App of the Week : Acorns Invests Your Spare Change

Want to get in the stock market? Have you thought about investing but wondered where to get the money?. Who said you needed a lot of money to invest in the stock market?

Acorns, the App of the Week, will help you to begin investing by starting small, very small. The Acorns app is connected to your debit or credit card. Each purchase you make with the card is rounded up to the nearest dollar and that small amount is invested for you. The concept works similar to checking accounts that save money for you the same way. You can set up the app and be investing in just a few minutes.

To use the app you simply sign up with your bank’s username and password. The user is asked to provide basic information about themselves, including their social security number, income, net worth, and investment goals. Once Acorns has this information the service can recommend the right portfolio for you. Rather than offering an array of investment options. Acorns only offers users so-called exchange traded funds.

Some of the really great perks of the account is that you don’t have to be a Wall Street wizard to invest.  Your money is never locked away and you can pull it out whenever you want. You can set it up for investing small change or you can make regular deposits or deposit at will. There are no fees charged and you can set up the account and forget it. Those nice people at Acorn have selected a small group of funds that range from conservative to high risk and you choose where to put you money.

Saving money is not easy. But if you want to save money and invest it this is the app for you. Acorn is available on Apple and Android.