Acorns- An App That Invests Your Spare Change

  • Thread starter Thread starter House
  • Start date Start date
Nope.

But this sends the wrong message for me. It's like saying "It's ok to be stupid and ill-disciplined, we'll take care of everything....you just focus on being a good little consumer and having fun. Don't worry about what's behind the curtain...."

Ok, so you can flame me now if you feel the need.

I'm sure that if it sells and works people will say it's better than nothing, but it just feels like ignorance is becoming an acceptable way of llfe - even encouraged - in todays world. That sure as hell 'aint the answer!
 
FWIW - Now that you mention it, I do remember in very early primary school when I had a little bank book. I think there was weekly banking through the school. So, yeh, I guess I *was* taught saving at an early age, but I didn't really embrace it until much later in life. The seed was there though!

Edit : I also had a little plastic piggy bank (gift from grandparents?) that I would fill up too.....
 
Stupid and ill-disciplined to have an app round up your pocket change and invest it?!! Okey dokey.

Find me one person that would take 10 cents here and there from daily transactions, save it and then put it into stocks... It's simply the spare change jar for the 21st century.
 
Perhaps....

....but, how many people really use electronic payment for a $2.40 coffee (serious question)

If we are inevitably going "cashless" and using electronic payments for everything then there really is NO "spare change"

I don't know about other households, but a lot of our stuff is cashless and automated. Pay comes into personal accounts fortnightly, $x gets auto-transferred fortnightly to combined bills, $y gets auto-transferred fortnightly to combined savings. Bills are configured to automatically come out of the combined bills account. Groceries and ad-hocs come out of bills account budget via card. Whatever is left in the personal account is for regular individual consumption (indulgences). No cash really required, no spare change management required.

Even so, I do use cash for my individual stuff wherever possible (old habits die hard) and, yes, I still have an old school change jar. But I dig into that for coffees and newspapers when I'm going for a walk up to the shops. No self-imposed GST is required for savings in my past or future.
 
House said:
Find me one person that would take 10 cents here and there from daily transactions, save it and then put it into stocks... It's simply the spare change jar for the 21st century.
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It's all marketing BS

If they advertised 'give us $100 per month and we'll invest it in stocks for you', people would think it's boring and they can't afford $100 per month.

But call it 'rounding up' and 'invest the change' and it sounds funky and new age and people think they won't miss a few cents here and there,
even though the reality is exactly the same as the first version.


I guess if you just want to invest a small amount in a stock index then it's an easy way to do it with minimal fees
 
scrooged said:
BuggedOut said:
Perhaps....

....but, how many people really use electronic payment for a $2.40 coffee (serious question)
.
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I could save $365+ pa if I could find a $2.40 coffee.
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Or waste $876 pa. Have you ever tasted a $2.40 coffee.
 
Well I for one am giving this a go. And it's not because I'm too stupid or ill-disciplined to save properly, I already do that anyway, this is just another way for me to invest my money.
 
Now what happens when the cup of coffee is $3.25...Old way, open your change pocket in wallet , get the .25cents and hand it over with your $5 note and get $2 change...New way you pay $4 for you coffee so the price of your coffee has increase nearly 20%..


Now when you get home you put the $2 coin in your future silver fund jar. :)


I will never let anyone have any of my fiat to invest in fiat. :)

Regards Errol 43

*I just play the monopoly game with fiat. If you get fined $29 do you say to the banker, keep the change when tendering $30? :)
 
errol43 said:
Now what happens when the cup of coffee is $3.25...Old way, open your change pocket in wallet , get the .25cents and hand it over with your $5 note and get $2 change...New way you pay $4 for you coffee so the price of your coffee has increase nearly 20%..


Now when you get home you put the $2 coin in your future silver fund jar. :)


I will never let anyone have any of my fiat to invest in fiat. :)

Regards Errol 43

*I just play the monopoly game with fiat. If you get fined $29 do you say to the banker, keep the change when tendering $30? :)
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I think I follow what you mean. :/

Old way: coffee is $3.25, you pay $5.25 for the coffee and put the $2 into your piggy bank, the coffee has not cost you $5.25 as you have saved the $2 coin, but you are out-of-pocket $5.25. The money in your piggy bank accrues no interest nor any dividend, but at the same time it costs you nothing to hold in fees and charges except opportunity costs.

New way: coffee is $3.25, you pay $3.25 for the coffee and another 0.75c is debited from your funding account into your Acorns account. The coffee has not cost you any more than before, you have saved the 0.75c (at any time you can transfer another $1.25 into your Acorns account to match the $2 under the old way), but you are out-of-pocket $4. The money in your Acorns account accrues interest (dividends), but at the same time it costs you fees to hold, these fees of course are tax deductible against any capital gain once you realise your capital.

Best way: use a piggy bank for all of the change from your cash transactions, use Acorns for all of the "change" from your electronic transactions.
 
@ego2spare, looks like we'll get $2.50 each. I haven't seen it yet but the offer ends on the 31st of this month so we probably won't see it in our accounts until next month.
 
mmm....shiney! said:
@ego2spare, looks like we'll get $2.50 each. I haven't seen it yet but the offer ends on the 31st of this month so we probably won't see it in our accounts until next month.
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Accounts?! Is it actually running now?

I was under 100th in line and haven't been notified :/
 
col0016 said:
Accounts?! Is it actually running now?

I was under 100th in line and haven't been notified :/
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Yeah mate it's been a go for a while. Just download the App and go from there.
 
Question for you all:

I have $1000 per month I could invest without feeling it. Would this or a general market tracking thing be better?

If I'm expecting a GFC2 would it be better to hold off and by at a discount?
 
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