When Acorns launched in Australia less then 15 months ago, the idea was fresh, very new – to create an app based savings and investment process that required little or no intervention from the user. And for me – it’s worked wonders.
Today, Acorns adds a new feature which gives users access to a wealth of new information to help them better manage their finances – it’s called “My Finances”.
The premise of Acorns is simple – link your bank account into the app, and Acorns will regularly check your bank statement and with your approval rounds up all your expenses and takes those coins and puts them into an investment account.
So if you buy something for $9.95, Acorns will take 5 cents and put it in an investment account which over time could earn you even more money. It’s like a forced savings scheme. Additionally, you can request a mandatory contribution each week. I chose $5.
In 15 months, lets call it 60 weeks, I’ve force saved $300, and my Acorns account sits at $1637.49.
$1,442.11 of that is from that $300 plus all my rounded up expenses and $195.38 is in market returns. Then there have been some dividends along the way too.
Amazing. All this happened and I didn’t lift a finger or think about it.
Today, I can also get a very clear picture of my spending too. You see, Acorns has been looking at everything we spend, and can now tell me month on month if we’re spending more or less on things like Groceries, or Petrol, or just cash.
This function will be amazing for the younger generation who need more than a little helping hand with financial management. Acorns can now give them estimates of cashflow, information about spending over time and all of this will help make better decisions along the way.
The new feature is available now on the Acorns app in both iOS and Android, and is well worth a look – it’s an excellent addition to an already smart app.
