Microsavings Apps

Digit Review – Everything You Need to Know About the Savings App

Kevin Flynn
September 16, 2020

Though not new by technology standards, Digit is still fairly unique in the realm of personal financial tools. Described by many as a “passive savings” tool, this app is the non-investor answer to the current trend of automating personal finances.

Digit is a micro-savings app. Think of it as an electronic piggy bank where you take small increments and deposit them into a savings account. This is similar to what Acorns does with its “round up” approach, but digit uses a spending algorithm to determine deposit amounts.

The Digit app also gives the ability to save for and pay off debt. You can connect credit cards and have the money withdrawn automatically to gradually get rid of high interest credit card balances. You can even set up a “rainy day” fund which can double as overdraft protection.

Retirement savings (IRAs) are also available in Digit. It appears to be a fairly new feature because there’s very little chatter about it online, but my research shows it to be a solid investment option. I’ll cover more on that below.

Founded in 2012 by Ethan Bloch, a former product manager at Intuit, Digit has passed the test of time for a personal finance app. The company has raised $63.8 million over four funding rounds since then and currently employs over two hundred people.

Who is Digit Designed For?

Digit is targeted to millennials. According to a report released by the Federal Reserve in 2013, roughly 60% of millennials, aged eighteen to forty, have saved little or nothing towards their retirement. Ethan Bloch was twenty-nine years old when he developed the app.

This app is also a decent option for others who have difficulty saving, regardless of age. The increments deposited are small enough to be almost unnoticeable and balances add up over time. This works for those who won’t spend what isn’t right in front of them.

For those with outstanding credit card balances, Digit can be a tool to get those paid down and stabilize spending, but only if it’s coupled with the discipline to stop using those cards. If that happens, automated withdrawals from a checking account will cover the monthly bills.

Don’t look at Digit savings as a long-term “investment” account. The funds deposited into their accounts earn no interest for the depositor. They do, however, offer a 0.5% “savings bonus” each month, which is higher than the national average interest rate on savings.

Setting Up and Funding the Account

Setting up for the first time is simple, easy to understand, and quick. Digit uses Plaid as a data aggregator and the data connectivity is seamless. My credit union account connected in less than a minute and balance data was populated inside the app immediately.

There are a series of security protocols built in that some may find bothersome, but they are no different from what everyone else is doing. I was asked to do code confirmations that were sent to me via text message. This two-step authentication can also be done by email.

One of the clever innovations that impressed me during this process was the messaging “bot” that Digit uses to communicate intent to the user. The first message, originating from a 628 area code (San Francisco) started with the words, “Hi, this is Digit.”

My new friend the Digit-bot tells me they’ll send savings and checking balance updates from the same number and to make sure I log that number in my contacts. It does not state what the frequency of those updates will be, so I’m assuming they’ll be daily.

I connected Digit through my MacBook and then added the app to my iPhone. I used the “suggested” password on the computer, but instantly wished I hadn’t when I connected the mobile app. For simplicity, I’d recommend choosing your own password.

The mobile app itself is intuitive and well-laid out. The color scheme clearly separates each function and the app is full function, so you don’t have to go to a desktop version to make changes. That includes account updates, resetting goals, and cancellations.

Setting Goals and Safe Savings Level

Digit’s algorithm learns how you spend and calculates how much is safe to save each day.

This part was simple, but a little scary. By setting goals, you are essentially telling Digit how much you need to save. That’s great. What isn’t so good is that Digit never really clarifies what the amounts are that they’ll pull from your account. Here are the categories for goals:

Rainy Day Fund
Credit Cards
Student Loans
Travel Near or Far
Save for a Cause
Splurge on Gifts
Create Your Own Goal

Like most Americans, I have credit card debt, so I tried out the goal to pay those off. The app easily connected to my credit card company and informed me that an automated payment would come out on the 29^th. How much? They didn’t say.

By agreeing to the Terms of Use, you authorize Digit to electronically withdraw money from your designated deposit account in amounts determined by their algorithm. Those amounts begin at $2 – $5 per day and go up from there. It’s not clear if goals will increase them.

After doing a little research, I learned how to keep a cap on Digit withdrawals. Before setting up a goal, utilize the Safe Saving Level feature to protect your deposit account. This will create a threshold balance on your deposit account under which Digit is not authorized to withdraw.

Setting goals and saving for them seems like a useful exercise, but the degree of uncertainty makes it a leap of faith to engage. I’d recommend using Digit for a few months before setting goals so you can get a feel for how much you’re actually putting into the app.

