Invest your spare change
Starting your investing journey doesn’t have to be complicated. With platforms like Acorns, even spare change from your daily purchases can grow into a substantial investment portfolio. Acorns makes investing easy by automating the process, so you don’t have to worry about picking stocks or managing complex strategies.
Here’s how Acorns works, why it’s a game-changer for beginners, and how features like round-ups and recurring investments helped me grow my portfolio to $10,000—one small step at a time.
What is Acorns and How Does It Work?
Acorns is an investing app designed for simplicity. Instead of overwhelming users with choices, it invests your money into a diversified portfolio of ETFs based on your preferred risk level.
How It Works:
Set Your Risk Profile: Choose between Conservative, Moderate, or Aggressive portfolios, each containing a mix of ETFs tailored to your goals.
Automated Round-Ups: Acorns rounds up every purchase you make to the nearest dollar and invests the spare change.
Recurring Investments: You can schedule regular contributions—daily, weekly, or monthly—to build your portfolio steadily.
📖 Example: If you buy coffee for $3.50, Acorns rounds it up to $4.00 and invests the $0.50 difference into your account. Over time, these small contributions add up significantly.
🔑 Takeaway: Acorns makes it effortless to go from a non-investor to an active investor, even if you start small.
Why Acorns is Powerful for Beginners
1. No Need to Choose Individual Stocks
Acorns eliminates decision paralysis by investing your money in pre-built portfolios of ETFs. These ETFs provide diversification, meaning your money is spread across multiple assets to reduce risk.
📖 Example: An aggressive portfolio may include ETFs focused on large-cap stocks, small-cap stocks, and international equities, offering a balanced exposure to growth opportunities.
2. Investing Through Everyday Purchases
The round-up feature turns your daily spending into a seamless investment strategy. You don’t even have to think about it—every time you buy groceries, gas, or coffee, Acorns automatically puts your spare change to work.
📖 Example: If you spend $25.75 at a restaurant, Acorns rounds it up to $26.00 and invests $0.25. Do this several times a day, and those small amounts can grow quickly.
3. Paired with Recurring Investments
To supercharge your growth, Acorns allows you to schedule recurring deposits. Even adding $5 or $10 per week on top of round-ups can significantly accelerate your portfolio’s growth.
📖 Example: Investing $20 per week along with round-ups can grow into thousands of dollars over a few years. That’s exactly how I reached $10,000 in my account—small, consistent contributions over time.
How Acorns Helped Me Reach $10,000
1. Starting Small
I began with Acorns by linking my debit card and enabling round-ups. At first, it didn’t seem like much—$0.50 here, $0.75 there—but after a few months, I had invested over $100 without even noticing the difference in my spending.
2. Adding Recurring Contributions
Once I got comfortable with the app, I set up a recurring investment of $10 every week. This steady stream of contributions made my balance grow faster while keeping things manageable within my budget.
3. Letting Time Do the Work
The key to growing my account was consistency. With the help of Acorns’ diversified portfolio and automated features, my contributions compounded over time, and eventually, my account hit $10,000.
📖 Key Insight: Small amounts invested regularly can grow into significant wealth with patience and time.
The Benefits of Using Acorns
1. Stress-Free Investing
Acorns takes care of the hard work by automatically investing your money into ETFs, so you don’t need to research stocks or market trends.
2. Built-In Diversification
Every portfolio includes a mix of ETFs, spreading your investments across different sectors and regions to minimize risk.
3. Encourages Good Financial Habits
Acorns helps you invest consistently, turning everyday spending into an opportunity to build wealth.
What to Watch Out For
1. Fees:
Acorns charges a flat monthly fee, starting at $3 for the Personal plan. While reasonable for beginners, fees can eat into returns for smaller balances, so it’s important to scale up your contributions over time.
2. Limited Control:
Acorns chooses your portfolio based on your risk tolerance, so if you want to hand-pick individual stocks or ETFs, this platform may not be for you.
Conclusion: Start Small, Think Big
Acorns is an excellent tool for beginners who want to start investing without the stress of choosing stocks or timing the market. By automating your investments through round-ups and recurring contributions, you can grow your wealth steadily over time—just like I did on my journey to $10,000.
Start today: Link your debit or credit card, enable round-ups, and set up a small recurring investment. With time, patience, and consistency, even spare change can turn into serious wealth.
