• Learn to manage the money that you have. Both budgeting AND consider looking at investing. Trying something like acorns (this is a clean non-referral link) is at least a start. Then you can decide if you want to try something more aggressive.

  • On that note, planning for retirement should be started sooner than later. Even if it's ins small amounts it adds up AND gives you discipline for when you might be making more money later in life.

• Limit how much "bad" food you have, as much as you can. Sugar is the worst (especially in things like soft drinks). I won't get into carbs, keto or any other thing. I just know that sugar is generally considered bad in almost every form of "eating better".

• Stay fit in whatever way works for you. I won't give specifics because everyone is different but the general rule is to try and stay active. Try to not be too sedentary if you can help it.

Acorns!

It allows you to invest spare change into an investment portfolio. One of the neatest apps I have seen. Say you spend $1.42 on a candy bar at the local gas station. $0.58 would be deposited into your investment portfolio! You can change whether you want high risk and possible high gains, or low risk and preservation of capital. Really greatly designed app and it makes it super easy to invest!

https://www.acorns.com

Sounds like you need an Involuntary Savings Account (ISA).

Acorns! It's an app! It's neat!

You sync it up to your bank account, right, see, and whenever you buy something on your card it rounds up the change to an even dollar amount and puts that change into an investment portfolio. It's kind of like if you throw your change in the tip jar at Starbucks except you get to keep the money! Hooray!

I signed up for it a few months ago. At first, it felt like I didn't have as much money -- because I didn't -- but it's a pretty nominal difference and you get used to it after a little while. I know, that sounds snotty, but the difference I noticed was like, "Oh, bummer, I can't afford that croissant/taco/Candy Crush level/etc because I'm broke." You can phase out croissants and tacos, and then you can feel smug because you have a nest egg. There's no penalty for taking money out any time, so you can treat it like a savings account if you get in a bind.

Now I can say I own stock in Apple (like 0.09 shares) and some government bonds. I'm playing the stock market! I've got a couple hundred bucks squirreled away and I've actually made profits and dividends and shit. Worth a try, anyway.

So there is an investment app (Acorns) that does the same thing and you can choose which investment vehicle to put it in (conservative, aggresive, etc.). You can also do round-up contributions on a card or bank account, so that if you spend $1.85 on a Coke you can put .15 towards your savings.

(If anyone is interested in trying it, feel free to DM me for a referral code - FYI - i would get something in return for any referral depending upon the specials they run - https://www.acorns.com/ref-terms/)

I also do $5 a day. It is crazy how quickly it can add-up. Great job!!

Acorns actually recently changed their pricing structure. It's $1/month until you have $1 million invested; then it's $100/month. Thought I would share because it makes a difference on what you're arguing. https://www.acorns.com/support/pricing/what-is-the-acorns-pricing-structure-/

Ibotta discount from this post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/comments/58jt2c/gpu_msi_gtx_1070_gaming_x_8gb_34550_408_13_jet/d90yr1g/

Discount total:

For a guy in NY, the total is $348.40 after tax.

MSI rebate works on all resellers

You might be able to save some more money according to /u/nphil by using Acorns Found Money . I've never heard about this before and it's too late for me to use it as I've already bought my card but if you want to give it a shot then go for it. With Acorns you should be getting 5% cashback so it could potentially lower the total price to around $292.

You could try Acorns. It's an app that rounds up all your credit card purchases and puts the change into a diversified investment account.

I essentially have a change-bucket savings account, with better returns than a bank, without really trying, which I think is kind of cool.

The ATM must be part of the Allpoint network. They do not reimburse fees from outside that network. https://www.acorns.com/support/spend/where-can-i-find-an-allpoint-atm--how-can-i-make-sure-i-m-using-an-allpoint-atm-/

Servers only care if you order water if you also order a plateful of lemon slices and sugar to make hillbilly lemonade for free. Other than that, water it up.

Also, to save I use the Acorns app. It’s just like rolling over the keep the change except it’s into an investment account. Been using it for 6 months and it’s already grown to just over $1,000.00

If it’s allowed and anyone wants it, I can throw up a referral code. You get $5 and I do too. No other benefit, no linked accounts, nothing nefarious. Just a couple of bucks for us both.

ETA: here’s the Link

Use Acorns.

It rounds up your change from credit card or debit card purchases and invests it. All normal stocks like Exxon, Microsoft, Large Cap Funds, Currency ETFs, etc. All dividends get reinvested so it compounds over time.

And you can set a $10 reoccurring weekly contribution if you wanted.

So you get stock market gains, plus dividends, plus your contribution all automatically.

Acorns is FDIC insured and fully licensed with the SEC of course.

You can set your own risk level. I keep mine at moderately conservative so my bulk is in corporate debt and US government bonds. But you can jack it to aggressive and it buys heavier into real estate and foreign exchanges.

Costs $1/month. I've had mine for almost two years now and have a few thousand in it. You can add to it, and withdrawal from it, any time via the app.

I have my invite code for a free $5. But you can just sign up on their site too. https://acorns.com/invite/AZZG97

The app is really slick. Tracks everything and they give you all the investor voting notices and investor call info (since you'll own the stock). And they show you exactly how much you own of what.

So, if you have a long term plan. There ya go. Let the market and dividends compound for you. And who knows, in 10 years you might be like, "Hey, I have a wife and kid now and look at that, I have thousands saved for college already!"

Life is weird. Long term investment is good.

Roth IRA is better if you think you will be in a higher tax bracket by the time you withdraw. I’d look at this if you plan on changing.

https://www.acorns.com/ is the app for this. Don't use it, so not sure how it works.

My advice for that small amount of loose change would be, in order of increasing hassle:

• 1) a jar.

