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Many individuals struggle to meet their financial goals for numerous reasons. Some find it challenging to save money on a regular basis. While others struggle to choose smart investments that will grow their funds. These are two of the more common financial challenges, and they can easily be overcome through the Acorns app. With this Acorns app review, you can decide if you want to use it for your saving and investing needs.
What Is the Acorns App?
When you read through an Acorns app review, you will notice that this app is unlike any other financial resource currently available. The Acorns app is available on both Apple and Android devices, and can be downloaded free of charge. Furthermore, it costs very little to use the app or its services. This means that you can potentially enjoy incredible benefits through its use without concern for burdensome fees. In fact, if your account balance is less than $5,000, you will only pay a $1 fee per month.
You can link the Acorns app to your various daily accounts, such as your primary or secondary checking accounts. It monitors all of your spending activities, and it rounds up each transaction you make to the closest dollar amount. This spare change is withdrawn from your account and invested through the app.
Rather than selecting your own investments, Acorns does the investing for you. You can choose what type of investments you want to focus on, depending on your desire for growth and risk tolerance level. There are six investment plan to choose from. The app makes it easy to adjust your investment goals and to monitor your account balance at any time.
The theory behind the app is that you will be investing a small amount of money on a regular basis rather than a large sum. This may make financial management easier for some individuals.
We Liked Acorns Savings App Because…
Many of the comments you will find in an Acorns app review are overwhelmingly positive. In fact, these are a few of the features you may fall in love with while using this app:
- Because the investments are handled for you, you do not have to constantly monitor the stock market. This saves time and decreases the stress associated with having to make tough financial decisions.
- There are very low fees associated with using this app. Regardless of the number of transactions that this app rounds up for your deposits each day, the fees are manageable. You can also adjust the deposit schedule to occur on a weekly or monthly basis.
- There are no fees for students.
- The layout and design of the app is intuitive and user-friendly. Unlike other financial investment apps, you can easily learn the ropes with this app in a matter of minutes. The app allows you to customize your investment preferences. With this customization you can control your account’s growth rate as well as to minimize exposure to risk.
- Regardless of your investment preferences, the money is invested in more than 7,000 stocks. This gives you broad exposure to the markets, and this is similar to investing in an index fund.
- You can add additional funds to the account at any time, with deposit amounts between $5 and $5,000.
Not So Sure About…
Just as you can find many out great things when you read an Acorns app review, there are also some questionable factors. Some of the things that we have concerns about include:
- There is no ability to have full control over how it invests your funds. You are essentially letting unknown parties control your funds. This is different from a mutual fund. With a mutual fund you can research the fund manager’s credentials and experience before making an investment.
- The amount of money taken out of your account through this app can vary dramatically based on your spending habits. Each expense will send money into your Acorns account, and some people may make a dozen small charges per day. While others may make only a handful of purchases per week.
- For those who habitually make more charges on a daily basis, the result may as much as $75 to $100 or more per week coming out of your account. This is a sizable amount that you need to budget for rather than spare change.
- Furthermore, there is no way to limit the total amount of money that comes out of your account. For example, you cannot set a limit at $10 or $20 per week, which is a reasonable figure that many would equate to spare change.
- Some people may not be comfortable linking their primary banking accounts with an app that they are not yet familiar with.
- Students who want their account fees waived each month must regularly submit new documentation verifying their enrollment status. This can be time-consuming and requires your regular attention.
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Online Reviews Say That
Many people have already tried out the app and have written their own Acorns app review based on their experiences. Notably, one reviewer says that the app makes investing fun and exciting. However, he dings the app because of its lack of retirement planning features and because it does not have an IRA feature.
Another user states that this app is great theoretically. However, functionally, it cannot generate enough money to be a primary retirement account method. Furthermore, it says that the funds that you save in this account should be considered as a long-term investment. It is not reasonable to think of this app as a sort of high-yield piggy bank with funds that you can access at any time.
A third reviewer expresses that this app is most beneficial for college students and young adults who have minimal financial resources and who need a jump start with their investment efforts. However, it falls short because it does not offer tax-advantaged retirement accounts that you can manage on your own. Furthermore, while the low monthly fee is reasonable, he explains that the amount may be rather high in relation to the account’s total balance. This is particularly true with new investors.
By reading through an Acorns app review, you can more easily learn what it offers without having to devote your own funds to it. Because this app is so easy to launch and start using, it may be a great option to explore. However, monitor your account balances carefully. Do this so that you can determine how much money it takes out of your accounts and how your assets are growing. You may decide to continue using the app after experimenting with it because of its great features and benefits.