At one time I was very techie and had to have all the latest when it came to such things. That was back in the 1980’s when Commodore 64 ruled the personal computer world. Then I went to college for a few years and moved to Kansas to run a family farm. While in Kansas I lost the tech edge I once had. I had no cable television or even air conditioning in the house I lived in. Then in the late 1990’s I got another computer and enjoyed it with a very basic Internet through America Online. I went back to college with that computer using it until I graduated in 2000.
At that point, I got my first real job with the government as an assistant bank examiner. I used a new iMac computer and around this time got my first cell phone. I still did not have to have the latest and greatest technology, but at least I was living in the tech age. I have enjoyed eBay for about 15 years and Amazon for 10 or so. While I never got caught up in the dot-com craze, I did enjoy some of its products. Namely eCommerce and the prices that went along with these new sites.
I moved to Tennessee in 2004 now with a laptop as my main computer as the iMac was outdated. Also, while I enjoyed my iMac it was not as computer friendly to me as a Windows based computer as I enjoy Microsoft Office and that was not easy to come by for Apple products in the mid-2000’s. Then came the smartphone and the introduction of Blackberry. At first, I resisted the new craze for such devices, but when I had to get one for work, I began to look at them as more of an invasion of my personal time as now I had access to email 24/7. And besides email and limited Internet on these Blackberries I saw no reason to purchase one as a personal device.
Then Apple came back into my life when I got an iPhone 4. And since that time I have loved and enjoyed the variety of applications that are available on the iOS platform. I must admit that being able to check my email from my iPhone is nice but not near as nice as some of the other apps I have installed on my phone. They range from social media accounts to on-line banking for various financial institutions to apps that let me trade stocks.
The early in 2016 I was watching the news and heard of an app called Acorns. It is a neat app that allows people to link a checking account to the app as well as credit cards. Then when a bill is paid, or something is purchased from a linked account, the app will round the charge up to the next whole dollar. When you get to $5, it will invest the funds in six exchange-traded funds that are weighted based on your risk tolerance. You can even set it up to have a recurring deposit in addition to your linked round ups. They have even partnered with some retailers to offer additional opportunities to save even more. And if you refer friends through an SMS text you both receive a $5 bonus. It is an amazing way to save some money and invest in the markets while reducing your exposure to the markets with regards to risk. As for costs, they are manageable at $1 a month if your account is under $5,000 and 0.25% a year for accounts that have more than $5,000.
Acorns is an app that I have used almost all year. Recently US Bank made it near impossible to link their accounts to Acorns so I set up an automatic deposit once a week to make up for lack of that card being linked but that is not Acorn’s fault, and US Bank does not seem to care about the issue in the least. I love the app and all it does really. If you log into your account from a computer, you can print your trade confirmations and monthly statements. The statements allow you to track your gains and losses in a program such as Quicken which I also recommend for anyone who wants to track their finances. If you are interested in Acorns, feel free to check them out at www.acorns.com but if you want a free $5 start and help me out in the process, contact me, and I will send you an invite so we both can benefit a little and get a head start on our saving goals.
As I have embraced Acorns, I recently came across an interesting article on how someone saved $1,000 without trying or thinking about it at all. And it is another app called Digit. Now I have not used them but the basics are you link your checking account to the app, and it analyzes your income and spending levels. Then every 2-3 days it transfers an amount from your checking account to a Digit account to use as a savings outside of your normal bank. The amounts it says range from $5 to $50 and is guaranteed not to be of a size that will cause you to have any overdrafts. And if you need the money at any time you just need to text Digit and the next day the funds will be back in your checking account. This seems like an excellent way to start saving for any big ticket item or the start of an all-important emergency fund. There are no fees associated with the app, and it is FDIC insured as well. For more information on Digit go to www.digit.co for more information.
Then while reading the article on Digit they mentioned another app called Robinhood that allows for free stock market trades. Now this is another app I have not personally tried, but it is one I am definitely looking into as I have used Sharebuilder or Capital One Investing for nearly a decade but paying even $6.95 is nuts when it is free on Robinhood. Now I am not sure if they allow for fractional investing or the reinvestment of dividends, which is why I use what used to be Sharebuilder as they do. And I know that if you are investing in fractional shares the accounting and record keeping cost more so I do not mind a small trading fee. But I do like the idea of buying shares for free and will be opening an account on Robinhood shortly after I find out how they deal with dividends as I like stocks that pay them. For more information on Robinhood go to www.robinhood.com and see what you think of their app.
For someone who started out the 1980’s as a computer nerd and lost their way for many years, I must admit the invention of smartphones and the apps used on them has changed the way I and the rest of the world operate. Yes, all three of the apps I mentioned in this post have Internet sites where you can do business with them, but they were mainly developed as apps for smartphones. Saving has never been more important as it is in today’s economic environment but it has also never been easier.
If you have any questions or need additional information, feel free to contact me directly. And if you decide to use Acorns, please consider allowing me to refer you, so we both get the benefit of an extra $5.
