Developing an app like Acorns: what do you need to consider? |
Posted: September 25, 2017 |
IT-technologies have penetrated to all spheres of our life, including banking and investment sectors. Today, investment is not a complicated activity, requiring special knowledge and experience as it used to be several decades ago. Thanks to the development of mobile technologies, stock trading and investment are available to anyone who has a smartphone or a tablet. Needless to say that mobile apps for investing are booming in popularity. This is especially true for apps designed for micro-investing. Specialists single out the following reasons for their popularity: - Most people don’t have large sums of spare money for investing. - Despite a solid level of transactions protection, online investing is still not a completely risk-free activity. Creating investment apps like acorns, one should consider these two factors and focus on micro-investing in order to attract as many users as possible. Types of investment apps
Information needed for a mobile investment app developingThe first thing you should do before proceeding to a mobile investment app development is to set up a financial goal and determine acceptable risk tolerance. If you are not a specialist in investment, look for a professional consultation. The second thing is to learn and understand at least basic terms. The following information can be useful to begin with. Modern mutual funds are subdivided into 3 types: - money market funds; - bond funds; - equity funds Revenue and risk levels vary depending on the type of fund. Higher the risks usually mean a higher income level. A stockbroker is a company (or a private person) that is authorized to buy and sells securities using market exchange tools. If an individual wants to make a purchase or sell stocks, he needs to contact a broker and hire it. The latter will make a deal and take commission for the services provided. A mobile app simplifies this process, abolishing the need for searching a broker. A robo-advisor is a robotized online service, which to some extent can replace a stockbroker. It is designed for an effective management of customers’ portfolios. With the help of robo-advisers users of investment apps can quickly receive all the necessary data and order sale or purchase of securities. What is Acorns app?What is Acorns app? Let’s review briefly. Broadly speaking, it is a mobile application intended for young and active people who don’t have much money but want to try investing. The mechanism of its working is the following: Acorns tracks all purchases that you make with the help of your credit (or debit) card and rounds up the sum of the purchase to a dollar. Odd money (the “change”) is transferred to your personal investment portfolio. The minimal sum for the initial investment is 5 dollars (you should accumulate it in your portfolio). When the minimal sum is obtained, the robot automatically invests it. During registration, you can choose the level of income and level of risk: and the robot will take into account your preferences when investing. You can use as many cards as you want. What features should you think out, creating an Acorns-like app?
- name, surname; - SSN; - phone number; - birthdate; - a secret question and answer to it; - additional info, such as occupation, annual income, etc. 3. Finally, the third crucial thing to consider is mechanism of investment itself. Statistical and analytical tools should be carefully thought out. Prepare clear and transparent investment options. Set up a minimal sum for investment, adjust automatic tracking of purchases and write-off of spare money. At your own will, you can develop and add some extra features, such as service for making deposits to retirement plans, virtual simulation (trainer) or financial advisor & planner. Some of the features you may want to include significantly affect the cost of making an app, so get a professional consultation before making a list of desired functionality. Ways of making money with the appProbably, the most urgent question for a developer is making money with Acorns app. Such apps commonly make money on commissions charged from users. For example, you can charge a monthly fee for the account maintaining. Another way of making money is external investment. Bottom lineAs you see, creating and launching of an app like Acorns is not as simple as it can seem. A developer must have deep knowledge on the subject, care of users’ security and be ready to invest time and money into the app promotion. But if everything is done correctly, the result will be great.
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