With the rising economic uncertainties across the world, both men and women from different walks of life become intentional with their financial goals and plans. The day-to-day family, personal, and business expenses can have a significant toll on your pocket. More than ever, it has become fundamentally important that we start being mindful and develop a healthy money-saving culture.
As a beginner, the investment journey can seem daunting. However, with Stash and Acorns’ automated investment option, you can directly save and invest that spare change from your grocery shopping, gas purchase, and many others into an investment account for future use. Stash and Acorns are mobile-based applications that enable you to invest small amounts of money in different investment portfolios regularly. For as little as $1 routinely invested, you can slowly build a good retirement nest for yourself and your family.
Similarities between Stash and Acorns Investment Options.
- Both are mobile-based applications meaning all you need is to download the app on your mobile. Link the app with your bank account upon which the money is deposited into and lastly connecting the app with your credit cards to allow you to select your investment plan. Only accessible for IOS and Android phones.
- Both accounts require that you fill up an initial questionnaire that will capture vital information such as your age, period of investing, risk appetite, your investment goals, and preferences, among many others. Such information enables Stash Invest to tailor your portfolio and offer informed recommendations on what to invest in.
- Both investment apps allow you to save and invest small amounts of money depending on your budget and what you can spare. The deposited amount acts as an investment fund in exchange-traded funds (ETFs), stocks, or bonds upon management advisory.
- The investment apps not only save your money but also offer well-informed recommendations on different investment portfolios depending on your need. Spreading your investment meet portfolio protects you from uncertain market changes.
- Both options allow you to change your regular initial deposits as there are no minimum or maximum allowed set of deposits. Depending on your financial goal, you can opt to invest $2, $10, $100, or even $200.
- Both Stash and Acorns investment accounts charge annual subscription fees to use the mobile app. The fees charged are predominantly dependent on your account balance, financial plan, among many other factors.
- Both Apps are accessible via the web as you are not restricted to smartphone use only. All you need is to download the app on your computer, access your account and make your regular deposits.
- Both accounts do not have a specified minimum amount to be deposited when opening the respective Stash Invest account for the first time.
- Any purchase made from a debit or credit card is rounded up to the nearest dollar in both accounts. The spare change, usually cents, is deposited into your Stash Invest account.
Differences between Stash and Acorns Investment Option
While both apps may seem to be quite similar, it is essential to be careful when deciding the option to go with, as they both have distinctive features that might prove to be important in attaining your investment goal.
- The Stash Investment option does not directly make an investment decision for you. What it does is offer your recommendations on suitable investment options that will be right for you, taking into account your risk appetite, account balance, or overall stated investment goal. The approach allows you informed personal decision on what investment option you want. Contrary to Stash, the Acorns investment option directly invests in you after having analyzed all the available options and only invests in those that are suitable
- The available investment options vary in both Acorns and Stash. The Acorns options offer limited investment options in Six Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), contrary to Stash, which offers 30+ Exchange Trades Funds and stock options from Amazon, Apple among many other big companies. You can read a further in-depth stash review here.
- Depending on your account balance, the annual fees charged on both the Stash and Acorns investment option varies. In contrast, Stash offers free service solely for the first-month subscription. Acorns offers free service for students and persons under the age of 24. For account balance under $1million, Acorns charges $1 per month while Stash charges the same fee for account balances under $5,000. For balances over $1million, Acorns charges 0.25% while Stash charges the same amount for balances above $5,000.