• 2) a savings account at a local bank or credit union.

• 3) laundry day.

• 4) the car wash.

If it's anything like the Acorns US fees, I'd currently be paying something along the lines of $4-$7 AUD a month... is that really all? I pay more in brokerage fees when I do my monthly buy ins. So confused. What's the catch?

https://www.acorns.com/esg-investing/

Aggressive is: ESGU, SUSA, ESML, ESGD, and ESGE.

And just by looking at their top holdings, you can tell they’re not really all that environmentally friendly

First and foremost, any app that buys stocks has an DTC number. So you just have to find it.

Second, all partial share will be sold and credited into Robinhood.

Third, wow! acorns makes it hard to figure out who has your stocks, but because I am nice this is what I found. 1- Acorns.com custodian is called: Acorns Securities, LLC. https://www.acorns.com/program-agreement/

2- The clearing broker for Acorns Securities, LLC is RBC Markets LLC . https://brokercheck.finra.org/firm/summary/168172#disclosuresSection

3- the DTC number for RBC Markets, LLC is: RBC CAPITAL MARKETS, LLC 0235 RBC CAPITAL MARKETS, LLC/RBCCM 7408

http://www.dtcc.com/client-center/dtc-directories

Yes you can withdraw the money from your account (which sells your shares). To learn more about how long it takes to withdraw money, check out our FAQ.

> Acorns

Here's my main concern with this: Isn't it going to add a million little transaction records to my already-long transaction list when I log into my online banking? From the FAQ:

> Note: These transactions may appear on your bank statement as 'Acorns Investment WEB PMTS'

So are there a million of these, or does it grab it all at once each day/week/etc?

Also, out of curiosity, which risk profile are you using? Have you tried any others?

Acorns is pretty much what you're talking about.

You can do the same thing less expensively by setting up an automated transfer from checking to an IRA at Vanguard (and use a target date fund). That's $5,500 a year that you can save without paying taxes on that income. Many employers also let you divide up your direct deposit between several accounts.

Also, I strongly recommend reading the "I have $X..." article at the top of the FAQ.

Its a checking acct. linked to an actual bank so it's FDIC insured. You get an account and routing number, can use any ATM as you get reimbursed any fees but there are no physical locations you can go to. It's not free and is $3 a month.

I think one of the major reasons why people think your projects are screenshots is because a common UI paradigm is to show still images and/or a gif of the app running on a clip art of a phone or tablet.

For example, see:

• Robinhood's home page - https://robinhood.com/us/en/
• Office 365 - https://www.office.com/
• Acorn - https://www.acorns.com/

The general expectation of the website visitor is thus that "picture of an actual phone or tablet = mock-up / fake rendering of app".

Unfortunately, Acorns charges money for the privilege of leaving them. The charge is appears to be $50 per ETF according to the https://www.acorns.com/program-agreement/https://www.acorns.com/program-agreement/ page which is frankly outrageous.

Depending on how much each of your ETFs has appreciated, it may be cheaper to simply liquidate at Acorns, accept the capital gains tax hit, and reinvest the money at Vanguard. Or perhaps do this selectively on an ETF-by-ETF basis depending on the amount of appreciation in each ETF.

I'd also recommend reading the /r/personalfinance/wiki/investing page since it discusses funds at Vanguard.

I don't know what that is, so I can't answer that question. The Android app requires a pin though if that helps.

Yes, Acorns is like a savings account; however, it has much better interest rates over the long term.

Acorns uses bank level encryption, so it's as likely to get hacked as your bank. See also: https://www.acorns.com/security

I doubt Acorns will ever accept bitcoin. They deal with cash investments. I could be wrong, but I see it as highly unlikely.

There are a couple of financial auto-saving options that are not related to your bank. I use both Digit, and Acorns. Both take a business day or two to get the money back into your checking account if you need those funds.

Just FYI, because this immediately came to mind from reading your post.

> We do not recommend frequent changing of portfolios, or attempting to time the market, as this can potentially result in reduced performance and/or adverse tax consequences.

https://www.acorns.com/support/

With that being said, I am of the opinion that I cannot predict market downswings, so I'm not going to bother protecting against them. However, when the market is down, I take it upon myself to invest extra amounts into my account to capitalize on the inevitable turnaround.

Definitely recommend! It's Acorns for Bitcoin.

This is a little different than what OP is asking though.

I think Coinbase has a thing where they automatically buy back for you.. any one know?

You could try out the Acorns app - https://www.acorns.com/ - It allows people to make micro investments. You can invest spare change from your bank account, invest a regular amount each week or month (e.g. $10 a week) and also deposit lump sums.

There are five different portfolios that you can invest in, with varying levels of global equities, bonds, REITs and other instruments, depending on your risk appetite.

They charge $1 a month as fees, there's no other commission, and you spread your risk. I've been using it for a whole and am very happy with it.

The concept behind acorns is to simply take your "change" from everyday purchases and invest it into your portfolio. You can link your credit card, bank, debit etc and every time you make a purchase it will round up. For example, if you go to a gas station and spend 23.45 it will round up your purchase to 24 and it will take that .55 cents and send it into the app. Once you hit 5 dollars it will then put it into your portfolio automatically. Now if you want you can set the settings so this doesnt happen at all, you want a higher amount, round differently, etc. You can also just throw in money whenever you feel like it as well and not have it do the round ups. But essentially you answer a few questions and they will suggest the right portfolio for you. And thats it. The only thing is that it charges you a fee of one dollar every month. So now heres the catch. If you put in 10 dollars and just let it sit, you will probably end at 0 after a year because every month they take a dollar but you gain only such a small amount. To get a good return you have to keep investing into it. This is really for people who are just starting to get into the stock market and that sort of thing. By no means will you make a lot of money real fast. They invest your money in stocks, bonds and etfs. Once you get the app they show you the complete breakdown and which companies and so on. There are a lot of factors that go into it. But this is just a quick glance.

edit: check their website (https://www.acorns.com/) for some info. they do a good job explaining everything.

