Launching today, Little Acorns sits allows an Acorns’ account holder to allocate a percentage of their current balance to a child. They can then track the performance of their allotment individually.

Once the Little Acorns user turns 18 they can open their own Acorns account, with the option of receiving the funds that have been accrued by their parent.

This new feature will incur no extra cost, and is part of the growing offering Acorns has as both an investing and education tool, to build the financial literacy and wealth of all Australians.

Like their parents, Little Acorns users may benefit from Acorns’ philosophy of democratising access to the market, with an extremely low minimum investment of $5 with the average Acorns user achieving a 13.3 per cent return per annum. *

George Lucas, Managing Director of Acorns Grow Australia said, “Acorns is passionate about changing the typical Australian savings, investing and finance habits. Young Australians are already using Acorns to understand the powerful concepts of compound interest, the ebbs and flows of the stock market and managing expenses. A tool for investing for kids has been a frequently requested feature and we are pleased to be delivering it today.”

Registering Little Acorns is simple and provides the opportunity to grow a nest egg for your kids automatically in the background of life - the user simply provides the name and date of birth of the child. No formal identity documents need to be shared as it sits within the parent’s existing Acorns account.

“There’s an old Chinese proverb that says ‘The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now’. With the launch of Little Acorns, we are helping young Australians plant that tree 20 years earlier, by having their parents plant the seed now,” Lucas concluded.

*From Feb 2016 - July 2017, the average user return is 13.3% pa after all fees (but before the $1.25 maintenance fee a month -calculated using IRR methodology) - past performance is not a guarantee of future performance