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As Acorns grapples with monetizing 1.1 million micro-accounts, the laid-back LA robo-advisor brings Wealthfront’s former chief exec onto its board

After this week's $1.3-billion Robinhood valuation, the sheer quantity of Acorn accounts may count for plenty in VC estimations

Author Janice Kirkel April 28, 2017 at 9:50 PM
4 Comments
no description available
Noah Kerner: We respect what Wealthfront has created but Acorns has a very different customer and product roadmap.

Robo-Advisors


Stephen Winks

Stephen Winks

April 29, 2017 — 8:23 PM
What if Nash is right, "putting away money is not a big investment event, it is about accumulation". This entirely changes the ROBO and investment world. SCW
Craig Iskowitz

Craig Iskowitz

May 1, 2017 — 1:19 PM
In my opinion, Nash doesn't seem like a natural fit at all for Acorns. You bring someone onto your board because they have a different point of view and bring something unique to the table to help the company grow. Nash has industry experience and a mountain of contacts that the Acorns execs can leverage. I contend that Acorns is the anti-Wealthfront. As Trout succinctly stated, “Acorns is aiming for an easy-to-use investor experience, people putting aside money for accumulation purposes, not necessarily looking toward retirement." This is the key to attracting Millennials and post-Millennials as well. They're not interested in retirement. They don't care about portfolios of ETFs. They just want to save a few dollars to buy a guitar, a trendy handbag or go on vacation. And they want to do it in an interesting and fun way. That's why Acorns has an order of magnitude more users than Wealthfront, Betterment or any other B2C robo not named Vanguard or Schwab. No one knows if they will be able to monetize their user base. But if you had to guess which firm would be the first to a $1 billion valuation (like Robinhood), you'd have to put your money on Acorns.
Stephen Winks

Stephen Winks

May 1, 2017 — 3:18 PM
Conventional "broker talk" may not be an effective guide to the emerging more technologically astute financial services industry which does not necessarily require the investor being immersed in unnecessary technical jargon. SCW
Kevin

Kevin

August 27, 2017 — 10:32 AM
Acorns is a great little investment app when used correctly. Remember there is a monthly fee of $1.25 for investments below $5,000 so make sure your investment is at least above the breakeven point. If we take an average return of investment for index funds lately, it is roughly: Conservative: $542.25 Moderately Conservative: $464.41 Moderate: $435.32 Moderately Aggressive: $398.91 Aggressive: $357.57 These are just averages though, as ROI is ultimately dependent on market performance. Here is a cheeky $2.50 credit (sometimes $5) when you join using this friend link - <a href="https://app.acornsau.com.au/invite/XQEMS9" rel="nofollow">https://app.acornsau.com.au/invite/XQEMS9</a> Happy investing!

Related Moves

December 31, 2020 at 4:37 AM

Betterment whistleblowers net $2.5 million • Wealthfront's big pivot leads to profits • Altruist launches tax service • CMOs in at Ascensus, Wealthspire & Joe Duran's Rise • Savvy bags four advisors as Mariner sues it for poaching • Jim Dickson launches RIA stake buyer

Betterment is also bending to RIA needs • Wealthfront is in the black, thanks to cash • Altruist reveals where it makes its money • Rise, Wealthspire and Ascensus each add two executives • Compound hits $2 billion of AUM • CAIS slashes alts prices • BlackRock ups private debt sales to RIAs, through GeoWealth.

June 29, 2024 at 3:00 AM

In 'forced-evolution,' Robinhood subtracts a co-founder and pivots to credit cards to create captive sales that dried up after its phone-app trading platform and zero-commission novelty act imploded

Co-founder Baiju Bhatt exits management, but Deepak Rao is just getting started as CEO Vlad Tenev goes all in on making Robinhood a credit card company.

March 29, 2024 at 5:02 AM

Jon Stein ousts himself as Betterment CEO and taps Sarah Levy, who joins an exclusive club of top women executives, with a mission -- an IPO

The co-founder of the New York robo-advisor headhunted the ex-Viacom brass through Harvard professors on the down low to ostensibly scale operations.

December 8, 2020 at 5:27 PM

See more related moves

Mentioned in this article:

Wealthfront
Portfolio Management System
Top Executive: Andy Rachleff

Betterment, LLC
Financial Planning Software
Top Executive: Jon Stein



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