Robhinhood is $0 invest fee app that is right now only available on iOS. Its pretty sleek. I personally havent used it to purchase any stocks yet but from the people that I know that use it say that its pretty good.

Very interesting idea!

I just recently signed up for Acorns https://www.acorns.com/ which rounds up all your transactions and allows you to invest that money.

Something like that would be cool for bitcoin too.

See my comment here for the word on non US bank accounts.

The fee situation is still very much up in the air. We are going to batch convert roundups to BTC definitely, because as you say converting on such small transactions is just a waste. We are pretty much in fee-parity with acorns besides our bitcoin component. However, I'm sure they have other fees to worry about give that they are investing in actual stocks. And they are able to make it work.

In short, we're still working on it, but I think there's definitely a viable fee structure, and we're not going to work with one that doesn't make sense (why invest if you are getting owned by fees). For now, since intuit's APi basically forced us into a closed beta, we are just eating the cost.

Stafford loans is an older program, Direct loans is the newer program. The original law setting up federally guaranteed loans was the Higher Education Act of 1965, and the loans were called FFELP loans. Then in 1988 the loans were renamed in honor of Sen. Robert Stafford, who was a higher education advocate (they remained FFELP loans, just with a new name). Then in 2010, Congress re-did the student loan programs, stopped issuing new FFELP/Stafford loans, and started issuing new Direct Loans.

It’s quite possible then for someone to still have Stafford loans issued in 2010 (or earlier) so they’re still listed separately on the regs.

https://www.acorns.com/money-basics/student-debt/federal-stafford-loans/

https://www.acorns.com/money-basics/retirement/early-withdrawal-from-ira/

“you can access your contributions anytime without penalty. However, if you tap any investment earnings (aka the market returns your invested money has generated) before you’re 59 ½—or before you’ve had your account open for at least five years—you’ll owe income tax, plus the 10-percent penalty.”

More information here: https://www.acorns.com/ref-terms/

The regular referral only pays a $5 investment. The bigger referral bonus for 7 referrals is only if the referred accounts invest. So this screams to me that the "client" will require the FL to also invest so he gets his $40 worth.

It just shouts sketchy, if not against TOS.

Yeah, you can get started with acorns here and if you’re interested in cashapp, just download the app and get started by linking a card and buying your first stock.

I’ve been using it to invest since I was 17.

At 16, your priorities should be on creating healthy habits that carry over into adulthood.

1. Avoid excessive materialism and buying stuff you don't really need. Focus on having experiences over having stuff.
2. Avoid drugs. Not only will they derail your goals, a lot of employers frown on it.
3. Actually study in school. Consider taking some higher level maths in statistics and accounting especially. They can be somewhat bland subjects, but having a solid foundation in stats and accounting will get your mind right about how to analyze data, see patterns, trends, and allow you to predict things like the stock market a little more intuitively.
4. Consider opening up an account with someone like Acorns. Roll over your loose change and then don't ever touch it. I think you can have an account with them as early as 16. Basically if you have a debit card, you can have an acorns account.
5. Get a bank account with your local credit union, and when you turn 18, ask them for a "secured credit card" - It's a credit card that works like a bank debit card, but it has the added bonus of generating a credit history. Open that card and never close it. It's the ideal tool for someone without a credit history to safely and responsibly start.
6. Learn how to budget, and stick to it. Even if your expenses are pretty basic, learning how to budget is a skill and habit you should start early with because developing that habit when you get older is a lot harder. Set some goals, save, and learn to plan for the future. Learn not to give in to "instant gratification".
7. Give a lot of thought to what you're doing after high school. I personally suggest doing 2 years of community college for super cheap, and then hitting some sort of STEM degree hard at a reasonably priced university - Only doctors and lawyers should care where they go to school. Bottom line is to get an in-demand degree for as cheap as possible.

This is incorrect. According to the terms here, some accounts offered a $20 bonus but that offer ended on 5/15. They now have varying versions where a referrer will get $100-$800 when X amount of people sign up using their referral link, but with each promotion, the signup bonus is only $5.

One other recommendation is to use an app like Acorns (or any other "microsavings" app) which will handle investments for you. Specifically re: Acorns, there are two components:

1. Round ups
2. Re-occurring contributions

Personally, the round-ups are the most interesting (at least for me). Basically, you associate a debit/credit card with your Acorns account, and it will "round up" your purchases to the nearest dollar. So, $1.50 for a purchase, and Acorns will round that up to $2.00 bucks. After five dollars worth of round ups, it will transfer that to your Acorns account which will then be auto-invested for you.

Re-occurring contributions (like Daily, Monthly, etc) are automated contribution cycles that will invest a fixed amount for you. You can use this in addition to your round ups. So, for example, you could take advantage of "dollar cost average" to contribute say $5 bucks every week. Historically, the market moves up, so overtime you'll (hopefully) make money. By spreading out your contributions, you can take advantage of market flux.

Regarding investments, these will based on your risk level - if you're younger, you can probably afford more risks, and so you'll have a riskier profile..vs someone older looking for something a bit more stable. The investments are 'curated', with many of the investments you would be holding including Vanguard Index funds (or bonds). The percentage of which stocks/bonds/etc. you hold will be based on your risk.

