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Invest your spare change with Raiz Invest (prev. Acorns Australia)

Last updated: Apr 27, 2020

Turn your everyday change into an investment through a diversified portfolio round-up financial service.

Update (25 May 2020): Raiz has added the Sapphire portfolio option which includes an allocation of Bitcoin.

Good for

Spare change round-up feature helps you invest as you spend
Less risky alternative to investing in stocks
Choose from 7 investment portfolios based on risk
Track your spending and investments

Not so good for

You can't directly buy stocks or ETFs on Raiz
Monthly $2.50 fee
The usual investment risks still apply

ETFs

Investment product

$5

Minimum Investment

From $2.50 /month

Fees

Raiz Invest (previously Acorns Australia) is a financial services provider that helps people invest their money through a simplified process that is connected to everyday life. It offers a unique way of investing in the stock market by allocating spare change to this micro-investing tool.

Raiz says it's passionate about making it simple to invest from a young age, without having to save for years to acquire the necessary lump sum amounts. Read on to find out if it's right for you.

Why should I invest with Raiz?

There are many companies that make it possible to start investing from a young age without needing big lump sums. But it's not every day that you find a product that does this by saving and investing your spare change. Raiz will automatically save and invest your spare change into the mix of Exchange Traded Funds (ETF's) quoted on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) that you choose according to your own preference in portfolio's and risk tolerance. Not only will the app invest your spare change, but it can also invest lump sums and recurring weekly or monthly amounts that you select.

What are some of the benefits of using Raiz?

Three investing methods

You can use three different methods to invest money when using Raiz. The first is a key benefit of using this app and is called Round-Ups. This approach invests the change of your daily purchases. Secondly, is the Recurring approach, where you can set daily, weekly, or monthly amounts that will allocate money to your investments on a recurring basis. Thirdly, you can use lump sums to boost your investments with bigger, once-off, capital amounts.

Personalised portfolio

Choose from seven diversified portfolios constructed by industry experts with inspiration from Nobel-prize winning economist, Dr. Harry Markowitz. These portfolios primarily consist of a mix of ETFs quoted on the ASX, and are constructed to reach targets that speak to different financial goals and circumstances. Its latest portfolio Sapphire also offers 5% allocation of Bitcoin.

It’s a micro-investing platform

This type of platform makes it easy for everyday people to turn their everyday purchases into an investment tool. You can use this financial service for a small fee compared to bigger and more extensive platforms that charge high fees for features you may not even use.

Security

Raiz stores all your information on a remote server with bank-level security and data encryption. Your information won't be stored on your device and your funds are insured against fraudulent and criminal activity including cyber-crimes. Online accounts are protected by SSL encryption and multi-factor account authentication processes.

Flat-fee structure

For accounts under $10,000, there will be no account fee and only a maintenance fee of $2.50/mo. If your balance is equal to or exceeds $10,000, you will not pay a maintenance fee for the month but an account fee of 0.275%/yr for that month.

You can withdraw and deposit money as you wish

There are no limits to a number of withdrawals and deposits you can make, and no fees for making them.

You can take advantage of fractional investing

One of the most powerful benefits of Acorns Australia is that you can allocate fractional interests in ETF Units to individual investors. This allows you open a Raiz account and invest in your personally selected, diversified portfolio, with only AUD$5.00.

Invest for your children with Raiz Kids

You can use the Raiz Kids feature within the app to allocate money towards an investment account for your kid/s who are under 18. Raiz Kids isn't an entirely separate account, it sits within your own Raiz account. You can select what percentage of your top ups you'd like to be allocated to this account, or you can split your contributions evenly between several kids that you may have account for.

Hands-on video review of Raiz

How does it work?

As mentioned above, Raiz a is a micro-investing tool. Its process is comprehensively explained on their website, but below is a simplified explanation after you have created an account with Raiz (explained further on in the article):

1. Allocate money

You will need to allocate money to your account using one of the three methods detailed above in the article. The unique benefit of Raiz is that you can allocate your change from daily purchases to your account and it will be invested automatically. Round-ups mean that your transactions are rounded up to the nearest dollar and the actual change you would have had is now allocated to your account and will be invested.

2. Choose your portfolio

There are six diversified portfolios available that consist of a mix of ETFs quoted on the ASX plus one (Sapphire) that offers an allocation of Bitcoin along with the usual ETFs. These portfolios are based on your appetite towards risk, and include: Conservative, Moderately Conservative, Moderate, Moderately Aggressive, Aggressive, Emerald and Sapphire. The Emerald portfolio is Raiz's ethical investment option.

3. Invest your spare change

Raiz has a unique algorithm that works to keep the funds in your account within the specified range allocated to the portfolio you choose. It balances the ETF's despite market fluctuations but requires you to agree to the automated procedure of rebalancing your account by re-investing the ETF's automatically. Any activity within your account, like withdrawals or deposits, will start corresponding transactions that work to automatically rebalance your account so that it stays within the target range of your chosen portfolio.

