Tech & science beat

Want to learn to invest? There’s an app for that.

Elizabeth Suggs | Staff Writer | [email protected]

The app Acorn is a simple way for college students to invest. Acorn is helped by Nobel Prize winning economist, Dr. Harry Markowitz, through recurring investments and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).
A recurring investment is the portion of revenue highly likely to be maintained through predictability and stability, compared to ETFs, which track commodity, bonds or a basket of assets. ETFs, according to the site investopedia, experience price changes throughout the day while things are bought and sold.
“We’re helping people set aside money,” Taylor Dance, campus program manager for Acorns, said, “that they wouldn’t have otherwise set aside.”
Acorns works by targeting college students with little to no money. The investment app focuses on getting small change from students rather than thousands of dollars. According to Dance, students can start with as little as five dollars.
“We’re helping people set aside money that they wouldn’t have otherwise set aside,” Dance said.
Acorns helps by doing all the work for you. If students have no time to allocate funds needed for investing they can link up their credit and debit cards. According to Dance, money on each purchase will be rounded to the nearest dollar. The difference goes into your Acorn portfolio.
“The earlier you can start investing, the more you can stand to gain due to the power of compounding.” Dance said. “Over time, history has shown that customers who invest in a diversified portfolio generate positive returns.”
According to the United States government, any investment is a risky investment. While a google search or bank assistance can show how to get the least risky or the highest reward investment, Acorns considers your financial situation before choosing the risk of the investment.
In the Acorns app, the portfolio will change to what is recommended to be the best investment for the situation, but can easily be changed at any time.
“Acorns considers your financial situation before recommending a portfolio. Your age, time horizon, goals, income, and risk tolerance are all considered,” said the Acorns website.
After considering the student’s situation, Acorns will look at their age. Anyone over 24 is charged one dollar a month for accounts under $5,000. For anything over $5,000, the cost is a quarter of one percent of the account balance, according to Dance.
Anyone under 24 with a student email, according to Dance, can get the app for free.
“We are waiving any and all management fees.” Dance said. “Just sign up using your .edu email address.”