Acorns Review Automated Investing Made Easy?

Note: This Acorns review article has been updated with the latest information as published on the acorns.com website.

No sooner than I finished my Digit review, than I saw an ad for another automated savings app on Facebook that takes a different tack for building up your savings automatically with the help of an app and online financial service.

This one is called Acorns. Let’s check it out. Is Acorn legit? Is Acorns a scam? Read on while I do my Acorns app review.

Acorns Review – Legit, Scam, Worthwhile?

acorns app

Acorns vs Digit

Whereas Digit monitors your bank balance and transfers money its algorithm determines is “extra” into a savings account for you, Acorns rounds up the change on every purchase you make to the next whole dollar amount and automatically saves that money for you. Another version of this type of automatic investing and savings app is Grifin. Grifin does away the clever sounding “round up to the next dollar.” Grifin is a user-controlled automatic app investing. Instead of gathering up a few dollars’ worth of transfers and sending them down into mutual fund land, Grifin take every transaction you make and invests $1 in the stock you just bought something from.

Another difference is where Digit sends your money off to a savings account somewhere, the Acorn app, invests your money in a “personalized investment portfolio.”

Once we know if Acorns is legit, and we don’t have to worry about an Acorns scam, we’ll need to take a look at Acorns investing and see if they are good investing strategies.

Acorns Reviews – Is Acorns Legit and Safe?

To see is Acorns safe, we’ll want to make sure that Acorns is not a scam. The company is backed by some big-name investors, so if it is a scam, some other people got scammed for a lot more money than you ever will. There is also an Acorns app commercial with Ashton Kutcher, and another Acorns ad with The Rock, Dwayne Johnson, so you know they are well-financed enough to pay for them.

According to the website, your money is transferred to an SIPC insured account. (SIPC is the investing and brokerage world’s equivalent of FDIC insured.)

This is all evidence that Acorns is legitimate money app software.

How credit scores work.

Acorns Roth IRA Review

One of the options Acorns offers is called Acorns Later. The later part refers to retirement. As with all of the apps, Acorns recommends an IRA type for you. Depending upon your answers to some questions Acorns will choose a Roth IRA or a Traditional IRA.

The Roth IRA is part of the Acorns Later package, which costs $3 per month. There is a $5 minimum to start an Acorns Roth IRA.

Acorns Traditional IRA Review

Obviously, the Acorns Traditional IRA works the same as the Roth IRA except the IRS will tax any withdrawals you might make, and depending upon how much income you have, you might be eligible to deduct some of your Acorns IRA contributions.

How Acorns App Works

Acorns doesn’t work exactly the way you might think it does based upon the headlines and bold print at Acorns.com.

It’s not that Acorns is a scam, it’s that the actual mechanism it uses to operate doesn’t match up with the concept that is boldly advertised by the company.


This online money service actually has no way to “round up” your purchases unless you use the Acorns debit card or Acorns checking account. Otherwise, that kind of transaction adjustment can only be done by the merchant (like when Safeway asks if you want to round up for cancer research), or by the payment processor themselves.

Instead, the actual mechanism of Acorns is that you link whatever accounts you want to use for your rounding up and investing, and then the Acorns software keeps track of your purchase transactions, what you would have rounded up if they could actually round up your individual transactions. Then, by linking a checking account, Acorns will then make a transfer of that amount at a later time, once all of your round ups total at least $5.00.

So, Acorns really works like this:

  1. You link your Capital One Rewards credit card to the Acorns app.
  2. You buy lunch for $6.37
  3. Acorns calculates the amount that rounding up a purchase as $0.63 (it does not transfer any money at this time)
  4. You keep buying stuff, and Acorns keeps adding the amounts up
  5. When you have at least $5.00 of round up transactions, THEN, Acorns transfers $5 from your linked checking account, no matter where you made the charges originally.

