Acorns summary
Pros
- Smart Deposit divides your paycheck into accounts of your choice
- Automatically invest Spending round-ups from your debit card
- Invest in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) portfolios
Cons
- Doesn’t offer a full range of financial products
- Can’t open a joint account
Editorial score
Fees?
Yes, low fees
Security
FDIC insured, SSL/AES encription and supports 2 factor and biometric authentication
Customer service
Early morning, evening and weekend service with multiple communication options and a dedicated fraud team
Online experience
Excellent user friendly site with transparency of rates and full online banking capabilities
Mobile experience
Excellent mobile app with all mobile banking features enabled, including digital check deposits
Advantages Over Traditional Banks
Acorns makes it easy and affordable to start investing, unlike some traditional services. You can open your investment account with just $1/month. You can also invest your small-change round-ups, either from your Spend checking account or by connecting other external accounts. Acorns has also recently introduced a special suite of sustainable ESG portfolios to meet the needs of modern investors.
Cutting-Edge Banking Services
Acorns lets you manage a range of accounts (investment, checking, retirement, and junior investment) from one platform. It’s therefore easy to transfer your money between your accounts. The Smart Deposit feature makes this even simpler as it will automatically divide up your paycheck between spending and investing accounts. What’s more, spending through your Acorns checking account can not only roll your spare change into your investment account but can also earn you bonus investments when you shop through selected retailers (over 12,000 of them) with Acorns Earn.
Traditional Banking Services
Acorns shares some features with traditional banks. Using your Acorns debit card, you can withdraw money from over 55,000 Allpoint ATMs. You can use your checking account to deposit and spend your paycheck. And if you’re looking to invest, Acorns offers a wide range of funds and strategies, just as more established services do. You’ll also be able to set up an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) to save for the future.
Interest Rates and Fees
There are three pricing levels with access to different Acorns accounts:
| Package | Price | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Lite | $1/month | Invest (investment account) |
| Personal | $3/month | Invest, Spend (checking), Later (retirement) |
| Family | $5/month | Invest, Spend, Later, Early (junior investment) |
Customer Service
Acorns has a comprehensive FAQ list in its online help center. You can also email or call for further support, available 5-7 pm PST, seven days a week. Further support is available from Acorns’ educational resources, with a rich ‘Money Basics’ website section and Grow Magazine, a personal finance blog.
Mobile App
You can download the Acorns app for iOS and Android. The Acorns app has a great user interface, allowing you to Invest, Spend and Save as a beginner to the world of investing. The Acorns app offers financial literary content to help you invest smarter. You can watch your account’s performance from the mobile app and receive alerts. Acorns allows you to use all digital banking features from their mobile app, including mobile check deposits.
Security
The Acorns website and app are protected with AES 256-bit encryption for added security, and multi-factor authentication is needed to log into your account. Any unusual activity on your account will trigger an alert so you can act quickly. Furthermore, the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) protects up to $500,000 of your money, should anything happen to Acorns.
Summary
Acorns is a great, low-cost way to start investing. And with new ESG options, it’s even a more ethical choice. But Acorns does much more than investments, offering the ability to manage your checking account on the go, earn money by shopping through partnered retailers, auto-invest part of your paycheck, open an IRA, and invest for your children’s futures. Although some traditional banking services, like a joint account, are currently missing, there’s a lot you can achieve with Acorns when it comes to building your finances.
Methodology
Information for this review was gathered directly from the Acorns website.
Catherine Miller is a lead member of personal finance and pension innovator Maji, where’s she’s responsible for content creation and running Maji’s personal finance masterclass, among others. She is also a freelance writer in the fields of finance and education, and holds degrees in English and education.
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