I am sure we’ve all heard our parents say “money doesn’t grow on trees,” and isn’t that a sad truth. That’s why you need to work hard and save money! You might remember one of my previous articles, “Every Penny Adds Up: Save Your Credit Card Change,” where I talked about a new and convenient way of saving money on the Acorns app.
I’ve been using Acorns for three full months and wanted to share with you my results. Thus far, from January to present, I’ve saved $737.02! I’ve earned $25 in referrals, $300 from monthly deposits, and the remainder is the change from my credit card transactions.
If one of your New Year resolutions was to start saving money, and you still haven’t saved a penny, it’s never too late to get started! A really easy way to get back on track is using Acorns. I downloaded this app the first week of the year and started saving instantly with the round-ups feature. All you do is link your credit card(s) to your Acorns account and every purchase made on your card(s) will be rounded up to the nearest dollar; this money gets deposited into your Acorns account from your checking account. It’s a really convenient way to start saving up those pennies. Trust me -they add up quickly!
TIPS
Based on my experience, I will share some tips and tricks to help you grow your savings at a faster rate. I hope these work for you too!
- Earn $5 for every time you refer this app to a friend and they open their Acorns account (you and that person will each get $5 deposited to your respective accounts).
- Earn a bonus when 5 of your referrals open an Acorns account and start investing before the end of April (Acorns investors will split a $100,000 pot!).
- Earn money on your money (yes, that is correct!). Acorns invests every $5 you accumulate from your round-ups into a protfolio of stocks and bonds which in return can earn you more money for the money you are already saving! Note: your money’s growth rate will depend on what type of investment portfolio you chose (mine is “moderate”), and how much money you continue to add into your account. (But heyyy… at least your savings will be earning more than .01% for every dollar saved unlike my personal bank account)!
- The Round-Ups feature can be incremented from 1X to 2X, 3X up to 10X the amount from your transaction’s round-up (I personally have upped mine to 2X –but start out with 1X just to understand how this feature works).
- Set up monthly deposits, even if you start with $5 a month, it all adds up! I decided I could afford $100 monthly deposits; my brother decided he would deposit $10 into his Acorns each time he didn’t spend money on his lunch. How much you despot is totally up to you!
Just so that you know. . .there is a $1 monthly fee for all accounts with a balance under $5,000 and .25% of the balance per year on accounts over $5,000.
Another cool feature is their “Found Money” where you can make purchases with some of your favorite vendors and suppliers, and have a percentage of your purchase deposited back into your account (this is deposited between 90 to 120 days after the purchase date). For instance, I recently made a $54 purchase from “Forever 21” through Acorns and 4% of my purchase will be deposited back into my Acorns! Some other vendors deposit a specific dollar amount into your account, it just depends on what each store offers.
No more excuses allowed, download Acorns on your phone. The app is secure –my brothers, some friends and colleagues, and I already started. Don’t wait any longer and get your own Acorns account!
By all means, I am not saying that I am a professional financial advisor; I am just sharing my experience from using Acorns as a savings and investment tool.
~Steph
P.S. Earn your first $5 when you download Acorns. Click on any of the hyperlinks in this post from your phone.