So, if you expect to see each one of your purchases, on several accounts, rounded up to the nearest dollar, that won’t happen. All the money Acorns invests comes from one single checking account, no matter how many accounts you link for spending and keeping track of rounding up purposes.

If you expect to see a few cents transferred out of your checking account every time you make a purchase, that won’t happen either. Mathematically speaking, the greatest possible round up is 99 cents. So, it would take a minimum of six purchases to have any money transferred and invested. Statistically speaking, the average number of transactions before a transfer occurs would probably be around 10.

What you will see is the occasional transfer of $5 from your checking account, a few times every month. The company’s transfers will be listed as ‘Acorns Investment WEB PMTS’ on your statements. There is nothing wrong with this, it just isn’t exactly what you might expect to see based on the Acorn.com marketing copy.

Acorns works as a smartphone app. This makes me nervous security-wise, but with services like Apple Pay, this kind of thing is clearly the future, at least until the first major rip off of people occurs and then the security gets better. The company also says that nothing is stored on your phone, so theoretically, if you lose your phone, there isn’t anything to find. You can manage your Acorns accounts via the Acorns website instead if that seems safer.

Acorn Fees

No Acorns review would be complete without looking at what Acorns costs, and how that fee structure works.

Here is where you want to pay attention with Acorns. The company has done something really great by not having minimum account balances or minimum investments. However, investing your money isn’t free, and Acorn does charge some fees, which they are refreshingly up front about.

Acorns fees used to be based upon your Acorns account balance. Now there are three Acorns subscription fees that you choose from depending on what Acorns features you want to use.

If you use the cheapest Acorns subscription, the Lite plan, you will pay a $1 per month fee. On the one hand, this doesn’t sound like much, but as a percentage, this can be pretty steep, especially when you first start using the product. For example, if your round ups for the first month total $25, then a $1 fee is 4 percent. But don’t forget that’s for one month. Annualized, that same fee is something like 48 percent. (That’s not entirely accurate, especially if your account balance is growing, but the point is the same.)

There is also an Acorns Personal Plan that adds Acorns checking and an Acorns debit card. You can also get Acorns retirement accounts like an Acorns IRA or Roth IRA. There is also “money advice,” if you think you need to read a bunch of blog posts about your finances.

The Family Acorns plan adds investment accounts for kids, plus, “exclusive offers and content,” which isn’t anything you can’t get somewhere else.

Remember, if $1 per month is a high Acorns fee for small account values, $3 per month, or even $5 per month is even worse. Be sure to calculate your total Acorns expenses, including ETF fund expenses before you decide is Acorns worth it.

Where Does Acorns Put My Money?

The most interesting thing about Acorns is where it transfers your money to when it scoops out that $5 at a time from your checking account.

Instead of putting your money in a savings account, like Digit does, Acorns invests your money automatically in a stock-based investment portfolio. We cover Acorns investment portfolios performance in the next article, but it is important to understand what this means from a personal finance standpoint.

A service like Digit puts your money in a savings account with no fees. They also pay no interest. That is how they make money. On small amounts that you plan to spend anytime in the next three to five years, this is much better than investing your funds in an account like Acorns does where the balance will fluctuate and you will need some time for your earnings to out pace your fees, and the market’s volatility.

However, if you consider Acorns to be money you are setting aside for the long-term, like a kid’s college fund, or even for your retirement, then this is a very intriguing idea. Just don’t forget, your balance will fluctuate with the markets. The stock market is NOT where you put your short-term savings.

Withdrawing Money from Acorns Investment Accounts

Once you have money invested, you may want to withdraw some of your Acorn money. Withdrawing money from Acorns happens as an electronic deposit back (ACH) into the same checking account your deposits come from. This can take 5-7 business days for the money to be fully available in your account. This is a function of the banking system, and not Acorns’ delay.

If your personal finances require you to have immediate access to your money at Acorns, you need to get an Acorns debit card so you can make same day ATM withdrawals.

