A month ago I volunteered to be a guinea pig and try Acorns:
After using it for a month, I thought I would report back on what it's been like so far.
First, I don't have the mobile app. I just do everything from the account on my computer. I haven't checked it all that much, so the app seems unnecessary. Oddly enough, the $1/month fee hasn't been charged yet - and I'm not sure if that's because I'm a day or two early or if it's because I didn't download the app. Stay tuned on that.
I have linked my primary bank account, and the three credit cards I use most to the account. Acorns rounds up every purchase I make to the next $1. As soon as the total reaches $5 or more, it automatically drafts that amount from my bank account and invests it according to a portfolio I chose.
I have a Wells Fargo checking account, and to make it free I have a linked savings account. Every time I pay a bill through WF, $1 is automatically sent to my savings account. I've tried to get them to deactivate it, but no such luck. Interestingly, Acorns counts the automatic $1 drafts to my savings account as a purchase. And since the amount is technically $1.00, every time I pay a bill Acorns adds $1.00 (a full "round up") to the amount it will invest.
As a result - and largely because of multiple $1.00 round-ups - Acorns has drafted/invested $49.99 from my account in the last 30 days.
Performance has been flat-lined this month, but that is consistent with my other investments. The market hasn't really budged in the last 30 days (net). So the performance seems to be as good as anything else I am investing in at the moment. I need more time to see if that continues to hold true.
Overall I like it. I have invested about $50 that I otherwise probably would not have invested. I've been able to absorb that $50 from my budget in other places, so I haven't really felt the pain of saving (which is the entire point). I've decided that I like it enough to give it at least a 6-month trial.
Re: MM report: Acorns
@hoffse Just FYI: I have an Acorns account too and I had the same $1 round up issue but there's actually a way to adjust that. On the "Dashboard" screen of the Acorns website click on the "Round-ups" menu and there's a green sliding bar on the left side that allows you to adjust the round up value from $0.00 to $1.00 for those purchases.