Digit Retirement Option

In addition to simple savings (with no interest), Digit now offers a retirement option. I signed up for this and now have a Roth IRA to deposit my savings money into each month. For more serious investors, this makes Digit a better option with an opportunity to earn.

The investment portfolios for their IRAs are determined by the age and income levels of the user. Mine is heavy on US and international stock, with a smattering of bond funds mixed in. There are other options available when you set up your retirement account.

One aspect of the retirement plans on Digit that seems to set them apart from other apps is that they are not composed strictly of ETFs. Investing in individual stocks usually produces a higher upside, though it can also mean more significant losses.

For those who already have a 401(k) or pension fund, opening an IRA on top of that isn’t a bad idea, particularly when it’s being funded by what is essentially disposable income. The investment funds Digit is using are managed by Vanguard, so it’s a fairly safe investment.

It’s important for you to know that the Internal Revenue Service sets contribution levels each year to limit how much you can invest annually into an IRA or Roth IRA. In 2020, that limit is $6000, but you can increase it to $7000 if you’re over age fifty.

Cost and Potential Fees

Digit costs $5 per month, $2.99 per month for legacy customers who signed up before July 23, 2019. They offer a free thirty-day trial and cancellation is a simple process that you can do on the website or on your mobile app. You don’t need to call or email to cancel.

There are no other stated fees to use Digit, but there is an additional cost. The 0.5% savings bonus is meant to take the place of an interest rate, but it’s only a simple payout, not a compounded rate. That distinction means Digit pays out less than traditional savings accounts.

Another drawback to the savings bonus is that it’s only paid on balances remaining after the close of the month. If you’re paying out money for credit card or retirement goals, you make nothing off your savings principle that month. That’s not a fee, but it does cost you money.

Digit Cost vs Competitors

Qapital: Offers a basic membership for $3 per month, but that doesn’t include spending analysis and investment tools. For those, you need to pay $6 per month. If you save over $5000 a year, that cost goes up to $12 per month.

Chime: This online banking app requires no minimum deposit and charges no monthly fee. They offer round-ups on debit card purchases to build savings and provide an ATM card that accesses funds at locations on the MoneyPass and Visa networks.

Acorns: The basic membership is just $1 per month for an ETF investment account, with an increase to $3 per month if you add checking (with ATM card) and retirement options. Their family plan is $5 and includes “Early” accounts for children.

Pros and Cons

Overall, I’d rate Digit as a great personal finance app, but it’s not without its drawbacks. So far, based on my experience and everything I’ve read about it, the app deserves a thumbs up. I’ve broken down the various reasons for that recommendation below.

Pros, Perks and Features

There are some definite perks to using the Digit app. One of them, the savings bonuses, we’ve already discussed. I’ve included it here in pros because I do believe that it’s a pro for those who wouldn’t normally open up a traditional savings account.

Another perk is the way that Digit handles overdrafts. They offer overdraft protection to prevent your deposit account from going into the negative and overdraft reimbursement up to two times per year if they overdraft your account and you get charged a fee.

Since this is a mobile app, support is twenty-four hours, seven days a week by email. Your access, obviously, is the same. You can check accounts, make changes, or add goals at any time during the day. Balances update in real time, even on weekends and holidays.

I like the potential for deposits to scale up, but that can also be dangerous. I’m listing it here in pros because I believe you can build a significant nest egg using the Digit algorithm. You’ll see it in the “con” section below because there’s potential to over-extend certain users.

Cons and Potential Downside

There are very few cons that I can see with this app after researching it and using it myself.

Acorns and Chime, and their “round-up” features, offer a more controllable way to allocate money into savings. Digit advertises their system as an “unnoticeable” way to channel money into savings, but the monthly allocations can add up quickly. That could be an issue.

The biggest downside that I see is uncertainty. Digit is too vague on projecting deposit amounts and should have a better system for capping them. The “Safe Saving” thresholds are good, but they don’t provide any real protection to the user. Digit could conceivably take too much.

Customer Sentiment

Digit App has a 4.7-star rating on the App Store and 4.6 stars on Google Play. The Better Business Bureau has them listed with a “B” rating, but Digit is not “accredited” with them (which is a paid status), so that could be the reason for the low grade.

There are only twenty-nine reviews on the BBB website. Google Play shows over one million installs. The App Store has compiled over 200,000 reviews. Sample size is important. I’m more inclined to listen to the mobile app reviews than the Better Business Bureau.