The company says that there are no fees or penalties for any withdrawals at any time. There are no ATM fees with Acorns as long as you use in-network ATMs. There is no limit to the amount you can withdraw at any one time via ACH, but ATM withdrawal limits may be enforced on ATM transactions.

Compare Acorns to Other Finance Apps

Finance Gourmet is constructing an ongoing, frequently updated comparison of Acorns vs Digit vs Stash vs Wealthfront vs Betterment and so on. Feel free to take a look.

Acorns Stole My Money

There are scattered reports where people say Acorns stole my money. In most cases that is people deliberately trying to do something not allowed and freezing of funds until it is sorted out. The second most common are people who do not fully understand market risks and are mad that they lost money on their investments. This usually comes with a connected story about how the user did all the right things and pressed all the right buttons at exactly the right times and Acorns stole my money, anyway.

If you actually feel that Acorns was fraudulent, it isn’t some hidden company over in Malaysia or something. Report it to the U.S. bank regulators.

Blue Acorn Reviews

If you are here looking for a Blue Acorn review, this is actually an article about Acorns the financial investing savings app. BlueAcorn provides PPP loan services for self-employed people looking to get PPP loans from the government. I have never used Blue Acorn and have no comment on whether Blue Acorn is a scam or a useful PPP lender service provider.

About the Author

By Brian NelsonBrian is a former Certified Financial Planner and financial advisor. He writes for the Finance Gourmet and other financial publications. The material provided on this website is for informational use only and is not intended for financial or investment advice. At the time of publication, Mr. Nelson did not own any securities mentioned above, however, that may change at any time without notice. ArcticLlama, LLC, FinanceGourmet.com, and Brian Nelson, assume no liability for any loss or damage resulting from one’s reliance on the material provided. Please also note that such material is not updated regularly and that some of the information may not therefore be current. Consult with your own financial professional when making decisions regarding your financial or investment options.



113 thoughts on “Acorns Review Automated Investing Made Easy?”

  1. I invested as a ordinary person wanted to invest in a start up company gave them 275 dollars for 100 shares and 10 percent bonus on ally my investment ally i got was a page with my name and no investment sent several emails and they keep telling me i didn’t invest. They have a phone number, that directs you to email them. But you never speak to a live person. With the kind of money that is being given you would think they would have live support so these issues can be address the screwed me out of my money which I am still trying to recover.

    Reply
    • I was a victim of WDC Markets investment scam some months ago myself. It was a sad experience for me. However the domain attached to my name helped me get my money back the right way.

      Reply
  2. Honestly, I haven’t had any issues with them. Reading through some of the difficulties people have had, many of them have been system or customer service glitches that have mostly been resolved. The lack of customer service does not surprise me, as that’s how many other online banks are (though I understand Acorns is not exactly a “bank”). On the other hand, many other issues and confusion are also from people not understanding how investments, retirement, and laws regarding either or both work. All in all, learn the basics about the laws regarding investments and retirement and keep it simple (such as fees for withdrawing from retirement fund early, difference between SPIC and FDIC insured and how that works, etc.). Yes, you are not going to get rich overnight–or even in a few years. The best and most stable plan is not the “get rich quick” schemes–but the get rich slowly scheme. The market fluctuates–that’s true– but you do not truly lose money until you withdraw it on a low. You have to ride the market for years and years–not place your bets on buy low and sell high and then freak out when your total drops because the market has dipped a bit. The gains when you keep it in for a while are stable and positive.

    Reply
  3. Pulled ALL my money out TODAY. I had fraudulent activity on my Acorns Spend card, I locked it and transactions made after the lock was still processed. Acorns used a third party for fraud detection called “Shazam’ REALLY! What branding! They were totally rude and unprofessional and treated me like they were doing me a favor and didn’t handle my dispute while having me on the phone.

