How To Automate Your Investments With Acorns

There are multiple ways to invest your money: manually, or automatically etc. If you’re anything like the average American, you probably don’t have a lot of cash lying around to invest in the stock market or other long-term investments.

 

Launched in 2012, micro-investing app Acorns is a favorite of the millennial generation, and for good reason. The Acorns’ app allows users to invest their spare change into low-cost pre-build diversified portfolios suited to the users’ risk tolerance and goals, based on how they answer a handful of questions. 

 

How does Acorns work?

 

 

Automatic Round-Ups

Acorns prides itself on helping its users build wealth by investing their spare change through automatic round-ups.

 

The app rounds up purchases on users linked credit and debit cards to the nearest dollar. For example, if you buy $3.50 coffee with your card, it will be rounded up to $4.00. The 50 cents is then invested in an exchange-traded-funds (ETF) of your choosing. 

 

Steps to turn on Automatic Round-Ups

For Mobile:

1. Log in to your account
2. Tap “Invest for your future”
3. Tap “Round-Ups Settings”
4. Toggle “Set to automatic” 
5. Tap “Save”

For Web:

1. Log in to your account
2. Click on “Invest for your future”
3. Click on “Round-Ups Settings”
4. Toggle “Set to automatic” 
5. Click “Confirm”

 

Future Round-Ups will now be invested automatically once your Round-Ups reach at least $5.

 

Automatic Recurring Investments

The automatic Recurring Investments feature of Acorns allows its users to invest automatically for as little as $5 per day, week, or month tapping into the power of Dollar-Cost Averaging.  

While dollar-cost averaging does not guarantee profit and does not protect against loss in declining markets, it involves continuous investing regardless of fluctuating prices which can help build consistent investing habits. It can also reduce temptations to spend money on unnecessary purchases.

Users can also make a one-time investment to boost their account value. So if you have spare change from cash purchases, instead of putting them in a jar, invest it where you can potentially earn more.

 

Steps to set up Recurring Investments

For Mobile:

1. Log in to your account
2. Tap “Invest for your future”
3. Tap “Recurring”
4. Enter the desired amount, frequency, and date settings you would like to invest
5. Tap “Save”

For Web:

1. Log in to your account
2. Click on  “Invest for your future”
3. Click on “Recurring Investment”
4. Enter the desired amount, frequency, and date settings you would like to invest
5. Click on “Update”

The new recurring investment set up will take effect on the day it’s created. For weekly investments, it will take effect on the same day of the week or the same day of the month for monthly investment.

 

Acorns is a great investment tool for beginners. The app makes it simple to invest and save money, to help you grow your wealth further.  While saving isn’t always easy, it’s important to remember that small things add up. By making small financial decisions each day, you can ensure a bright financial future for yourself and your family! 

 

If you’re looking for a new way to invest your money, sign up for an account with Acorns today!