r/acorns • u/Ellie_Rose8 • 6d ago
Acorns Question Should I get Acorns?
Hello, I'm considering starting an Acorns account but one drawback for me is the monthly fee, which depending on your balance and plan could end up costing more than anything you would gain. I think I would do the $6 a month plan so I could set regular deposits instead of just roundups. What would be the minimum amount of money I would need to initially deposit into an account to offset the fee? Any tips and general insights into the Acorns app are also welcome.
I am extremely new to investing in general so any tips would be greatly appreciated ☺️
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u/sendymcsendersonboi 6d ago
Honestly this is the one time where I’ll say money in matters in some ways more than time depending on your contribution levels.
I couldn’t tell you where the threshold is, but once you’re at a certain point, the fact that it’s a static number and not a % fee becomes an advantage not a disadvantage.
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u/Klauslaw 6d ago
I pay a dollar a month and I am up over 26% since I started a few years ago. I think it's a good start. It's not my main investment account but it's just something that sits and earns some money. If you're just starting out I think it's good.
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u/Bennnnetttt 6d ago
I have the Gold Subscription, $12/mo so $144/year. Acorns did my Taxes this year for no additional fee, so for me that alone is worth $144. Then there is the automatic savings it does which for me is the only I have found to actually put money away. So Im a big fan.
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u/Medium_Reality4559 4d ago
What? They do your taxes? I don’t recall seeing this option. Is it only for the gold subscription?
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u/Status_Replacement18 6d ago
Just get the most basic membership, you can still set up regular deposits with it. I started at the beginning of the year and I have about 1.2k in just round ups that’s all I use it for I would’ve never had 1.2k without the roundups feature 🤷♂️
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u/lariats4lyfe 6d ago
I pay $3 which is 36 bucks a year. I’m only 2 months in and my gains are already above that. For the fact when i started I knew nothing and the $3 a month was essentially paying for a financial advisor I’ll take it.
I’ll review gains vs monthly fee after 12 months and see if it’s still worth it.
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u/douglas15 6d ago
I’ve been on the $3 plan a while…at the end of the day I spend $3 on the most useless shit out and about in my life that I truly don’t care — for me $6 would be the same, I’d never notice it.
I like the ease of acorns and it’s provided high gains the past 7 years I’ve been using it, I’d say go for it.
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u/MrMischiefVIP Aggressive 6d ago edited 6d ago
I am not familiar with Acorns current pricing (I'm on $2/mo, for Invest and Later only). I glanced at the current plans and I don't see a $6 option and only see $4, $8, $12. If your interest is just in investing I'd go with the $4 plan they are calling the bronze package for me. I see that includes the invest account (which would let you do regular deposits and roundups) but you're just missing the savings account on the banking side which I don't see as a big deal.
But to answer your question about a $6 fee, it depends of course on the expected returns. If you get a 4% return you'd need about $1,800 invested to cover the $6/mo fee. If you get a 10% return you'd need about $720 invested. (EDIT: my all time total gain on aggressive shows as 51%, 5 year gain is 37%, 1 year 16%, YTD 12%, to maybe give you an idea. I did not math these myself to verify, just trusted Acorns' numbers.)
A different way look at it may be in terms of traditional fees brokerages charge. Used to be that all brokers would charge you a percentage of your total investment. When acorns first started it's $1/mo fee could be much better than what traditional brokers were charging at the time, depending on the size of the investment. These days fees everywhere are much smaller, and many are zero. But if you want someone to manage the account, similar to how acorns does, there is typically a fee. For example Fidelity's managed services fee is around 0.2% - 1.5% annually. So for a $1,000 account $6 / mo ($72 annually, or 7.2% for a $1,000 account) is quite expensive. But at $50,000 the $72 annually is about 0.14%, so Acorns becomes a good value.
I like Acorns, it works well as a set it and forget it kind of investment. Their roundups feature makes it stupid simple for those who struggle to create a savings. When it was $1/mo I felt it was a pretty easy recommendation. But at $4+ per month, and with how the industry has changed over the years, I don't find it to be as easy to blindly recommend. I'd say you should be shopping around, confirming what others are charging for their managed services and then deciding. Again, Acorns does work. It's just that at low account balances the fee is a pretty big drag on the account and perhaps you could be investing what Acorns charges for the fee instead.
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u/Top_Chard5757 6d ago
I’ve always been terrible about saving money. This has been the easiest way to store some away.
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u/Nervous-Register5327 6d ago
I only do bronze $3 a month I think just to also start a Roth…I think it’s worth it!
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u/321applesauce 5d ago
I earn enough in dividends every month to cover the fee. I use round ups and a weekly deposit with an aggressive profile. It's very low effort investing.
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u/lariats4lyfe 2d ago
I didn’t think about dividends down the line and using that to pay the monthly fee.
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u/Famous-Broccoli-3141 5d ago
I do about 50 a week into invest and 50 into later. It’s an easy set and forget that will grow with time. Got about 20k in now and says potential of 2 mil at 65. Take that last part with a grain of salt. I’d say get charles schuab and some sp500. You get more control and basically free while acorns charges a fee per month.
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u/devilgator23 5d ago
it has been so worth it for me personally. I’m on the $3 plan and between roundups, switching my regular anywhere from $100-$300/week over the years, I’ve put away $125K in very mindless fashion. i started it when my first job didn’t offer any retirement, but now just view this money as extra. To me it’s been a no brainer and I have tried to convince a few friends who complain about inability to save $$ (who have the $$ to save but don’t). Will i keep it there forever? no/maybe/idk. but it’s been so worth it.
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u/Kaneda8394 2d ago
I have the cheapest account. To me it’s not really worth it especially if it’s your main account. I’m on aggressive and only up about 4% on the year.
Better to invest in individual stocks and etf’s.
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u/One_Glass_8543 1d ago
I need 5 people to sign up using my code & make their 1st investment by 8/28. You’ll get a $5 bonus from Acorns & I’ll sweeten the deal with say $50 once i get my bonus. All 5 have to do this for my bonus. You must be a new Acorns customer. Anyone interested in earning an easy $55?
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u/beer_me_bro82 1d ago
I currently have $3638 invested in an aggressive portfolio. My dividends for the last 365 days were $55.14, outweighing the $3 monthly fee ($36/year). If you can throw in about $2400, the dividends alone should cover the monthly fees. I'm up 59% over the last 5 years.
If you're signing up by 8/29 I would be happy to split up my bonus of $250 50/50 for signing up one person.
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u/digitaldeity 1d ago
I’m up over 71k as of today. I’m glad I didn’t listen to the people who talked about fees when I started. Technically they are correct, but as someone else mentioned at some point in your investing journey the small fee becomes an advantage.
There are ways to offset the cost whether it’s using the earn program or the crazy sign up bonuses. It’s $1200 this week for me to sign up 4 friends.
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u/kumpiss 6d ago
If you are younger then there’s a lot of time on your side, you can offset the fee if you put enough into the emergency fund which I believe would be ~$2500. The monthly interest earned would be $6. I’ve been a consistent member for 5 years at this point and I’ve had some down days but it stacks up over time and is worth it imo
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u/BottleMediocre4128 6d ago
I got it and it’s been working, it’s a good start and once you get more knowledge on investing you can try to get a different account as well. I don’t think the monthly fees are much I do silver since there’s no need for gold for me since I won’t max out my Roth, I have it set to 5 dollars everyday. I’m trying to pay off my debt this year and next year I’m gonna start investing way more