Anyway, that's a quick and dirty on Acorns. For full transparency, I no longer use Acorns (I liquidated my funds to put towards a downpayment on a home), BUT my Acorns account started with $100 and grew to roughly $6000 over time (about 3-4 years). When I liquidated, my account had grown 12% based on market returns.

https://www.acorns.com/ and /r/acorns are both resources if you're interested.

Unfortunately, your premise remains faulty. Compounding interest differs from simple interest.

If I have $1,000, invest, and make 10%. $100 My new principal is $1,100, if I make that same 10%, I now make $110. This is compounding interest. Earning interest on a principal, increasing the principal, and earning interest on that higher amount.

Feel free to check out some credible sources of information vice me so we can skip the colloquial examples.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/compoundinterest.asp

https://www.acorns.com/money-basics/investing/how-does-compound-interest-work/

If you have any Q’s happy to discuss further. Signing off for the evening.

Below* is a resource that you might find helpful.

https://www.acorns.com/money-basics/when-do-you-pay-taxes-on-a-roth-ira-/#:~:text=Because%20you%20pay%20taxes%20upfront,without%20incurring%20a%20tax%20liability.

^(*Reddit won't let me add as a hyperlink.)

Here's a quick rundown of ETFs vs Mutual Funds.

If you're looking for something passive to continually add funds to for your daughter, you might take a look at Acorns. The short of it is that whenever you spend money, it rounds up to the next dollar and snips those extra few cents out and sets it aside in an account. That account gets invested in a portfolio of stocks, and you get to decide how risky or safe you want that account to be invested, but don't have to actually pick the investments yourself. Of note, going moderately risky is usually the best bet if you plan on running the account for the foreseeable future, because your average rate of return will be higher over a longer period of time. There's a subreddit for the app as well, and the people over there tend to be very helpful and friendly.

That said, investing in a mutual fund is really easy and doesn't cost you a recurring rate once you've bought in. The important part is to make sure your returns are reinvested back into the fund.

Yep! When I was moving I emptied my checking account waiting for my relocation check from work. Sure enough, acorns paused deposits and resumed when I got my check and had funds in my account again.

It's also on their website. They do say to keep in mind that it isn't 100% fool proof

https://www.acorns.com/why-are-my-transactions-being-canceled-/

Acorns ( https://www.acorns.com ) is an app that lets you invest small amounts in index funds. It is an easy way to get started. I've been using it for a few years and I really like it. It is easy to add money and easy to take it back out again (though you should leave it in for the long term to really build on compounding interest).

I use this app called Acorns and it's amazing.

You know how you have a savings account and a checkings account and you promise yourself you're not going to withdraw from your savings but all of the sudden you have to and you end up doing it because it's so easy?

Not acorns. It pulls spare change out of your bank account without you realizing it and stores it. (You can also have recurring payments done every so often if you want.) Then, when you have to withdraw money, you have to ask it a week in advance. That way you can't withdraw money instinctively.

Personally, I just pretend it's not even there. I figure it's just money gone. Out of sight out of mind they say. You even forget you installed the app. One day you decide "Hey, I'm going to check the app and see how much money is in there. Turns out there's a $1000 there and you don't even know where it came from!

I really like it.

Drr, I just realized you meant Acorn charging you, not Robinhood, I'm dumb.

I literally just googled "acorns fees". https://www.acorns.com/fees

That page is also linked prominently (under "fees") right from their home page, so I'm baffled how you could miss it? :p (edit: did you sign up with an edu address? It does also say it's free for 4 years for college students.)

It usually takes about three to four weeks. This is an excerpt from their terms and conditions.

"While it is intended that contributions to your Acorns account be completed within 60 business days from the applicable completed Stay, delays may occur and neither Acorns nor Airbnb will be liable in connection with any such delay. To the extent an Acorns customer believes that he or she is entitled to a reward that has not been contributed to such customer’s Acorns account, such customer must notify Acorns within 60 days from the applicable transaction date by either sending an e-mail to or completing and submitting a support request at https://www.acorns.com/support/contact. "

Hope this helps.

1) avoid mutual funds and stick to ETFs (if you're really interested I can give you three very in-depth reasons why); 2) select a couple of ETFs that are unrelated in terms of their underlying exposure. For example, equities (i.e. Stocks) have become increasingly correlated in their returns over the last few years (meaning, they've become more and more related in terms of performance and thus you enjoy less diversification benefits). For my Roth account, I actually selected some similar ETFs that Acorns uses (https://www.acorns.com/investments) because they have some nice different cuts of exposure to various asset classes. I added a commodity exposure though as well (using another lost cost ETF).

You're still paying the expense ratios of the underlying ETFs that acorns invests in on your behalf. Considering they do a very good job of obscuring this information on their website, ~~I would assume those expense ratios are exorbitant.~~

Upon further review, it looks like Acorns uses iShares and Vanguard ETFs, which all have very low expense ratios. So to my significant surprise, a student account is actually a decent choice if you want your investment portfolio wrapped in a millennial-friendly mobile app. Just make sure your drop them the second you lose student status.

That's great that you're already thinking about investing at your age. I'm a huge advocate for starting financial education early. I think people should really take your more seriously. If you get a greater buzz saving and investing then playing video games, that's amazing! Money is the biggest game we play after all.

For you, I'd recommend starting with something like rate setter or acorns. This is because a lot of other investments need a lot more money to get in.

Acorns is an app that allows you to invest in a diversified fund. You can even watch it from the app. For more information check this site out: https://www.acorns.com

Rate setter is another investment where you lend money and are matched to borrowers. For more info, check this site out: https://www.ratesetter.com

Remember that when you invest, you're taking on risk. That means that although you can make money, it is also possible to lose money. Though the earlier you start, the more time you have to get it right.

Good luck, and happy investing!

