior knowledge. The user-friendly platform offers a micro-investment feature that automatically invests a small amount every time you purchase. Furthermore, your investments are secure in low-cost and diversified funds. Ultimately, Acorns is an accessible platform for beginners to start investing.
Also, you can tell Acorns how much you’d like to invest when your transactions equal exactly one dollar.
- We have members that come from all walks of life and from all over the world.
- But there are some fees and other drawbacks to watch out for.
- $35 per ETF to have them transferred to another broker when you close your taxable Acorns account; no charge to sell your investments and have the resulting cash transferred.
- In order to achieve an equivalent fee of 0.25% at each level, you’d have to have account balances of $14,400 with the Bronze plan, $28,800 with the Silver plan and $57,600 with the Premium plan.
- Investing involves risk including the potential loss of principal.
In 2024, kids’ financial wellness platform GoHenry merged with Acorns. Exclusive GoHenry features can now be accessed as part of Acorns Early (more on that below). Acorns checking accounts are insured by the FDIC for up to $250,000. For robo-advisor rankings, Forbes Advisor partnered with Backend Benchmarking, a leading market https://xcritical.pro/ analyst firm that evaluates and tracks more than 40 robo-advisor products. Backend Benchmarking provided Forbes Advisor with nearly 100 data points spanning nine categories for each platform from its most recent robo-advisor industry evaluation.
Realistically, your spare change isn’t going to get you very far. You would still need to deposit larger amounts on your own to change your financial future. Even worse, the monthly fee can also be expensive for smaller balances.
If you like Acorns’ ease of use and its ability to integrate investing into your everyday life, you’ll most likely find Acorns to be a good deal. Another HUGE selling point of Acorns is its impressive referral program. If you have lots of friends, you could earn up to $1,500 extra each week just by getting them to join Acorns with your referral link.
This transfer takes three to six business days to complete. While these fees are low compared to traditional investment platforms, they can be a significant percentage of smaller account balances. For instance, a $3/month fee equates to a 36% annual cost on a $100 account. The most important difference between Acorns and Stash is that Stash lets you choose from over 4,000 stocks and ETFs — far better than Acorns’ selection.