    I found the acorns customer service number by searching for it on the internet; No contact number on the back of the Acorns Spend card, No Contact number on their website, this in 2019, something is not right with this company. It cost $50 to transfer each ETF share (Roth IRA), what they won’t tell you is, just transfer the money out via the app for $0. When you initiate the withdrawal, it will ask you the reason, I selected the option “Roll Over” I no longer trust them with my $$, especially when I had to search the internet for a number when I could get a HUMAN on the phone, and the reps can be a bit rude by fast talking you and showering you with…”I’m sorry for the confusion” responses.

    Reply
    • Man, I was hoping that Acorns had improved their computer security. It is a great concept that I was enjoying using, but then they drained my checking account one time and of course I end up with multiple NSF fees and bounced checks (no reimbursement). They said that I was the one to initiate the transaction and there was no other possible way. I must have made a mistake typing a transfer in.
      I hadn’t been on that website for over a month, since it was a set-it and forget-it type application. No one in my household has my password. I never even used the app for making transfers, it was just to save a few bucks without having to think about it.
      I ended up pulling my money out that day and closing my account. They were useless.

      Reply
  4. IT IS A SCAM, though, because: they require your mobile banking login information. NO LEGITIMATE COMPANY will ever ask for this. You can provide account numbers and routing numbers, but any entity that has access to your username and password is able to scam you out of everything.

    At least, this is what Santander has officially told me, after my online banking was locked out for suspicious activity, i.e. Acorns.

    Reply
    • ¡Señor Castorcito dientón e inteligente! You’re quite right—no lawful company will ask you for the username and password you use to log into your bank account. Your bank routing number and your account number are OK to give to any company; after all, those two numbers are on any check you write, even though most people don’t write checks anymore. ?

      Reply
      • Banker here… the routing and debit number would only give them access to debit funds from the account. The user ID and password would be required in order for them to track spending and earmark rounded up items.

        All that being said there are too many data breaches to provide this level of information to a 3rd party.

        Reply
      • So, you sign up, buy stuff, they round up,, take the money, invest it, you either make profit or loss, but when you take it out you have to pay taxes on money you already paid taxes on?

        Reply
        • As with all investments you only pay taxes on the gains, which is new income.

          Example:
          You invest $100
          Your investment grows until it’s worth $150
          You sell
          You pay taxes (capital gains) on the $50 gain. The initial $100 investment is known as your basis and you do not pay taxes on that amount

          $150 (sell value) – $100 (basis) = $50 gain
          The gain is what is taxable.

          Based on how frequent the investments would be, I really hope Acorns tracks your basis for you, or that part would end up being a nightmare.

          Reply
    • I agree! This stopped me cold before signing up. No way am I providing that information. This article has been very informative and helpful.

      Reply
  5. Today I pulled all of my money out of Acorns sadly. I really enjoyed everything about this app but started to get a little concerned. First off, they stated their acorns spending card would be out by fall of 2018, then end of 2018… now? No information has been passed to explain the delay or when to expect it. Secondly, I sent them a message with my concerns a week ago and got no reply. This app had a strong start and I am wondering what happened in the year since I joined. Until then, I paused all future transfers and will handle my own money moving forward. Maybe I will go back if they follow through, as of now I’m being cautious.

    Reply
    • I have the acorns Spend card. It came in the mail a few months back. It’s somewhat of an ordeal to deposit money on to the card though, and depositing to Spend through PayPal is not an option like it is with the Core account.

      Reply
  6. I had high hopes for Acorns, but I recently got a $5.10 charge for investing. That’s more than I would make in a year with interest. Since they’re already making money off of investments, and there was no explicit permission for this charge – it’s unethical and very not ok.

    I’ll be putting my money either in savings or in my socks where they belong. I don’t know if anyone else has been charged, but please let me know if I’m missing something here. This seems ridic to me though.

    Reply
    • They don’t actually take money out at the point of purchase, they accumulate the difference, then pull it out of your account when it gets over $5.

