Is it safe to invest in Acorns?

No robo-advisor offers completely safe investments. But, Acorns is a real broker. The SIPC protects investments. It covers them for up to $500,000. Your investments in an Acorns account can go up and down. But, Acorns invests your money in top-notch exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

What are the disadvantages of Acorns?

Acorns is just a robo-advisor. You can't buy whatever stocks and ETFs you want, as in a standard brokerage account. The platform also has a flat fee structure. The fees can be higher than its peers, especially for lower-balance accounts. It charges a flat monthly fee as opposed to a percentage of invested assets.

Acorns Review: A Modern App That Helps You Invest More, Faster

Acorns might be for you if: You're interested in easy, automated investing. Acorns is a robo-advisor that invests users' spare change. The platform has over 8 million members. It offers an easy app and simple pricing. If you're looking to simplify your investing, our Acorns review will help you decide if it's right for you.

Ratings Methodology

Acorns

Open Account

Our Rating:

Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars.

4.5/5

Bottom Line

Acorns is a top-tier robo-advisor ideal for hands-off investing. The bigger your account balance, the more competitive you'll find Acorns' fees. You may want to open an account for the simple fee structure or the variety of account options, including custodial accounts for kids. Join Acorns to quickly open a diversified portfolio that manages itself.

Fees:

$3-$12 monthly

Account Minimum:

$0

Open Account for Acorns

On Acorns' Secure Website.

Alternatives to Consider

We recommend comparing brokerage options to ensure the account you're selecting is the best fit for you. To make your search easier, here's a short list of our best trading platforms of 2024.

Account	Fees	Account Minimum
Featured Offer Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars. 4.5/5 Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor.	$0 for stocks, ETFs, and options; $5 monthly for Robinhood Gold	$0	Open Account for Robinhood
Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars. 4.5/5 Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor.	$0 for stocks, $0 for options contracts	$0	Open Account for SoFi Active Investing
Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars. 4.5/5 Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor.	Commission-free; other fees apply	$0	Open Account for E*TRADE

Full Acorns review

Acorns is ideal for hands-off investors with big or growing balances. The flat monthly fee means you'll spend less relative to competitors when your balance goes up. Later Match makes Acorns even more compelling for big IRA contributors. By maxing your IRA, you can recoup the cost of your Acorns subscription and then some.

Our brokerage rating methodology

At The Motley Fool Ascent, brokerages are rated on a scale of one to five stars. We primarily focus on fees, available assets, and user experience; however, we also take into account features like research, education, tax-loss harvesting, and customer service. Our highest-rated brokerages generally include low fees, a diverse range of assets and account types, and useful platform features.

See our full methodology here: Ratings Methodology

My investing experience

My favorite brokers are those that make investing in stocks and ETFs easy and affordable. I've been investing for four years, and I plan on holding my investments for decades. Robinhood is my go-to platform. Top perks include IRA match and a no-frills interface. I don't day trade or dabble in mutual funds, but I do invest in Bitcoin; it's a must-have option.

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Rare perk: IRA match

Acorns will match your IRA contributions through a program called Later Match. It's like how companies offer 401(k) matches. Personal Plus subscribers get a 1% match to contributions they make to Acorns IRAs. Acorns Premium subscribers get a 3% match. Eligible customers can contribute to their Later account for a Match in three ways:

Recurring contributions
One-time contributions
Contributions made when you split your paycheck and a portion goes to your Later account

If you subscribe to Premium and contribute $7,000 to your Acorns IRA in 2024, you would earn $210 in matching. This would cover your membership fee and then some -- a big perk, and a rare one.

Investment offerings

Acorns offers five Acorns Core portfolios. It also offers four Acorns ESG Portfolios and one Bitcoin ETF. You can pick the one you prefer, and if you're a Premium user, you can add individual stocks to your portfolio. Acorns offers individual (taxable) investment accounts, as well as traditional and Roth IRAs, SEP IRAs, and UGMA/UTMA accounts for minors.