Paypal looks like the exact same type of service and many of us have never had problems with them, assuming you aren't a seller on eBay.

I don't know anything about this company but there are others I trust giving my info to, like PP. I do the same for Acorns to take money out of my account for investing. I think you're going to have to get over the idea of not giving your bank info to companies because it will happen often.

From a fees standpoint, Acorns and Stash are pretty similar, and I think the only real difference is that Acorns is free for students and anyone under 24.

What do you get with Acorns? The ability to buy fractions of shares of a diversified mix of investments, automated investing features, automatic rebalancing to keep your portfolio on target, and no transaction fees to invest or withdraw your money. It’s no BS... we think it’s a great deal, but we’re happy to hear your feedback!

Actually it's $1/month for accounts under $5k.

https://www.acorns.com/fees/

Students and people under 24 are totally no-fee.

I looked at it when it first came out, wasn't wild about the fees, but I've been thinking a bit about implementing it as part of a savings-solution, basically to get the rounding-up savings, and then rolling them over into my Vanguard account when they reach several thousand $.

Is that worth $12/yr given that I'd have to sell those ETFs as held by the Accorns account and incur short-term capital gains and then reinvest at wherever the market is at? I'm not sure. Alternatively I could just pay them 0.25% and consider that as a sunk cost for the benefit of getting the rounded-up savings and then reinvest it all through Vanguard at one time.

I would say rather than learning to resist it, it's easier to try to redirect it. When you're thinking about purchasing something, use an app like Acorns on your phone, or log into your bank and transfer a little to your savings right then and there. (Acorns allows you to manually save additional funds along with its nifty "save your change" feature).

Sometimes after I've made a small bad decision like that I'll "punish" my account by transferring something to savings right then and there. Eventually you start thinking "should I buy this or am I better off saving the money?" Just that question in my head usually does the trick so even if I don't push something to savings at the time, I don't purchase the item.

One note: it's better to have a savings account outside of your normal banking institution so you can't access your saved funds immediately. Check out [SmartyPig](smartypig.com) as a good place to start.

I really screwed up the way I described the fee. It's:

$1/mo flat fee + 0.5% annually (essentially APR, so it's really assessed as (0.5%/12)/mo).

They have a fee calculator here: https://www.acorns.com/fees/

Not sure if that changes your answer -- I suspect it doesn't -- but I wanted to make that correction.

they are charging .25% - .5% management fees, plus $1/mo.

https://www.acorns.com/fees/

That is on top of the ETF fees they will have you invested in, which they state are .05% - .2%

https://www.acorns.com/investments/

You'd be better off just putting extra cash into a Target Date fund at one of the better brokerages.

From the Yahoo Finance write up: <em>By shifting the transaction size to the lowest possible unit Acorns is changing the investing paradigm, opening the door for an entire generation to start investing early and often.</em>

Official website.

You should also know Acorns has high fees. I believe it's $3 a month from their website: https://www.acorns.com/pricing/

Per year, thats $36. On a good year, Acorns averages 10% returns. On your $134, that's only $13 .40 a year. You're losing money every month.

I would pull out asap. I pulled out when I found out about this.

Have you looked into banks or services that do this type of saving for you automatically?

Here are a couple of the big ones

acorns

chime

Ally bank also has some automated saving methods that moves money from your checking to savings automatically.

As for your shortcut idea, it's possible, and mostly can already be done with Siri by saying something like "add $2 to my savings note". However, it doesn't always work quite as well as that depending on the content of the note

There's an investment Acorns, that I find really helpful to "hide" money from myself. Basically, you invest money into a very low-risk investment fund. You earn interest, and there is a $1-3 subscription fee. The best part is that it take five days to get the money out. When I have the impulse to spend, usually if I don't have instant access to it, I'll forget about spending it.

Also, a 401k is a good idea for anyone. There's a lot of reasons to set up through work, and it's a pain in the butt to get it out.

I mean if you're really that curious.... you could just read the sweepstake rules which say:

>14. WINNER LIST: For a winner list, interested individuals should mail a self-addressed stamped business envelope to: Winner List, - Acorns Path to $1,000,000 Sweepstakes, P.O. Box 251328, West Bloomfield, MI 48325. Winner List requests must be received no later than March 13, 2022.

I'm not sure if you're implying Acorns lied about the contest? Because most states have pretty strong rules around sweepstakes to prevent that from happening, which is thy they've got lengthy official rules and typically have an external, independent company running the contest.

Company: Acorns

Job: Junior, Mid, & Senior Android developers

Location: Headquarters are in Irvine, CA, but we are remote first (within US)

Allows remote: Yes, within the US

Visa: US Citizen or authorized to work in US only (tax purposes, sorry)

Job Link: https://grnh.se/b658b6c01us

Mission: With benevolence and courage, we look after the financial best interests of the up-and-coming; beginning with the empowering, proud step of micro-investing.

We are a mission driven Fintech focused on financial education and empowerment.

Any questions email me at [email protected], comment here, or check out our careers page at https://www.acorns.com/careers/

I don't see why not. That's totally up to you and your situation.

Roth IRA means you are depositing the money now(taxed on it now come tax time), and when you retire you'll be able to use that money tax free. Then any gains you have in that account when you withdraw them down the road, are tax free as well. Compare that to the regular invest account, you would be taxed on the capital gains you make.

Note that there are caps on what you can deposit to an IRA, and penalties for withdrawing early before retirement(depending on what you withdraw versus what you have contributed).