Customer service is email or in-app only. That will generate complaints from people who prefer phone support. It’s fairly common for fintech apps. Digit does not seem to have an inordinate volume of complaints because of it. Most issues that I am reading about involve user error.

All in, I’m seeing a general sense of satisfaction with this app. I plan on using it myself going forward and taking advantage of their retirement option. I already have something similar with Acorns, but I honestly believe this one will add up faster.

Acorns App Review – Everything You Need to Know

Kevin Flynn
September 8, 2020

There’s a plethora of mobile applications on the market designed to help consumers build a nest egg for e

Walter Cruttenden and his son Jeff came up with one of those innovations in 2012. Acorns, a platform to promote incremental, passive investments, is now used by 3.7 million people worldwide and manages over $1 billion in assets. Their market value passed Betterment in 2018.

Walter Cruttenden didn’t just come out of nowhere. He previously founded two successful investment banks, Cruttenden Roth and eOffering (formerly iBank). He’s the chairman of the Binary Research Institute in California, where they investigate the causes and consequences of solar system motion. On top of all that, Walter is also a best-selling author and filmmaker.

Walter’s son, Jeff Cruttenden, who is just twenty-nine years old, is a fintech entrepreneur who has already founded a second company called SAY, a platform where shareholders in companies can communicate with each other and access their full ownership rights. The idea came from insights he gained while developing and managing Acorns.

In addition to the Cruttendens, Acorns also contracts with Harry Markowitz, a Nobel Laureate, to build investment portfolios, and has attracted some serious star power for investors. Jennifer Lopez, Bono, Kevin Durant, Alex Rodriguez, and Ashton Kutcher are all on the list. The company’s current valuation, last assessed in January 2019, is $860 million.

What is Acorns and How Does it Work?

The simplest explanation is that Acorns is an investment platform that uses passive-investment ETF portfolios to build wealth for their clients. An ETF, or exchange traded fund, is a pool of stocks in a specific sector or industry. The ETF portfolios are constructed by financial professionals either employed directly by Acorns or working as paid consultants.

The reason they call it Acorns is the way in which those investment funds are deposited by the users. When first launched, Acorns described it as investing your “spare change.” What they do is “round up” any purchases you make and then deposit those funds into your account. If you buy something for $11.25, the round-up makes it $12.00, putting 75 cents into Acorns.

The concept of “pennies add up” is not new, but the technology Acorns introduced to do it with is. Acorns came to market with it in 2014 when they launched a mobile app on both IOS and Android. Since then, they’ve added a number of new features, which now include Invest (the original product), Later, Spend, and Early. We’ll review each of them for you here.

Acorns Invest

You’ll be asked some questions about your annual income, investment goals, and financial knowledge when you first sign up to use Acorns Invest. These questions help the application choose which type of portfolio to invest your money into. All Acorn portfolios are composed of ETFs, but you can choose conservative, moderate, or aggressive, based on risk tolerance.

Connect a credit or debit card and Acorns Invest will start tracking your spending. Each time you make a purchase, the spare change will be marked for deposit into your investment account. The change isn’t taken out each time you buy something. It needs to accumulate to increments of at least $5.00 before Acorns will transfer money from your credit card or bank account.

You can withdraw money from your investment account at any time, but it takes several business days for Acorns to sell your holdings and make the transfer. In my experience, it will be roughly a week from the time you initiate the withdrawal until the time you see money in your bank account. Obviously, Acorns does not recommend withdrawing if it can be avoided.

Users are not limited to depositing only spare change. You can add one-time deposits at any time, and you can set the app to do regular weekly deposits of set amounts if you like. The mobile app will notify you of this option periodically when you log in, but the communication is definitely non-invasive. Acorns does a good job of not badgering their customers.

Pro: Ease of use. It’s basically set it and forget it.

Con: It takes a week to withdraw money when you need it.

Acorns Later

For those looking for a simple individual retirement account (IRA) to save for your golden years, Acorns Later is a good fit. You can set a recurring deposit for a weekly or monthly cycle and Acorns will invest it in an IRA for you. The IRS currently determines retirement age to be 59 ½, at which point you’ll be able to take disbursements from your account.

Acorns Later is a duly registered and legitimate IRA, so certain guidelines apply. The IRS maximum IRA contribution for 2020 is $6000 per year, $7000 if you’re over fifty years old. There’s also a tax penalty if you withdraw the money early, despite it being post-tax income that you’re depositing. To avoid that, keep your contributions at a level you can afford.

Pro: No minimum deposit amounts and ease of use.

Con: Your money is tied up until retirement.