      Reply
  7. I have a member of Acorns for just over a year and have had the same problem each time I print the monthly report. The transaction page has no problem with it but they have another page that lists dividends it has no date just dollar amounts. than on another page they have dates and security name and dividend reinvested with a dollar amount but no security price. the items that show up on these pages do not match with what is shown on the transaction page. When I contacted Acorns about this I was told that this is a tax problem and they could help me. WHAT AM I MISSING?

    Reply
  8. Has anyone received a reply from Acorns? I sent several messages and has not received a single response. They are doing the roundup and taking money each month from my bank account but when I check my Acorn page it still says my account is worth zero. I have no way of knowing if they have invested any of my money yet. Am I doing something wrong? or should the investment be visible on my page?
    Thank you for any advice you can offer.

    Reply
    • I’ve had the same problem. I’ve been sending them email asking them to help me close my account and I still haven’t heard from them. There’s no way to contact them my Bank tried to find their number for me to call and the Bank told me there’s something strange because they can’t find a phone number address or anything to get intouched with them. On top of that every time I emailed them they respond by sending me a whole bunch of little videos on how to invest more money. I never asked them how to invest more money, I asked them to help me close my account. And I don’t care what this article claims they never mentioned anything about any fees. To make matters worse some kind of way they got my checking account number and have taken money from my husband’s account which is attached to mine. As far as I’m concerned ACORN is nothing but a crooked scamming company.

      Reply
      • Shortly after reading this I closed my account with acorns. surprisingly I found it simple and easy to close my account (and this was on the app). However, my account balance was low as I had recently gotten the app. Has your issue been solved? Is your opinion about the company still the same?

        Reply
  9. Acorns doesn’t really know what they’re talking about when they say nothing is stored on your phone so your account can’t be compromised if your phone is lost or stolen. Of COURSE your account can be compromised. Your phone is not really THAT secure when it is turned on. Yeah, didn’t know that, did you? While iPhones and Androids do, indeed, encrypt their storage and directories, that ONLY works when the PHONE IS OFF. Short of that, the only thing standing between you and someone (a criminal, a hacker, or government/law enforcement) getting access to your data is the password or PIN you use to unlock the phone. When your phone is ON, guess where all that critical data is stored……..uh huh, in your phone’s memory. Pretty easy to retrieve if you know what you’re doing or were motivated enough. So I wouldn’t listen to what a phone investment app tells you about cyber security. If you use biometrics, PINs, or passwords or anything else that makes a smartphone convenient, that’s all stored ON YOUR PHONE and can be retrieved without your knowledge or consent.

    Secondly, if your employer has a 401k plan, just do that instead of wasting your time putting away $5 at a time. Seriously. Put away 10% of your base and take whatever match your company gives, put it in a Vanguard (or ETF if you’re financially competent) and grow your money that way…tax free. You won’t get a return like that from Acorns. Ever.

    Just saying. I mean, unless you like wasting your time putting away a couple hundred bucks a year and consider that “investing.”

    Reply
    • I’m not sure you understand encryption. While the device is on and locked, it is, in fact, encrypted by the same key as it would be encrypted with while it’s off.

      Reply
  10. How I watched money taken off this app when I lived in frostproof Florida. And I have not seen or been able to figure out who or why. Then at the top of this page it’s saying that it’s an example. So that tells me it’s not mine or its compromised. Do I do have fear of trusting this acorn deal. I’m sorry I will want to do some more checking

    Reply
  11. So my question is if Acorns goes belly up tomorrow what happens to my money?

    Can they just disappear and take it with them or is it safe guarded?

    Reply
    • If they are SIPC insured (which it says they are) and your money is invested, the SIPC puts your money into a like account with another firm like Fidelity or Schwab, etc.

      Reply
      • SIPC protects against the loss of cash and securities – such as stocks and bonds – held by a customer at a financially-troubled SIPC-member brokerage firm. The limit of SIPC protection is $500,000, which includes a $250,000 limit for cash. Most customers of failed brokerage firms are protected when assets are missing from customer accounts. There is no requirement that a customer reside in or be a citizen of the United States. A non-U.S. citizen with an account at a brokerage firm that is a member of SIPC is treated the same as a resident or citizen of the United States with an account at a SIPC member brokerage firm.

