Acorns Review: My Honest Thoughts on the Investment App, Pros and Cons, 2020

Here are my thoughts on the Acorns App and my full review of the investment platform. I discuss the features, investment mix, and fee structure of the app and if you should use it or not. Add me on Instagram: humphreytalks (new IG as of July 2020)

This review is updated as of July 2020.

Features:
Automatic Round Up Feature: This is the core identifying feature of Acorns and where it gets it name from. Basically every time you make a transaction with a linked card, the app rounds UP your transaction to the nearest dollar and invests the change. It’s basically the digital equivalent of paying with cash, and taking that change and investing it automatically for you. So if you buy something that costs $19.50 cents, Acorns will round it up to the nearest dollar, and automatically invest that difference, which in this case is 50 cents.

They also have a multiplier function, so if your difference in your purchase and your round up was say, 50 cents, if you choose the 2x multiplier it will automatically invest $1, 3x will be $1.50, and 10x will be $5.
Now its important to note that the automatic round up feature is basically just taking the money straight from your bank account. My Opinion on the Round Up Feature is that it's a good feature because it prioritizes automatic saving – which I’m all about. Too many people are not good at saving, and this does it for you, AUTOMATICALLY. If you are going to use this feature and can afford it, I would suggest using the 2x or 3x multiplier. The 10x multiplier seems excessive to me.

They have other features in their $3 and $5 program which I speak about in the video - including the "Later" investment program allowing you to invest in an IRA/Roth IRA, and the "Early" investment program which allows you to open accounts for your kids.

Investment Mix:
Within the app, you can choose from a selection of 5 Portfolios: Conservative, Moderately Conservative, Moderate, Moderately Aggressive, and Aggressive. I go over the exact YTD returns and 3 year returns of all their portfolios in the app and I give you a breakdown of what funds each portfolio selection actually purchases.

Fees:
Lets talk about the $1 a month option since that’s the cheapest option:
$1 a month is $12 a year. If you only invest $100/year, that $12 is about a 12% fee per year which is pretty insane. That means if you invest $1200 a year, the fee is 1%, and $2400 is 0.5%, so to make this actually worth it your account should be above $2400, higher the better.

The $3 a month option gets you the Later account, which is a retirement account. I don’t love this as you can just open a free retirement account at other brokerages like Vanguard or Fidelity. But, it could be a good idea if you just want to have all your accounts in one place. You also happen to get the Spend checking account which gives you reimbursed ATM fees.

The $5 a month option gives you investment accounts for kids, which is nice if you have family. I can’t comment too much on this as I don’t have a family, but I could see it being a decent value if you’re actually using the features to teach your kids investing principles.

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My name is Humphrey Yang, I make personal finance videos on YouTube, and TikTok where I have 550k+ followers! Make sure to sub to me on YouTube for two videos a week.

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Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor, any investment commentary are my opinions only. Some of the products and services that appear on this channel are from companies that I have an affiliate relationship with, such as Robinhood, for which I recieve a small percentage made via those links, but it doesn’t cost you anything extra!

[BrendanEvan]

Just started using acorns a year ago and I’m up over 20%!

[revlisnaver]

I totally agree with you. Acorns is perfect for the "set it and forget it" strategy.

Thanks for that break down of each pie. I've always wanted to know what acorns was investing into and couldn't figure it out.

I'm on the $3 dollar a month plan and it works for me. The spend (2$ option) works really well because you can get some cash back on certain places and it's like a mini bank account that I can save. I like acorns because its automated and it does everything for you. I have other brokerages but this ones perfect for growth. Referrals and the spend cash back feature help cut down the monthly fees.

Great vid as always!

[virgin]

I knew nothing about investment but decided to start my acorn account 5 years ago as my piggy bank. It was free for college students for 4 years, not quite sure if they still have this offer. I started with just $20 in my account. Beside the round up I also set the recurring investment at $15 every Friday. I basically just leave the app there and check it maybe once a month. Now I have $6500 in the account, all time performance has up 40%. Pretty happy about it!

[JohnKExp]

I made acorns couple months ago. Currently using e aggressive portfolio with $50/week. It’s at $877 with a 5% return so far.

[philiplieu]

I actually enjoy Acorns for the reason you stated. I use it as a set it, and forget it savings option that has potential to earn. I have it on the Moderately Aggressive option as well.

[adamfarino]

I think Acorns is good as it is just a set it and forget it option, however if you are just using it for the roundup feature, it does not make a whole lot of financial sense. Like Humphrey mentions, the fees will outweigh the potential benefit. If you're not starting with a some start up cash + round up + recurring there are better options.

[imMATTure]

Found you thru tiktok and really dig your content bro! Super useful! Aside from all the dances all these people are doing, i like following people who talk about financial management, ways to make money, and business strategies. Dont immediately disregard tiktok you guys! Lots of good information and funnels to find content like what humphrey talks about.

[ejhatespeople]

This gave me some insight on the Acorns app that a friend recommended to me. Thank you again!

[pollylynn]

Thank you Humphrey us old gals got together and started our Acorn journey with our limited resources this may really help us.

[moorebrothers-financialind]

Haven’t used Acorns but definitely agree that it helps the average person even consider the power of investing in the market!!

[himanshukadu]

You make some really amazing and easy to understand videos. I appreciate that a lot!

[kaifuzzy]

Good explanation. I started an account a year ago and it's way better than any savings account ever could be.

[willst]

Great review! I appreciate the rate of return analysis. Thanks and keep it up!!

[shanehooper]

I have acorns and they also pay dividend on the stocks. If you have dividends getting reinvested it makes $1 not a big deal.

[treppas]

Been using ten x for six months now, it is kind of like a way to force my impulse buys to work for me. so I purposely use linked cards for impulse and I round to even 00 to save $10. It makes my second guess that coffee etc purchase.

[matthewjones]

Any other Millennials in their early 30's feel like fools for not learning about about investing sooner? Thanks for the free education Humphrey Yang *subscribed*

[youngjesus]

I just invested $1000 like a few minutes ago now i am just waiting for it to actually settle into my acorns app. I'm at the moderate aggressive one. I'm 18 with 1200 in my bank, and 2900 in my savings acc minus the 1000 that i just invested. lets see how this goes.

[daddyland]

So which portfolio would you go with than? The moderate one?

[allenb]

I just want to round up my money, then I want all my spare change too be auto transferred to my credit card debt
Will it do that for me?

[XxGLGxXBUNCH]

I already have a Roth IRA that I max out for every year and put 50 a month into my Robinhood account. I’m wondering should I even invited in acorn also