Acorns- An App That Invests Your Spare Change

Discussion in 'Wealth Creation & Management' started by House, Jun 27, 2015.

  1. redhawk5796

    redhawk5796 Member

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    Lol. I have invested $1900 so far and market return dropped from $90+ to $10, I have $20++ dividends. I didn't invest in one go, but regularly. It seems like their dollar averaging concept is true. My investment is not even half of yours, but my market return is higher. I think Acorn is good for saving, but not exactly good for investment.
     
  2. redhawk5796

    redhawk5796 Member

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    Since you have quite a significant amount of funds, you may want to check this out https://www.clover.com.au/. Their concept is similar to Acorn, but you have access to a financial advisor and the fund belongs to you (same concept as allocated). With Acorn, your money goes into a pooled fund, I actually haven't research on what will happen to my money if the company goes bankrupt.
     
  3. reaver

    reaver Active Member

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    Thanks for the suggestion.

    Something to consider however, the fees on Clover are significantly higher than Acorns.

    Acorns charges $1.25/month or $15/yr for balances under $5,000 and 0.02292%/month or 0.275%/yr for balances above $5,000.
    So in my case at $5,600 my fees are about $1.28/month or roughly $15.36/yr.

    Clover starts at $5.50/month or $66/yr for balances above $2,500 and below $10,000
    So for me that would be $5.50/month or $66/year.
    The next step at $10,000 charges 0.65% per year (not including GST). which would translate to $71.50/yr inc. GST
    (and it only falls to 0.60%/yr for balances $50,000-$100,000)

    A balance of $10,000 in Acorns attracts the same rate as $5,000 0.275%/year which would be $27.50/yr.

    M2CW is that when you outgrow something like Acorns, you would probably jump to direct investment.
    I'm not there yet because I still don't understand the stock market properly (clearly).

    Will report back on how my Acorns portfolio is doing in a couple months.
    I have switched from the most aggressive option to the most conservative option (wasnt sure if we were going to crash and see rate rises).
    At present my loss is about $6 since starting in September last year.
     
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  4. redhawk5796

    redhawk5796 Member

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    Hi Reaver,

    Thank you for the analysis. I agree with you that the fee of Clover is significantly higher than Acorns. However, I saw a post on Reddit that the fee will be waived by Clover if you have an investment more than 5000 if you have a referral code. The post was written in late last year so I am not sure whether it is still valid. If you are interested, perhaps contact them to see if they can waive the fee off for you.

    After reading the two articles below, I feel that the purpose of Acorns is merely for saving, not so much for investing. http://www.news.com.au/finance/busi...y/news-story/4842f112908cf85954e0742070e25764

    https://www.clover.com.au/review/clover-vs-acorns

    Based on my experience, I think you have to adopt their cost averaging concept to make the best out of your money. I started an account with Acorns a year ago with $100 and then $5 weekly plus round-ups. Around September last year, I deposited roughly $5 and sometimes more daily until now. Up until today and on the aggressive portfolio, I have invested ~$2100, reinvested devidend $20.5, market returns ~$71 and found money ~$12.

    If you want to invest $5600 in one go and look to grow your investment, maybe chat with Clover? If they offer you a fee waiver, it may worth switching over? I am also still learning about stocks, so it would be great to listen to the opinions of the other experienced members on this forum.
     
  5. Scottspurs

    Scottspurs Active Member

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    Screenshot_2018-03-26-15-43-05.png I am quite interested but it does concern and annoy me when companies make simple mathmatical and or/grammatical errors on their marketing info.

    Unless I am missing something?
     
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  6. Ronoc

    Ronoc New Member

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    Hey mate,

    Any update on how acorn (raiz) is going for you now.

    I've just set up an account and want to decide which strategy to apply.
     
  7. StewyD32

    StewyD32 Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    I know you asked someone else but im on aggressive and getting 6.69% return and was over 8% until yesterday.
    My wife was on the emerald and was getting 4.45% but has now changed to aggressive.
    I'll continue to keep this long term so will keep my portfolio aggressive.
    Timeframe: 6 months
     
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  8. Ronoc

    Ronoc New Member

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    Ya that's pretty good, I'm going to give it a go. I'll keep posted
     
  9. mmm....shiney!

    mmm....shiney! Administrator Staff Member Silver Stacker

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    Aggressive 10.55% since joining, nearly two years ago I think, 4.67% in the last 12 months, -0.67% last 6 months.
     
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  10. Ronoc

    Ronoc New Member

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    Great, I'm going to go for aggressive and see how it goes.

    Any negative things to say? Hidden charges etc? Or anything else I should know?
     
  11. StewyD32

    StewyD32 Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    To be honest. It is good so far and nothing negative to say.
    It's user friendly and has some good perks and got a good return so far.
    It has no hidden charges.
    It also has some good partnerships with other companies (dan murphys, eBay, emeritus etc) which will invest a certain percentage back to you. I got the same amount reinvested as my profit return.

    Being an aggressive portfolio, just be aware is does fluctuate a bit.
     
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  12. Ronoc

    Ronoc New Member

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    OK, so how does that work.

    The rewards I mean.

    Say if I buy something from eBay or one of the other raiz rewards. Do I need to buy it through the raiz app.
    Or does it automatically recognise the card I have linked to, and used to make the purchase, and then apply the reward to my account?
     
  13. StewyD32

    StewyD32 Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    When you are on the Raiz app, click on the link for eBay etc.
    The app will automatically bring you onto eBay or whoever you selected website and just shop a normal... A few weeks later you get a notification your getting money reinvested into your raiz account from them.
    (They track your pathway from app to website so they know to invest back to you if you purchase.)
     
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  14. spannermonkey

    spannermonkey Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Will you stop fucken spamming my email you idiot
     
  15. SluiceGoose

    SluiceGoose Member

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    fingers crossed this is not a scam as i have just set up my account using RAIZ. I will update my perspective from it as I am a total noob with investments, but think its worth a shot
     
  16. SluiceGoose

    SluiceGoose Member

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    on that note anyone have a promo code available?
     
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  17. SluiceGoose

    SluiceGoose Member

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  18. StewyD32

    StewyD32 Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Here is my code
    https://app.raizinvest.com.au/invite/AY6JKY

    Have to say the app is pretty good and more user friendly since it got updated about 6 months ago.
    Up over 22% since I started on the aggressive option.
     
  19. SluiceGoose

    SluiceGoose Member

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    as i stated i signed up to it today. and went out for brunch before just to test to make sure its all working but tbh didnt seem to be taking out the roundup?
    how do i know its working? does it take a while for the transactions to come out?

    i also opted for the aggressive option
     
  20. StewyD32

    StewyD32 Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Yeah I realised that. Maybe wait a few hours for someone to have a chance to reply.:)
    I'm a few hours behind on the WA coast.

    The roundup won't be taken out straight away. There will be a default option which you can adjust which will build up to a certain amount before it's taken out. I think it's $20 but set mine to $10.
    Go to my settings, spending accounts, top right there should be a settings icon. Click that and you can adjust the threshold to hit before it's taken out of your account and the also the amount it rounds up to
     

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