        SIPC protection is limited. SIPC only protects the custody function of the broker dealer, which means that SIPC works to restore to customers their securities and cash that are in their accounts when the brokerage firm liquidation begins.

        Reply
  12. I had almost 500,000 in my account with Webster bank. Twice they put that money that didn’t belong to me in my account. Told them the next time they did it I was keeping it lol left that bank real fast!

    Reply
  13. I have been using acorn for 10 months. I have invested 1121.00, made 66.11 in gains and 6.03 in dividends. So far so good!

    Reply
  14. Has anybody had a successful withdrawal from Acorns? I’ve been thinking about joining and have been reading some good reviews on it, but have yet to see any reviews from people having successful withdrawals from their accounts. Thanks

    Reply
    • I withdrew $150.00 with no problem. The money was in my checking account in less than a week. I did it out of curiosity before making any more deposits.

      Reply
    • i haven’t had any problems. I have been investing with acorns for about 2 years. It’s easy to withdraw money. I’ve done it. I haven’t made as much as I would have liked, but I didn’t have a lot invested during the first year. I’m hoping it starts growing faster now that I have over 5k in it.

      Reply
  15. Acorns is a great little investment app when used correctly. Remember there is a monthly fee of $1.25 for investments below $5,000 so make sure your investment is at least above the breakeven point. If we take an average return of investment for index funds lately, it is roughly:

    Conservative: $542.25 Moderately Conservative: $464.41 Moderate: $435.32 Moderately Aggressive: $398.91 Aggressive: $357.57

    These are just averages though, as ROI is ultimately dependent on market performance. I believe it is worth a try as the return has been around 7% so far since I started 6 months ago and I used the Aggressive strategy.
    Happy investing!

    Reply
  16. Not happy they now take 9-10 days try o we withdraw your money-use to take 3-5. They sure deduct it Quick! Thinking about taking all my money out.

    Reply
    • The delay in withdrawal is not from ACORN.
      it is your bank processing that slows the funds showing up in your account.

      Reply
  17. Acorns changed all of their allocations for their different portfolios without informing existing investor (or notifying much of anyone, I had to write them to confirm it)

    For example, the moderately aggressive allocation they decreased bond holdings to 15% total from 26%. They also added in international Large cap 15%. They made similar types of changes across the board. While we might be able to debate the wisdom of the allocation changes, the act of making such large changes without notifying investors of the changes I find unacceptable. I’d run from this outfit…

    Reply
    • Without Notifying Investors? Although they didnt ASK….Acorns did change a part of my investment profileIve….
      Ive had an Acorns account going on 6 months now. Im using it to save little by little over long term. ( 10 years) for my son.
      Anyway I signed up for Moderate Conserve/ Growth. Last month I was NOTIFIED by Acorns of a change in one aspect of my Portfolio….a REBALANCE….From “Emerging Markets” to International Large Company Stocks” . The Emerging markets fund were primarily Chinese Corporations…..The International Companies are companies such as Samsung, Novartis, Nestles, Toyota etc.
      I think Acorns is a great way to Save $$. I look forward to watching how my money has grown. Sure its value fluctuates day to day ….HOWEVER over the 6 months I am up.
      ACORNS is also a neat way to learn a bit about the markets. It also has given me an incentive to SAVE…Knowing Im pretty certain I will make more over time compared to the joke % Traditional Bank Savings accounts offer.

      Reply
  18. I have had nothing but good expierance. I’ve earned 4% interest on my money in the last 5 months. I’ve also earned divendends and “Found money”

    great company and this is the first site Ive ever heard anything bad about them

    Reply
  19. I love ACORN so far. In 3 mo. Ive saved $400 and didn’t even know it was gone from my checking account. They have been up front from every thing that ive seen and dealt with. I would highly recommend ACORN especially if you have a hard time setting money aside. Outta sight, outta mind!