Acorns Spend

Acorns Spend is a personal checking account that comes with a metal debit card. It’s FDIC insured for up to $250,000 and it’s connected to both Acorns Invest and Acorns Later. Use it and your spare change will automatically be invested for you. Acorns Spend even allows you to set up direct deposit, so you can get paid and invest money all in one application.

Mobile check deposit is available on the app, so you can deposit checks from anywhere. The debit card is made of tungsten metal and is virtually indestructible. It comes with an FID chip and an engraved image of your signature, so you’ll never have to worry about smudging. It’s accepted at over 55,000 fee-free ATMs globally, making it an ideal travel companion.

Pro: A complete mobile banking app that does it all

Con: Maximum balance limit of $250,000.

Acorns Early

For parents with young children, Acorns Early is a UGMA/UTMA account. UGMA, which stands for Uniform Gift to Minors Act, gives a minor the authority to own securities without a prepared trust document. UTMA, aka Uniform Transfer to Minors Act, allows for wealth transfers to be made through inheritance to their UGMA account. Got it? Let me explain.

Acorns Early is an investment account for your child. Funds are invested and placed in trust so the child essentially owns them, though they can’t do anything with them until they’re of legal age. These accounts are similar to 529 education accounts, but the funds are not earmarked for a specific purpose. By opening a UGMA/UTMA account, you’re giving your child a head start.

A subscription to Acorns Early also gives you access to a financial wellness system and is part of a family option that includes Acorns Invest, Later, and Spend. You can add multiple children with no additional cost per child and watch financial literacy content sponsored by Acorns and CNBC. Acorns Early is also connected to Acorns Partner Network, which we’ll review below.

Pro: You’re giving your child a head-start in investing

Con: Money is tied up until the child reaches adulthood.

Acorns Partnerships: Found Money

Presented as Acorns Earn on their website, the Acorns Partnership Network gives you opportunities to earn additional funds to be invested into your Acorns Invest account. Simply shop at one of the merchants listed on the partnership page and you’ll be awarded “found money.” On top of that, Acorns periodically runs promotions where you can earn bonuses.

This might be the cleverest of all the Acorns features we’ve reviewed here. The network partners are all major names, like Macys, Walmart, Nike, and Chevron. They’re basically places we shop at regularly and Acorns is giving us a chance to pad our investment account when we spend money at these locations. It’s cashback reinvented.

The drawback, of course, is that you have to shop at specific merchants. That works for Acorns, because they no doubt have some kind of revenue sharing agreement in place with their partners. It works for the user also, but an article of clothing at Macys can typically be found for less somewhere else. Is the tradeoff worthwhile? That’s up to the individual consumer.

Pro: Instant investment dollars earned from shopping.

Con: You’re limited to shopping only at specific merchants.

Subscription Pricing and Competitors

What is the best feature of Acorns? I would have to say the pricing. Anyone can afford to use this application, which is no doubt the reason why they have been able to build their subscription base so quickly. The “Lite” option, which is just Invest, costs only $1 per month. Add Later and Spend, it goes up to $3 per month. The Family Plan is $5 per month.

How does this compare to Acorns’ competitors? Betterment (.40%), Wealthfront (.25%), and Personal Capital (.89%) all charge advisory fees. Robinhood is free, but nothing is automated. It’s purely a trading platform. No one, outside of bank and credit card cash-back programs, is giving you investment dollars in return for consumer spending.

Another advantage Acorns has over their competitors is the absence of a minimum deposit requirement. Betterment will open a basic account for $0, but you need $100,000 to access premium features. Wealthfront requires $500 to open. Personal Capital wants $100,000 just to get started. Robinhood wants nothing, but if you’re an investment newbie you’ll likely lose money.

Learning with Acorns Grow

Financial freedom comes from making the right investments and learning from others. As an aside from feature and price comparisons, I’d like to point out a section of Acorns main website titled “Grow.” It’s a compilation of free articles and information about investing and personal finance. I’ve delved into it pretty deeply and find it to be extremely valuable.

Final Thoughts

It’s difficult for me to come up with anything negative to say about Acorns. I’ve been a user for several years now and I’ve never had any issue with it. Even during recent volatility in the market, my accounts have remained fairly stable. Before writing this article, I looked at the balances and was pleasantly surprised at how much has accumulated from my spare change.

Active investing will always have a higher ceiling when it comes to big gains, but passive investing with ETFs, which is what Acorns does, has no downside and very little risk. I like that. As a long-time investor and part-time day trader, I deal with losses all the time. With Acorns, I don’t worry about that. My money just continues to grow, with no help from me.