Investments

ETFs

Brokerage accounts

IRA
Roth IRA
SEP IRA
Traditional brokerage
UGMA/UTMA accounts for minors

TIP

Other financial services

Acorns also offers a checking account with a debit card to U.S. customers.

TIP

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Commissions and fees

Acorns charges clear subscription fees, not transaction fees. This breaks from the typical robo-advisory model. It's cheaper for large accounts to use the platform because fees remain flat, no matter how much money you add. But smaller accounts will pay more than typical expense ratios, which range from 0.03% to 0.18% per year.

Account type	Cost
Acorns Personal subscription fee	$3 monthly
Acorns Personal Plus subscription fee	$6 monthly
Acorns Premium subscription fee	$12 monthly

Data source: Acorns.

Acorns Promotions

Acorns sometimes offers promotions that could save you money. Click below to go to our dedicated page covering current Acorns promotions:

Acorns Promotions

Research and education

Acorns offers over 100 educational articles. They cover common financial topics, like investing and retirement. These are short, two-to-three minute reads well-suited for beginner investors. You can find these under the "Learn" tab on the Acorns website. They're easy, informative reads.

For more educational content, you need to be a higher-paying Acorns member. Personal Plus subscribers can access live Q&A with investing experts. Premium subscribers get education courses and GoHenry, a debit card platform. The design helps parents teach kids how to spend.

Acorns offers little stock research. This is compared to full-service brokers like E*TRADE and even discount brokers like Robinhood. This makes sense. Acorns only offers ETFs. The full-service robo-advisor is expected to handle the details.

Beginners might be satisfied with Acorns' educational content. Advanced users should look elsewhere for deep-dives into stock analyses or earnings reports.

Interface

Acorns is an app-based investment platform. It has a user-friendly app with high ratings. On the App and Google Play stores, the Acorns app has 4.7 and 4.6 out of 5-star ratings. That's top-tier.

Recent reviews indicate that customers like how the app works as advertised. Some customers wish you could direct Round-Ups to your savings instead of your investing account. Others are disappointed that Round-Ups round up to the next dollar on exact dollar amounts.

On the app, you can access all your Acorns accounts in one place, including checking and brokerage accounts. Premium users can access their GoHenry accounts from the app. You can also read and watch education content directly from the app's Learn tab.

Acorns has no desktop platform.

Customer service

Acorns has middling customer service reviews. Its 2.4 / 5 rating on Trustpilot is better than Fidelity, but worse than SoFi. Critical reviews say that people struggle to withdraw money from Acorns. They also struggle to earn their referral bonuses. Acorns is online-only; there are no physical branches.

You can contact Acorns customer service via:

Phone lines, which are open during 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. PT, seven days a week
24/7 online chat in the Acorns app
Email via the Acorns website

Security

Acorns is very secure. It's a member of the SIPC, meaning your investments are insured for up to $500,000 in the event Acorns goes bankrupt. Your data is encrypted, and you can set up multi-factor authentication to further secure your account from thieves. These are standard features for regulated brokers. This includes big ones like Fidelity.

About

Acorns started as a way for users to invest their spare change. It works by rounding up purchases made with credit and debit cards to the nearest dollar. Then, it invests those small amounts. It still does this, but Acorns has evolved quite a bit since its early days. It's now a full-featured robo-advisor. It lets you put your investments, including retirement accounts, on auto-pilot.

Learn more about Acorns

Keep reading about Acorns on these pages:

Review sources

FAQs

No robo-advisor offers completely safe investments. But, Acorns is a real broker. The SIPC protects investments. It covers them for up to $500,000. Your investments in an Acorns account can go up and down. But, Acorns invests your money in top-notch exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Acorns is just a robo-advisor. You can't buy whatever stocks and ETFs you want, as in a standard brokerage account. The platform also has a flat fee structure. The fees can be higher than its peers, especially for lower-balance accounts. It charges a flat monthly fee as opposed to a percentage of invested assets.

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