    Reply
    • I just was looking into this site . And I’m one of those hard to save money if i do save I have to hide it on myself to save it then sadly sometimes forget where I put it till I find it way later lol…so this seems like it would be good for me but I’m a low income person so that also seems like would take a long time to get to where I would even make or lose anything hopefully would make but still would take a while. Is this site ok for those who are lower income then most before I set it all up?

      Reply
      • Look up the average annual returns from the stock market and you will note that they are WAY higher than the Bank, Money Markets or Certificates of Deposit! However they are LONG term (20 years or more) investments with strategies you need to know as you get near to retirement. So if you don’t wish to learn how to do this (there are many good books on investing) please find a respected/accredited/licensed Financial Advisor. However, if you can get to $5,000, the fees here are better than most and their minimum deposit is small, which would be good for the lower income investor. If you plan on using this as a short term investment or don’t think you will get to $5,000 the I believe the Bank would be better and most of them have financial advisors for you to talk to. I am going to look up this Acorn thing and see what they have to offer as investments.

        Reply
  20. a year and and a few months using this app, I’m pretty happy with its simplicity and I saw a pretty neat return.

    I tied all of my accounts, even paypal. Started on December 2015, but only started a recurring deposit of $50 weekly on June 2016. I’ve made a total gain of $47.39 on a moderately conservative portfolio – this is after subtracting the monthly dollar fee.

    My balance is almost $1400, so I saw an increase of around 3% or so in my investment in a year. I do have to say, it wasn’t until I had around $500 dollars in the account that the dividends actually started showing good gains (and equally bad loses).

    I’m planning on getting up to $3000 and then just move my money to vanguard or something. For now this thing has been pretty convenient.

    Reply
  21. I’ve used this app for 9-months, invested more than $2400 of my own money, made more than $100 from stock prices rising, $50 in dividends, $50 in “found money” from partnered companies, and $100 from referrals.

    Reply
  22. What happens when your investment account goes negative? At what point would this come out of your bank account? Obvious concern would be overdraft charges.

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • There is really no way for it to go negative. Remember when you “lose money” in an investment we are talking about being down from how much you put in. In the unlikely event that the value of all investments went to zero, you would still be at zero, there is no negative.

      Think of it this way. If you put $100 in Apple stock, and then Apple went bankrupt, you would lose $100, or 100% of your investment. The value of your investment would be zero. You lost all of your money, but you don’t owe any more, or go negative, as you put it. The only way to go negative and have to put in more money is to buy on the margin (where you borrow money) but that isn’t allowed on this platform.

      Reply
      • Their new system takes your monthly fee straight from your debit or credit account. Even if you wanted to just try them out with a $5 freebie from Verizon or other company offering one you now will be losing $2 per month from your bank until you notice it. This is a complete scam

        Reply
  23. Joanne L

    Your comment is awaiting moderation.
    Is there fees and taxes on withdrawals, is it FIFO or is it the other way around where you pay taxes on the back end and do you get a 1099R?

    Reply
  24. Free money is free money.

    Just started using this app and I setup a recurring deposit of $20. I like the round-up feature too. It’s a bit like Save the Change from BofA, but you’re investing it.

    Reply
  25. They have changed quite a bit since this article. They now have an actual website. They also now allow you to deposit any amount you’d like at any time to the account (or withdraw from it) and they also allow you to start with an initial investment of up to $1000.

    Reply
  26. They are not answering the phone.first time i called i was able to leave message when prompted….hrs later…no return call. Have called back many many times…no answer…system prompts me to get a return phone call, but when i hit that # option i get directed back to the “home” recording. Hrs later still no call. Now the reason for my initial call was because i was unable to log in with my password which i knew was correct. So i requested to reset. The e-mail did not have a reset link on it as it said it would. Hmmm..checking you out on BBB and wherever else i need to go. If this is legit then you better step up your customer relations! As for me..too late. You better be contacting me back if you want to withold any credibility and negative word of mouth and or text reviews. Thank you and please do the right thing by me and all present/future investors.