See this page for a breakdown of what a Roth IRA means and the different aspects of it, and see if it works for you.

https://www.acorns.com/money-basics/investing/what-is-a-roth-ira-/

I don't know if the IRA account you can link your credit cards, and your bank accounts, to have roundups like the invest account, someone else would have to answer that question. My theory is having just a regular invest account, is a step in the right direction compared to having nothing at all. Perhaps you can noodle on this and it might be a good decision to do so, but for now keep putting extra money into your invest account. Hope this helps a little, I'm sure others will chime in and be of more help(I'm still fairly new to the investing world).

Any one is good. S&P 500 if you really don’t know. I prefer Russell’s.

There are indexes for all kinds of sectors if you want to make “plays” - foreign, large-cap, small-cap, micro, telecom, semiconductor, biotech, etc.

The key thing is that sweet ultra-low expense ratio. ~0.05%, but the lower the better.

Dollar-cost-average in and don’t take anything out unless you need to. (Fear is not need 😉)

Dollar Cost Averaging

You can send it back to them in a secure envelope--but make sure you deactivate your card first to:

Acorns
Attn: Card Department
5300 California Ave.
Irvine, CA 92617

(Source)

I dont think that’s accurate (its not how i’ve ever done my taxes anyway). The way i’ve done it lines up with how its described in the below links. Basically, at the end of the year, subtract all capital losses from all capital gains and that is what you are taxed on. If the number is negative, you deduct that from your other taxable income (up to 3k a year and if your losses are more than 3k, you get to deduct up to 3k a year every year until you have deducted the full amount of the loss). Obviously talk to a tax professional about this if unsure, and this assumes US tax.

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/100515/heres-how-deduct-your-stock-losses-your-tax-bill.asp

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/helpful-facts-to-know-about-capital-gains-and-losses

https://www.acorns.com/money-basics/taxes/how-are-stocks-taxed/

Acorns is also a member SIPC, which insures your investment accounts up to $500,000. This is in addition to the $250,000 of FDIC insurance for the checking account if you have Acorns Spend.

https://www.acorns.com/support/investments-and-withdrawals/is-my-money-protected-/

I just looked it up because I was also curious. You can multiply your Round-Ups 2x, 3x, or 9x. Here's more info.

Oh, and Round-Ups are the "spare change" from the purchases you make using your linked card. So if I bought something for $10.40, it would round up to the dollar and invest the $.60. With a 2x multiplier, Acorns would invest $.60 x 2, so $1.80.

I just set mine to a 3x multiplier. To the moon! (Do we say that on this forum?)

There is definitely difficulty associated with getting a job when you have a large gap on your resume, but it is also different when you have retired vs being fired or let go.

For one, your skills may still be in demand. You didn't lose the job for lack of demand like in a layoff or when a company has shut down. Your job didn't disappear, you just stopped doing it.

And with FIRE there is some flexibility, you can take a job you're over qualified for because you don't need to be making your original salary, just enough to cover the shortfall, and you can time it out a bit. Obviously it will be harder to get a job right as the stock market crashes but the average recession lasts 11 months, just wait a year and the economy will be pointing up again, generally. One additional year of spending only brings your portfolio down 4% more.

I actually agree that people are overconfident in their ability to get a job whenever they want, but also their inability to get a job whenever they want is not so bad, and they are more likely to still be employable.

There’s a ratio breakdown on the actual website https://www.acorns.com/esg-investing/ of all the portfolios for both core and ESG. Kind of annoying it’s not readily available within the app to compare.

Depending on which state you live in . Different states have different tax implications. Highest tax for long term gains is 20% I believe. acorns

https://www.acorns.com/support/investments-and-withdrawals/how-do-i-withdraw-funds-from-my-acorns-account-/

I would reach out to Acorns for help on this, but - without knowing the full details of your situation - if you did not withdraw and did not change your portfolio selection, you may have been subject to an automatic rebalance: >We also periodically review, typically on a quarterly basis, and rebalance your portfolio whenever the percentage holding of one or more ETFs fluctuates 5% above or below its target allocation. We sell overrepresented ETFs and use the proceeds to buy underrepresented ETFs to bring your portfolio towards its target allocation.

https://www.acorns.com/how-does-acorns-rebalance-my-portfolio/

Can the Investing App Acorns help you save and grow your money?

Video review of the Investing App Acorns, go over top features, downsides, costs, and whether or not it's actually a good value.

► Get free $5 for signing up with Acorns:https://www.acorns.com/invite/U5VA3T%E2%80%8Bhttps://www.acorns.com/invite/U5VA3T​

I can assure you the promos are not rigged. I have been able to receive over 2k just from referrals in the past few months. Have you checked out the terms and conditions for the offer? If you feel like you have absolutely met these conditions then I would suggest reaching back out to Acorns and escalating.

https://www.acorns.com/ref-terms/

Acorns seems like it may invest you in index funds, so it isn't an investment performance issue (at least before you take fees into account).

It is because of fees: https://www.acorns.com/pricing/ shows you are paying at least $1 more per month than I'm paying at Fidelity.

Similar story.

Some suggestions....

Any app will do but if you’re starting out, here’s some quick suggestions:

• for apps, any will do but if you’re starting out you might want to look at company that has good phone support. Fidelity is good for this. They were really patient with me and beginner questions. Others might be good too.

• in terms of a breakdown, no one can tell you what to do but it all depends on your risk tolerance and what mix of asset types you want. You said you don’t want anything risky. There are recommended allocations for this but I recommend you do a little research here. Acorns has an article that talks about this... https://www.acorns.com/money-basics/investing/conservative-vs-aggressive-investing-and-portfolios/

• Reqd some books. A great book is I will teach you to be rich.

You can literally copy the Acorns picks in M1. Then you don’t have to pay the monthly fee, don’t have a ridiculous 2-3 day “trading window”, don’t have to worry about them creating taxable events without your knowledge and just overall better tools/utilities.

