Two robo advisors that are worth comparing are SoFi and Acorns. They are both an investing app that will automatically invest your money based on your answers to a few questions about what your goal is and how much risk you want to take. There is rarely any human interaction involved with robo advisors unless you need support.
There are many robo advisors you can choose from, so today we’re going to compare SoFi vs Acorns. You can read more about robo advisors and how they compare to a financial advisor here.
SoFi vs Acorns: A Comparative Analysis
In this analysis, we are going to do a side-by-side comparison of these two robo advisors. This includes how much these robo advisors cost, what types of services and features they offer, and what kind of support each robo advisor can give its investors.
The Cost
SoFi
SoFi Invest doesn’t charge its investors any management fees, so you don’t have to worry about a percentage of the total value of your assets being assessed and paid to the robo advisor you are using. SoFi also doesn’t charge commissions when stocks are bought or sold.
But if they don’t charge management fees or charge commissions, then how does SoFi Invest make money? SoFi makes money in the following ways
- Through interest from accounts that have uninvested cash
- Through a personal loan fee for shares that are lended
- Through third-party market-makers
- Through SoFi Crypto
The good news is that these fees or payments typically don’t hurt your pocketbook and you may not even notice they are gone.
Acorns
Acorns does charge a management fee. Side-by-side when comparing Acros to SoFi, this makes SoFi the winner, but it’s important that you know how much these management fees are and what they cover.
Acorns has two pricing plans, personal and family.
The personal plan cost $3/month and provides the following services:
- All-in-one investment, retirement, and checking account
- Metal debit card
- Bonus investments from 350+ Acorns partners
- Spare change Round-Ups program
- Automatic deposits with Smart Deposit
- More than 55,000 ATMs with no service fees
- No low balance or overdraft fees
- Up to 10% in bonus investments
The family plan cost $5/month and provides all of the services listed above plus the following:
- Investment accounts for kids
- Multiple kids can be added at no additional cost
- Automatic recurring investments
- Exclusive bonus investments
- Family financial education
- Tax savings as kids grow older
The Services and Features
We touched above on some of the services and features that both SoFi and Acorns provide, so here’s a more in-depth look at what to expect when you choose SoFi or Acorns as your robo advisor.
SoFi Investment Portfolios
If you want more control over your investments and portfolio, then SoFi Invest is the right choice. SoFi offers both active investing and automated investing.
Automated investing is exactly like it sounds. It is automated investing that you simply don’t have to do anything with and SoFi will do the rest. To get started in automated investing, all you have to do is fill out a questionnaire to tell SoFi your risk tolerance and goals. That’s it. SoFi will create a diversified portfolio with no management fee.
Active investing gives you more control over your investments and portfolio. With active investing, you can trade stocks and ETFs with no commission charge. Active investing also includes fractional shares which means you can buy a fraction of a share of a company for just $5.
Acorns Investment Portfolios
You don’t have as much control with Acorns, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. What you can control with Acorns is your risk level.
Acorns has two types of portfolios, core and sustainable. Core investing is less risky while sustainable investing allows you to be more aggressive.
With Core investing, you can choose one of three risk categories, and each risk category has its own respective investment percentage to various ETFs. You can choose from conservative, moderately conservative, and moderate risk levels.
With Sustainable investing, there are also three risk categories with respective investment percentages to various ETFs. You can choose from moderately conservative, moderate, and moderately aggressive.
No Tax-Loss Harvesting for SoFi or Acorns
Neither Acorns nor SoFi offer any tax-loss harvesting services, so if this feature is one that you are looking for between the two, you won’t find it.
The Support
Both Acorns and SoFi offer support for their investors and the type of support offered varies greatly between the two.
Acorns only offers email support for its investors. This may be a downside to you if you are someone who likes to speak directly with a customer service representative.
SoFi offers phone, chat, and email support for its investors. This cuts the wait time down significantly when you need an answer regarding your account.
Websites and Applications
You may also want to consider both SoFi Invest and Acorns websites or smartphone applications when deciding which robo advisor you want to go with.
Because SoFi and Acorns are designed for new investors or those who don’t have time to dedicate to their portfolios, they both have easy-to-use websites and smartphone applications.
When it comes to which one is simpler, the scale tips to Acorns. Acorns is meant to run in the background of your life, so there’s not much you need to do on their website or application other than monitor the progress of your account.
SoFi is a little more intricate because it offers two types of investing. If you have enrolled in automated investing, you won’t have to do as much, but if you have enrolled in active investing, you’ll need to be more involved with your portfolio.
The good news is that SoFi has designed a website and smartphone application that’s easy to use even if you’re actively involved in investing. Just keep in mind that Acorns will be a simpler website or application to use because it is a passive investment platform.
Conclusion
You really can’t go wrong with SoFi or Acorns. Both robo advisors can build successful portfolios based on the answers you give for just a few questions. And with no setup or management fees, you can get started today!
