Acorns , the mobile service that’s providing a gateway to investing in the stock market, has completed the master plan it set in motion months ago with the acquisition of Vault by finally launching a retirement account product today. Called Acorns Later , the service is the first Acorns investment vehicle to get the same kind of tax advantages the swells get when they invest through products like Individual Retirement Accounts.
“Setting up a retirement account is confusing and, as a result, two out of three Americans aren’t saving for later in life,” said Noah Kerner, Acorns chief executive officer, in a statement. “Acorns Later removes friction from the decision making process, getting back to our central product philosophy: make big decisions small.” Based on the same premise as the Acorns app, the Acorns Later feature will automatically recommend a retirement account and portfolio to customers. The recommendations use an investor’s age, income and “other factors” to suggest one of three individual retirement accounts — either a traditional account, a Roth account (which charges you taxes up front, but not upon withdrawals that meet certain conditions ) or an SEP (simplified employee pension plan). Anyone can launch an account as long as they can put five dollars into it — then, like a regular Acorns account — customers set contributions to be withdrawn from an account daily, weekly or monthly. “We joined the Acorns team to offer more Americans a simpler way to save,” said Randy Fernando, the founder and former chief executive of Vault and current head of investment products at Acorns, in a statement.
