The Acorns app was released last year, and I’ve been using it ever since. Only in the last few months have I really been devoting a chunk of my income to investments, but I have a pretty thorough knowledge of the app and how it functions. I also have next to no knowledge of investments, so the fact that I can use this app without so much as a question mark floating above my head ought to say something. Acorns is free, and is available for both Apple and Android devices. They also have a web app coming soon (supposedly) but they’ve had the same ‘Coming soon’ page up on their website for several months now.

What the Heck is Acorns?

Essentially, the concept of the Acorns app is to allow people (like me), who don’t have a bunch of spare cash laying around, to invest their spare change. You are also able to deposit and withdraw funds at any time, and you can even set up recurring deposits.

 

Acorns is primarily known for their ‘Invest spare change’ concept, and I must say that the systems they have in place to facilitate this are remarkably robust. Acorns will actually integrate with your bank accounts and track your spending, rounding up each of your purchases to the next dollar. Then all you have to do is go to the Round-Ups section of the app and select which round-ups you want to invest. Once your round-ups equal $5, the money will be deposited into your account. I believe Acorns also allows you to automatically round up and invest all of your purchases, but I’ve never used this option personally (being broke is awesome!).

 

Acorns also has several different portfolio options, each investing your money into varying percentages of different investment types. When setting up your account, the app will use your personal data (income level, financial goals, job type etc) to determine which portfolio it thinks will fit you best. Although the app will initially set your portfolio for you, you are free to switch portfolios anytime you wish.

 

I wish Acorns would provide a little more information concerning where my money is being invested, however I may just have unreasonable expectations for the amount of information I expect them to provide. The information and portfolio data that is currently provided in the app is certainly adequate, I just wouldn’t mind a bit more detail here and there.

 

The app used to be pretty terrible about how long it took to transfer funds to or from your investment account, but in my recent experience they seem to have ironed out all of the kinks in their process, and most transfers occur within about a day for me.

Overall: 9.5/10

Acorns is a fantastic app for people who are new to investing, don’t have much money to invest, or just don’t want to think too hard about their investments. I wish there was a little more information provided concerning the user’s investments, but maybe that’s just me. I highly recommend using Acorns if you are looking for a hassle-free, easy to use method of breaking into the world of investment.