4. Withdraw or deposit at will

You can set your methods for investing money and also at any time withdraw or deposit money to add to your account.

What fees will you pay to use the service?

The financial service offers a flat fee for usage. For accounts under $10,000, there will be no account fee and only a maintenance fee of $2.50/mo. If your balance is equal to or exceeds $10,000, you will pay no maintenance fee for the month but an account fee of 0.275%/yr for that month.

As with any financial service, it is advised to study the fee structure (there is a comprehensive overview on the Raiz website, under Product Disclosure Statement) to know the fees you can expect, for example, a dishonour fee.

What support can you expect from Raiz?

The financial service offers dedicated support through email and will get back to you within 1-2 business days. You can also contact the team through Twitter.

What are the pros and cons of using Raiz for my next trade?

The pros

Unique method of capturing funds through rounding up purchases you already make
Invest in ETFs, which provide instant diversification
Handy mobile app that you can access on-the-go
Flat-fee structure
Banking level security

The cons

If you're investing large amounts, the fees may be higher than if you were to invest in ETFs directly via an alternative brokerage platform
The usual investment risks still apply

This all sounds great, how do I get started?

Visit the Raiz website or download the Raiz app and register for the service
Fill out your basic personal details and create passwords
Link your debit or credit card for the Round-up feature
Connect or create the funding account that will invest your allocated money
Tell the financial service more about yourself for a better user experience

Do you have more questions?

Raiz automatically rebalances your portfolio as you invest. Every time you deposit or withdraw funds, it adjust the proportions of ETFs purchased to move your account towards its target portfolio allocation.
It also periodically reviews, typically on a quarterly basis, and rebalance your portfolio whenever the percentage holding of one or more ETFs fluctuates 5% above or below its target allocation.
Rebalancing also occurs whenever you request to change your portfolio. They adjust the allocation of each fund to match the new risk profile. Raiz sells overrepresented ETFs and use the proceeds to buy underrepresented ETFs to bring your portfolio in line with its new target allocation. This rebalancing occurs within a few business days of a portfolio change request.
Raiz reminds all customers to always make sure that their account has the proper funds before committing to an investment in the app. If, for any reason, investments made by you (or because of a setting which you configured in the app) are charged back due to non-sufficient funds or cause a fee on your account, Raiz will not be responsible for any of these fees charged to you by your bank.
Round-up funds come from the funding account that you connect as a funding source for Raiz. If you connect multiple bank accounts, credit or debit cards, then all of your round-ups will still come from only the connected funding account. This funding account is also the account that funds are sent back to when a withdrawal is requested. For example, if you spend $3.50 using your credit card then that $.50 will eventually come out of your funding account when the round-ups add up to at least $5.

Alison Banney

Alison Banney is the banking and investments editor at Finder. She has written about finance for over six years, with her work featured on sites including Yahoo Finance, Money Magazine and Dynamic Business. She has previously worked at Westpac, and has written for several other major banks including BCU, Greater Bank and Gateway Credit Union. Alison has a Bachelor of Communications from Newcastle University, with a double major in Journalism and Public Relations. She has ASIC RG146 compliance certificates for Financial Advice, Securities and Managed Investments and Superannuation. Outside of Finder, you’ll likely find her somewhere near the ocean.

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4 Comments

Luke
January 9, 2019

It looks like a brilliant service and a great idea. I was wondering however if Raiz goes out of business as a lot of new business ventures do what happens to the shares and the funds in your Raiz account?

Is this insured? Will you be reimbursed to use your accumulated funds with another platform?

Thanks

Reply
- finder Customer Care
  
  John
  January 10, 2019
  
  Hi Luke,
  
  Thank you for reaching out to finder.
  
  Raiz Invest Limited (Raiz) is an ASX listed financial services company (ABN 74 615 510 177) and Raiz and its subsidiaries are regulated and overseen by the ASIC. Your money is insured against fraudulent and criminal activity through Lloyds of London. If you want to learn more about Raiz security, you may contact the company directly to check on this. Hope this helps!
  
  Cheers,
  Reggie
  
  Reply
Asel
April 21, 2017

I have an Australian bank account, but I am not an Australian citizen. Can I still apply for Acorns Australia?

Reply
- finder Customer Care
  
  Harold
  April 21, 2017
  
  Hi Aselrox,
  
  Thank you for your inquiry.
  
  Typically, after you’ve installed the free Acorns app, all you’ll need to start investing is:
  Your online banking login information (which generates the round ups).
  Your bank account and BSB number (where your money is pulled from).
  Regarding citizenship, it would be nice to directly coordinate this matter with Acorns. That way they can provide you the available options that is right for you.
  
  Cheers,
  Harold
  
  Reply

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