Here’s A Great Way Having Extra Change Can Make You Money

Forget the penny jar or the spare change dish taking up space on your kitchen counter. Even that sagging bag of coins you keep meaning to haul to the coin machine at the local grocery store can be replaced. There’s a new and better way to make your loose change count for something: the Acorns app.

No, it’s not complicated, time-consuming, or designed to lure you into some get-rich-quick scheme. Basically, it allows you to take your leftover change from everyday purchases, whether shopping online or using a card in a store, and invest it in your future.

Millions of people have already used the app to invest their spare change in a money-making portfolio — all without shelling out any additional money.

How It Works

Acorns offers you an investing service that’s also a savings tool. When you make a purchase, Acorns automatically rounds the price up to the nearest dollar and invests the excess into a diversified investment portfolio.

Say you buy your favorite cappuccino for $3.25. Acorns will round the amount to $4.00 and invest the 75-cent difference for you, all before you savor your first sip. Saving 75 cents or less on any given day may not seem like a lot of cash, but keep in mind that $2.50 worth of daily total round-ups from various purchases adds up to $900 annually in savings. And that doesn’t even take into account any additional gains you could make on your market investments.

Acorns offers two account types, and neither one costs more than five dollars per month. Plus you won’t need to spend an inordinate amount of time to get things going:  Signing up for Acorns takes less than five minutes.

Which Acorns Portfolio Falls In Line With Your Goals?

When signing up for Acorns, you’ll have a choice of five different automated portfolios in which to invest. The app will recommend which portfolio best suits your needs based on your individual financial goals and risk tolerance.

Acorns’ investment accounts, put together with input from Nobel Prize-winning economist Harry Markowitz, are designed to automatically rebalance as the market changes. What does that mean for you? If the New York Stock Exchange takes a plunge, there’s no need for handwringing or fearing that money is slipping through your fingers. All you need do is keep using your credit card as usual, and know that your spare change is sparing you the difficulty of finding a good investment opportunity. Another bonus? You’ll never need to worry about trading fees, because there aren’t any.

More Acorns Benefits

Additionally, you can augment your portfolio investments by setting up recurring deposits and investing any amount you want every month. Other ways in which you can boost your investment portfolio:

• When you use the app or add the extension to your Google Chrome browser, you’ll unlock bonus offers from popular brands like Home Depot, Walmart, and more. With each purchase you’ll receive money back that’s automatically invested in your Acorns account.
• Acorns’ Round Up Multipliers increase the amount of “change” you invest on every purchase. Say you choose a 2X multiplier and purchase your latte for $3.25, the 75 cents Acorns would usually invest will become $1.50. You can opt out or choose a new multiplier at any time.
• Add your spare change to an IRA instead of a regular investment account with Acorns’ Later.

With Acorns, investing is made surprisingly simple and easy. It’s proof positive that change is good.