Anybody use Acorns to invest "spare change"?

[Dee*Jay]

I am toying with the idea of using this (or a similar app) to round up my purchases and invest those little bits of money that I will never miss. Would be interested in people's experiences, opinions, and other options!

 

[PintoBean]

I tend to just throw change in a can and then go to a coin star and convert it to an amazon GC so that I don't have to pay a few.

 

[Dee*Jay]

I tend to just throw change in a can and then go to a coin star and convert it to an amazon GC so that I don't have to pay a few.

I do have a big change basket too (which I'm keeping), but this would round up to the next dollar on debit/credit card purchases. Dee gotta retire some day!

 

[TooPatient]

Bank of America has the option to do this automatically. It can add up surprisingly fast without noticing.

I'm not sure I would feel comfortable with any app. Giving access to my account to some app would leave me very uncomfortable.

 

[PintoBean]

Bank of America has the option to do this automatically. It can add up surprisingly fast without noticing.

I'm not sure I would feel comfortable with any app. Giving access to my account to some app would leave me very uncomfortable.

I canceled this feature bc I use my credit cards not my debit card

 

[Dee*Jay]

Bank of America has the option to do this automatically. It can add up surprisingly fast without noticing.

I'm not sure I would feel comfortable with any app. Giving access to my account to some app would leave me very uncomfortable.

Do you have to have the visa from BofA though or can you use any credit card?

 

[ame]

My brother did. And one day it decided to withdraw a ton of money from his account without permission, and their CS didn't give a shit to fix it. It made him overdrawn. And then it did it again. And he fired it

 

[Dee*Jay]

My brother did. And one day it decided to withdraw a ton of money from his account without permission, and their CS didn't give a shit to fix it. It made him overdrawn. And then it did it again. And he fired it

Acorn? Or a different app?

 

[TooPatient]

Do you have to have the visa from BofA though or can you use any credit card?

I think they only do their own cards, but you should check with your bank and see what options they have.

 

[ame]

Acorn? Or a different app?

Yes, Acorn.

 

[redwood66]

I don't think I would use an app to do it but we have USAA and it does it automatically with our debit cards. How does it work? Do you have to give your bank info to this app? I would not be into that at all.

 

[September_Blue]

@redwood66 we have USAA, too. I didn’t know they offered that service. I wouldn’t trust an app, but I’d use my bank.

 

[redwood66]

@redwood66 we have USAA, too. I didn’t know they offered that service. I wouldn’t trust an app, but I’d use my bank.

It is recent and from what I can tell it rounds up purchases to the next $10 increment. It adds up pretty fast!

 

[OoohShiny]

It is recent and from what I can tell it rounds up purchases to the next $10 increment. It adds up pretty fast!

That would be an expensive packet of chewing gum!

 

[latte_espresso]

I actually used acorns for a bit, but realized that it wasn't worth it unless you have at least a few grand inside. In my opinion, it's somewhat of a scam because they try to get the normal day to day consumers who do not know much about investment fees. In reality, you may actually be paying a significant fee to have your money invested.

Acorns charge you ~$1/month to manage your money. $1 sounds like nothing, but hear me out. That basically mean, if you somehow end up accumulating $60 in one month from change (assuming 120 transaction a month where you take the average of $0.50 per transaction). A $1 fee on $60 investment, means Acorns is charging you a 1.7% fee PER MONTH (or 20% per year assuming your balance is still $60), by finance standards, that is an exorbitant fee. Obviously, this is only assuming you are only doing acorn to store your leftovers, versus actively putting money in.

Which is why, it makes more sense if you have more money, so the fee will be relatively less. A $1,000 investment in acorn would result in 0.10% a month. Which is still somewhat high, and I question the investment strategy of acorn. If you have over $1,000, I would much rather put it into Wealthfront, Betterment (both around 0.25% per YEAR, so on a $1,000 investment that's $2.50 a year). Avoid stocks/high interest bonds/REITs/complicated products unless you know what you are doing.

 

[PintoBean]

I actually used acorns for a bit, but realized that it wasn't worth it unless you have at least a few grand inside. In my opinion, it's somewhat of a scam because they try to get the normal day to day consumers who do not know much about investment fees. In reality, you may actually be paying a significant fee to have your money invested.

Acorns charge you ~$1/month to manage your money. $1 sounds like nothing, but hear me out. That basically mean, if you somehow end up accumulating $60 in one month from change (assuming 120 transaction a month where you take the average of $0.50 per transaction). A $1 fee on $60 investment, means Acorns is charging you a 1.7% fee PER MONTH (or 20% per year assuming your balance is still $60), by finance standards, that is an exorbitant fee. Obviously, this is only assuming you are only doing acorn to store your leftovers, versus actively putting money in.

Which is why, it makes more sense if you have more money, so the fee will be relatively less. A $1,000 investment in acorn would result in 0.10% a month. Which is still somewhat high, and I question the investment strategy of acorn. If you have over $1,000, I would much rather put it into Wealthfront, Betterment (both around 0.25% per YEAR, so on a $1,000 investment that's $2.50 a year). Avoid stocks/high interest bonds/REITs/complicated products unless you know what you are doing.

See @Dee*Jay - doesn't the coffee can sound better and better? First of all, no fees. Second of all, you can think to yourself, "my beanie(s)" used to be in there. Third of all, you can shake the can of coins as an ad hoc musical instrument. Fourth of all, you can use it as a weight to strength train with. Fifth of all, repurposing a coffee can is a great way to renew/reuse/recycle.

 

[House Cat]

It is recent and from what I can tell it rounds up purchases to the next $10 increment. It adds up pretty fast!

Hi red, I couldn’t find this account anywhere on USAA. Does is have a specific name? Thanks!

 

[redwood66]

@House Cat the rep told me you can find it here.

The tool that you are referring to is our Savings Booster.
She is able to click on My Tools from the main page at USAA.com and select Savings Booster from the Budgeting and Goals title.

It's the Text Savings that I have. But I turned off the text alerts because they were annoying. LOL

After looking at it, it seems that it is only 2-4 times per week and I cannot tell how they decide what to transfer but any little bit helps.