You can piece together the portfolio depending upon what setting you have from this list of ETFs and these allocations.

As far as I can tell when they are able to sell it. Typically if you request withdrawal before 2PM Eastern Acorns should be able to sell off your requested amount that day at the market price. If later than 2PM Eastern, than Acorns should sell off your requested amount at the market opening the next day at the market price.

https://www.acorns.com/support/investments-and-withdrawals/how-do-i-withdraw-funds-from-my-acorns-account-/

hey back again, i was browsing my self for the answer to this question

“If your income is lower than $39,375 (or $78,750 for married couples), you'll pay zero in capital gains taxes. If your income is between $39,376 to $434,550, you'll pay 15 percent in capital gains taxes. And if your income is $434,551 or more, your capital gains tax rate is 20 percent.”

source: https://www.acorns.com/money-basics/taxes/how-are-stocks-taxed/

BTW if none of you guys are in the stock market or investing your money in any way I'd recommend getting an acorns account. It autonomously invests your money for you. https://www.acorns.com/invite/7TB63Z

Thank you for putting this together. Been spending a lot of my spare time trying to find an alternative.

Didn’t see Acorns on the list in the spreadsheet.
- https://www.acorns.com/

I am still vetting them personally but it could be good for the collective to do their research.

$100 a month at $1,000,000; $200 a month at $2,000,000; etc. if you have don't have a spend account.

$105, $205.. etc if you do.

" if your Combined Monthly Balance on the Fee Date is $1,000,000 or more and you do not have an Acorns Spending Account, $100 per $1,000,000 of Combined Monthly Balance on the Fee Date (for the avoidance of doubt, the Subscription Fee in that scenario will be one hundredth of one percent (.01%) of the number obtained by rounding your Combined Monthly Balance down to the nearest whole multiple of $1,000,000); and

if your Combined Monthly Balance on the Fee Date is $1,000,000 or more and you have an Acorns Early Account, Acorns Spending Account, $100 per $1,000,000 of Combined Monthly Balance on the Fee Date (for the avoidance of doubt, the Subscription Fee in that scenario will be one hundredth of one percent (.01%) of the number obtained by rounding your Combined Monthly Balance down to the nearest whole multiple of $1,000,000) plus $5."

Program Agreement | Acorns

You sure about that?

Lite is $1 per month, and fine text reads " Acorns does not charge transactional fees, commissions or fees based on assets for accounts under $1 million".

Full disclosure, I do have an Acorns account and pay $1 per month.

Pricing | Acorns

Here's a good analysis of why the income figure isn't a great indicator of purchasing power, when you only factor in inflation and not buying power.

Also, for those that think inflation IS buying power, they're related but not the same

Why do you say that switching to .edu will remove the monthly fee? That hasn't been true for like two years now. I'm generally curious where this old information gets dug up from.

The fee is $1 per month until $1M ($12 per year). So obviously the more you have saved, the lower the fee is as a percentage. At ~$5000 the fee is now 0.25% ($4800/$12). Above that is where Acorns becomes cheaper than many other robo-advisors because many of them are charging 0.25%.

The fees/pricing is very clearly laid out at https://www.acorns.com/pricing/

If you want to match what acorns does here's what the invest in https://www.acorns.com/support/investments-and-withdrawals/where-is-my-money-invested-/

Personally the mixes they use are not that impressive to me. If your unsure pick the major index one, two or three fund portfolio.

You can backrest a portfolio mix with portfoliovisulizer.com.

My main mix for my Roth now is VUG, MTUM, QQQ and VTI all equally invested never rebalanced. Do your own work you have to be comfortable with your choices and outcomes.

Hi there,

We apologize for any confusion or worry. Acorns and Say are partners! As stated, Say ("Say Technologies") is just notifying Acorns investors that they have investor documents available. When you invest with Acorns, you own a group of different ETFs from companies like BlackRock and Vanguard. Say makes sure that you have access to documents about those investments when they are available.

If we cannot reach you over email, we try to reach you by postal mail. If you have any questions or suggestions on how we can improve, you can always reach out to [email protected]. If you have any questions about your Acorns account, you can search https://www.acorns.com/support/.

Say is aiming to make the investor experience better, clearer, and safer. We will keep improving this for all investors. Hope this helps!

&#x200B;

Say

Hey there, here is my link.

https://www.acorns.com/invite/VASPCZ

Just sign up with that link and make a one time deposit of $5. You should see Acorns deposit another $5 alongside that. Just let it sit in the account until 08/17/2020 and I'll send you the $55.

You can change the subscription to "Lite" after making the deposit and turning "round-ups" off if you don't want to put in too much.

I personally found Acorns to be a great place to start since it automatically invests spare change for you. Here’s my referral link to get $5 when you signup with Acorns: RGCNX7 https://www.acorns.com/invite/RGCNX7

You can see the list of ETFs that Acorns uses here: ETFs

And you can see the portfolios here: Portfolios

If you google those etfs and div yield, and then multiply by the portfolio % of each, then add them together, you can calculate the approximate total % dive yield of the overall portfolio.

It’s more math than I want to do on a Friday but that’s how you get the scientific answer :)

[OFFER] Earn $20! $15 from me, $5 from Acorn. Ends June 30th!

Sign up with Acorn and get $5 from them and $15 from me.

• Sign up with my referral link here: https://www.acorns.com/invite/JSCW3X
• Subscribe for $1 (when you sign up you will have the ability to choose the subscription for $1. In the link it says $3/month. You can cancel this at any time)
• Deposit $5, get $5 (takes a few days to process)

I'll send you $15 via PayPal once your sign up process is complete

Refer a Friend Program: Once you sign up you will have your own personal referral link to share with others. If you refer 5 friends you can earn $300 cash. This is why I am willing to give you $15. This is a limited time offer from Acorns and works only up till June 30th so act fast.