    Reply
  27. I’ll get right to the point. I get an email today saying acorns.com has pulled $50 from a ING account I own. I am like acorn.com?? What is that?? I google it and call them. “This happens sometimes” they tell me “when a customer TYPES IN THE WRONG ACCOUNT NUMBER.” Are you kidding me?? You don’t verify that the person is the legal owner of the account?? “Yes we do, we send two small deposits and the customer verifies the amounts we sent.” Ok, then how did your company pull $50 from my account because I never verified anything. “Well, they actually can withdraw up to $1000 before they’re required to provide verification. I don’t actually agree with this practice but our developers…” Well, have a nice time getting sued acorns.com. You are going to get your butt handed to you. “We can definitely get your money returned” she says “but, unfortunately, it will take 7-10 business days.” Yes, for real, people. Pulled money from my account with no authorization whatsoever and no attempt to verify that their customer was the legal owner.
    PREPARE TO BE SUED. Class action anyone?

    Reply
    • Yes!! Please contact me. They have pulled over 1200 from my account without my concent. My bank replenished the money, and now Acorns is asking for the money back!! I have tons of prof where they took money and I am all about suing. They made my account go in the negative 800 dollars. Stay away from this app!!

      If anyone can help me fight this company, I would appreciate the help!!

      Jenny

      Reply
    • Believe it or not this happens with large companies, even financial institutions. I experienced a debit made from an account the Treasury owns. When I called to ask how that happened, the same response was given. The rep. told me all the initiated had to provide was a valid routing and account number, and since verification took a few days it’s possible a debit can be made to your account without your authorization. I was amazed, especially since I was an agent for the Treasury operating under one of their accounts.

      Reply
    • My credit card has 5 charges on it and I have never even heard of Acorn Investments.
      Never signed up for anything. My credit card statement was forwarded on to the FRAUD division.
      I had to google acorn to find out what the heck it even is.
      QUIT RIPPING PEOPLE OFF

      Reply
      • This is not true as the can and do not take money out from credit cards. All money coming or going have to come from a bank account. Try again!!

        Reply
        • John: Sounds like you know what you are talking about. Thank you. If we utilize Acorn are we able to select the stocks we prefer – or do we have to go by what they use?

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        • John, do you work for Acorns? The very premise of this company is that they round up your credit card purchases which the article cites as waiting until $5 then withdrawing. They even encourage every credit card to be added and took my Chase CREDIT card before any other.

          Reply
  28. Thanks for your review of Acorns….am waiting breathlessly for the follow-up article covering Acorn’s investment portfolio.

    Especially interested in a breakdown of all fees, even the hidden ones included in the ETFs.

    Thanks

    Philip

    Reply
    • Acorns was the worse idea for me, I lost $295dls last year 2015, and $198 the year before, when you think u r investing little by little to get this amounts and to loose it this fast,,, to me it’s a big deal, I don’t trust this company, I don’t really recommend this Acorns to anyone,

      Reply
      • They are investments in the stock market, so they can only do what the market does. This volatility can be made worse by the fact that your investments occur over time and not at static amounts. Theoretically, they would even out over time, but the pain is real when your investment goes down before it gets a chance to go up. Can you tell us which portfolio you were invested in that got those returns?

        Reply
        • Crazy that your investment lost money on the last two years when the market performance was great in 2014 and sideways in 2015 makes you wonder what they are investing the money in.

          Reply
      • Acorns aka Raiz is a scam, I deposited 150$, tried to withdrawal 140$ and my “stocks” were sold for 0$ and my acccount is empty. Don’t be fooled by a free app on the App Store

        Reply
        • Mistake in reading statement. Advice don’t invest money that you need to live, just use round up or small reoccurring amounts. It works in the long run

          Reply

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