Acorns
p/acorns
Investing. Earning. Growing.
Julia Roy
Acorns — Automated portfolio management monitoring your investments
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Andy Keil
Acorns is one of the hot startups out here in Orange County. They've amassed some serious talent from a design and engineering standpoint. I'm excited by their mobile first approach and can't wait to see how they transition to the web. Maybe we can get @jcruttenden, @iamkgn or @gregchristian in here to drop some knowledge.
Greg Christian
@alwaysunday thanks for the heads up on this! The Web App is aiming to be the next step for us :)
Johnny Quach
@gregchristian @alwaysunday where in OC are you guys based? I grew up there :) Good job guys!
Greg Christian
@johnnyquachy @alwaysunday Newport Beach. Come say hello next time you're in town!
Mark Sandeno
I've been a customer for a while now and have started to store up some cheddar in my Acorn. IMO a key is to make sure that your round-ups are automatically invested (this is optional). Otherwise you have to be more intentional and one loses the automatic upside of a tool like this. I've found a cool combination in Digit and Acorns. I let my Digit balance build up then I withdraw it and immediately transfer it into my Acorns account to double my micro saving/micro investing pleasure. Ooooh money.
Andy Keil
@markgustav Was going to bring up Digit. Glad you mentioned it.
jcsnv
@markgustav Can't seem to find the Digit app, can you provide a link? Thanks!
Greg Christian
Hey all! I'm a Product Designer here at Acorns. Hit me up if you have any suggestions or questions about Acorns. :)
Matt Ellsworth
@gregchristian Best looking iOS I've ever used. I was totally amazed by it.
Greg Christian
@mattellsworth all the credit for iOS goes to @iamkgn - I joined to lock up the site prior to launch. Since then, he and I have had the chance to work on the Web App and a couple other projects soon to be launched.
Michael Tomko
Hey @gregchristian. Been using Acorns since Beta. Really love it. A couple simple pieces of feedback, though. 1) When using TouchID, the screen jerks back and forth between passcode entry and TouchID prompt. Typically flashes passcode, loads TouchID modal, and then jerks back to passcode before ultimately leading me into the app. Even though I've come to expect it, since TouchID makes the app so much easier to peek into, this always seems to surprise me when it happens. 2) There is no loading indicator for the homepage graph OR the waiting round-ups page. Typically the graph itself loads well after the text at the button changes to "updated now" and often requires me to switch to another screen and back to see it. The waiting round-ups also doesn't show an update status, so it will often change well after I've already looked at it. 3) It would be great to have 1-click access to the home screen from anywhere in the app. 4) The gains/losses on the homepage is confusing since it tends to include any deposits that have been made that day. Personally, I'd prefer to see just the actual gains/losses, excluding deposits. Anyway, regardless of the above, the app has made great strides since I began using it and it is a fantastic way to save. Thanks!
Greg Christian
@michaeltomko amigo! Thanks for sending these my way. Ok. 1,2 & 4 have been addressed and I believe they are in an upcoming build. I will check on that tomorrow. As for 3, that request is limited by our drawer. Was the experience frustrating not being able to one-tap to home? Could you explain more why it would be great? Just trying to learn more :)
Michael Tomko
@gregchristian Your response prompted me to cycle through the app pages to try to figure out why I always feel "lost". I think that it has to do with a couple of things. A) I think that the fact that the homepage has a horizontal state, I often forget once I've swiped into Waiting Round-Ups that I'm in a swiped state versus a inside page, and I end up using the drawer to get home, versus just swiping back. I think this is the biggest driver of my complaint. B) One unintended use of Acorns for me is actually a consolidated view of my transactions. Not sure if this was something that you guys intentionally sought out to create, but I find the round-ups page to be incredibly useful and a reason why I check the app sometimes multiple times a day. I find myself wanting the information that is on the waiting round-ups page when I'm viewing the list of round-up transactions and I end up having to navigate home and then swipe to get to that information. Then if I want to go back, I have to open the drawer and tap the link. So, for me it is always 2-3 actions to navigate between the information I use most in the app. C) The notification icon in the upper right of the app brings you to an internal page of the app. This is somewhat confusing because like most apps that feature notifications, Facebook, Twitter, and even Product Hunt, there is a silo dedicated to notifications. But, in Acorns you're being notified of a pending transaction or dividend and then taken to the history page of the app. Currently with the loading state not being obvious, my experience is often to enter the app, notice the notification and tap it, and then find myself on an interior page. Then once I navigate back via the drawer, the home page has finally loaded to its intended state (graph appears, gains losses updates, value updates, etc.) and I kind of forget my train of thought by that point. D) I'm a pretty big advocate of apps / websites abandoning the concept of "home" and instead replacing it with their core focus/feature. So a concert venue would call "events" home, etc. In the case of Acorns, home is really account value/volatility. But, the way it is setup, you almost have to bounce between an internal page and home in order to gain context for the next jump that you're going to make.
Nitin Alabur
Not a single investment jargon in this app and great UI ! Great way for investment novices to get started!
Jeff Cruttenden
@nitinalabur Thanks!
Jeff Cruttenden
Hi! :) We started Acorns to help people save and invest much earlier in life. Our goal was to radically simplify the experience of opening an account through our focus on mobile. Further, we wanted to change investing from an experience that is done infrequently in large amounts to something that's done frequently with small contributions - this helps our customers benefit from dollar-cost averaging and investing in the background of life. We're constantly improving the product and would love to hear feedback on how we can make Acorns better. Please let me know if you have any questions or feedback.
John Doherty
@jcruttenden Hey Jeff, I've had an Acorns account for a while but not done anything with it. Do you provide any transparency into investments, etc? I haven't done anything with it because, well, honestly it seems too good to be true.
Jeff Cruttenden
@dohertyjf Yeah, you can check out our portfolios at acorns.com/investments. When you invest with Acorns, you're investing directly into portfolios of index funds from Vanguard, Blackrock, and PIMCO. You can view your positions in each ETF directly in the app - and Acorns facilitates fractional share investing so that every dollar put to work. We provide confirmations and statements along with tax reporting at year end. I recommend that you start with $5 and see if you like it. I'm happy to answer any more questions. :)
Kelly Kuhn-Wallace
Happy user (since beta) here!
Greg Christian
@KKDUB thanks for helping us make this product!
David Keegan
@KKDUB Awesome, glad you're liking it, and thanks for being there since the beginning! We learned so much from our beta testers :)
Paisano
Nice to see @JuliaRoy here. We go WAY back....