ACORNS - MAKE $305 GUARANTEED - JUST REFER 5 FRIENDS! ONLY IN JUNE SO ACT FAST!

Acorns is having a MEGA referral bonus when you sign up, deposit $5 and refer 5 friends

You must sign up with my link below, deposit $5 and refer 5 friends, you get $305 in cash

This only works until June 30th so act fast

Note: You will need to subscribe when signing up for $1 which can be cancelled at any time

https://www.acorns.com/invite/JSCW3X

Read more about the portfolios here. You only choose how risky to be. And Acorns doesn’t really choose the actual stocks either, they just choose the ratios. Like 40% Large Company Stocks means they will invest 40% of your deposits into an ETF called VOO, which contains little pieces of the 500 largest companies.

It’s based on a theory called Passive Investing which buys cheap, low risk index funds.

https://www.acorns.com/invest/

I’m a big fan of the recurring investments, roundups, and found money. Full disclosure though - the main reason I use Acorns is because I work for a large investment firm that requires my trades to be precleared, but since Acorns puts the money in broad ETFs and the user cannot select specific stocks, no filings are needed for this type of account (i only need to disclose that it exists).

Good place to start if you want more general info:

https://www.acorns.com/support/how-does-acorns-work/

ETFs listed

When I used them years back, my complete account was $VOO that tracks the S+P500. Where exactly are they stating their return rates? I mean just $VOO alone is up over 200% in 8 years.

The Acorns app is a really accessible way to invest. It recommends a portfolio for you based on how conservative or aggressive you wanna be, and you have to fund it with $5 to start but then you can link your debit card and whenever you buy something it invests the change and you can make recurring investments as small as $5. I put $150 in mine in March and it’s made $11. It was more but there’s a $1 fee per month.

I have a link that gives you free stock for signing up. https://www.acorns.com/invite/WGMRX8

Otherwise a high yield savings account is a good place to park savings, I use Ally bank.

Robinhood app has fractional shares for me but I was on a waiting list and not sure if it’s public altogether yet.

I waited late to jump in the game but you’re right, it’s a lot more accessible than I thought it was.

Since you are a new dude in the investment world, you need to read and understand what you are getting yourself into. Below is a link that will help you start your journey. Google acorns later, and you will be surprised how much you can learn by clicking on all those links.

Good luck to you out there.

https://www.acorns.com/support/acorns-later/

I can relate. I'm in IT myself. Two things that have helped me: (1) start saving; save enough to put the worry on the back burner (2) remember that most recessions/depressions lasts about 11 months, says this article (3) don't watch the news too much, and look out for positive news.

Što veli u/NistaNevalja, tri kvartala je neki praktični minimum (9 meseci), zvanično se ulazi u recesiju sa dva negativna kvartala, a može da se vuče i 3-4 godine. Obično ide u talasima, šest-devet meseci pada, pa onda godinu dana rasta, pa onda opet pad, pa rast, dok se ne stabilizuje. U proseku jedan talas recesije, obično onaj najgori, prvi, traje 18 meseci.

Dosta zemalja u Evropi je u suštini imalo recesiju od od 2007. do sredine 2009, a neke u naletima do 2013, 2014 (Španija, Italija). nekako

Sve je sad na vladama, kako će reagovati, stimulisati potrošnju i proizvodnju. Ja sam optimista te mislim da je dosta naučeno iz prethodne krize, bar što se tiče Eurozone. Iako su potpuno različiti uzroci, lek će biti sličan, masovni stimulusi, pauziranja finansijskih obaveza i pomoć najteže pogođenim zemljama.

Međutim, stvar je još više na laboratorijama i naučnim institutima. Onog momenta kad se dobar kandidat za vakcinu potvrdi i to pročuje, eventualno lek, krenuće i da plovi kapital nazad u ekonomiju i berza da skače. Berza je odličan indikator poverenja u ekonomiju, radi i kad su dobre i loše prognoze, samo ne može da izdrži neizvesnost. Što se pre dogode takve vesti, pre će se i neizvesnost okončati i krenuti normalizacija finansijskog tržišta, a potom i sveukupne ekonomije.

Poučeni prethodnom krizom a i procenama da bi vakcina bila spremna u narednoj godini, očekujem do leta 2021. da Evropa izađe iz recesije a potom usledi godinu-godinu i po ekspanzije, praćene manjom eho-recesijom. Naravno, možda samo lupam, ne možemo znati sa sigurnošću. Najvažniija varijabla nije u privredi, već u farmaciji u ovom trenutku.

> No, there will not. It's not normal nor is it healthy for an economy to literally have two recessions in a 12 year period.

Not true. https://www.acorns.com/money-basics/the-economy/how-long-do-downturns-last/

Look I’m not going to argue with you. I hope you’re wrong.

You’re an SPT hopefully you’re not graduating in May. Best of luck.

...if you're broke, why are you trying to make money writing 17-page how-tos?

here's a better tip: if you manage to get 12 people to sign up for Acorns, they'll give you $1000
https://www.acorns.com/invite/E3QZMU

Looks like this changed for 2019 but is still quoted incorrectly in various places.

As of 2020 page:

“What about Acorns accounts of at least $5,000?

Prior to our April 2018 pricing change, Acorns customers with a balance of at least $5,000 paid .25% per year. With the new pricing, all Acorns Invest customers will pay $1 per month, and all Acorns Later customers will pay $2 per month for Acorns Invest and Acorns Later, until they have $1 million invested with us. For more information, visit our pricing page or our detailed Program Agreement.”acorns over 5k