I accidentally Vanguarded myself

[onehair]

I am a user of Acorns the app that rounds up your purchases and invests the proceeds.  I adjusted the profile recently from Conservative to Moderately Aggressive.  While checking my balances and history I discovered it is putting my money into Vanguard's small cap ETFs, Vanguard's REIT ETFs, Large Cap ETFs,FTSE Emerging Markets.  The only non Vanguard ones are the PIMCO Investment Grade Bd Index ETF and the Ishares Treasury Bond ETF.  The balance is paltry but it is growing.

Am I concerned? Not in the least i am thrilled since you all here swear by Vanguard to be in on the party.

[catccc]

Are you using Acorns under a fee free model right now (student or under 24?)

[onehair]

I am too old for the fee free model being over 40. :-( but i pay some fees with my other investment plans so I am not whining. 

[GGNoob]

I am too old for the fee free model being over 40. :-( but i pay some fees with my other investment plans so I am not whining.

While fees with 401k and other employer sponsored plans is pretty normal, you can eliminate fees in IRAs and taxable accounts. Usually it is of your best interest to keep fees as low as possible. But as long as you have a decent amount of money in there, the fees aren't horrible.

[onehair]

I have an IRA through my credit union that doesn't seem to charge fees nor does my TSP.  I am thankful for that I only pay fees on my stock account and this Acorns one.  Once it goes past double digit I will see.

[GGNoob]

I have an IRA through my credit union that doesn't seem to charge fees nor does my TSP.  I am thankful for that I only pay fees on my stock account and this Acorns one.  Once it goes past double digit I will see.

Do you invest with that IRA at your credit union or is it just sitting in cash? Should really have an IRA and your taxable investments at Vanguard, invested in commission-free mutual funds or ETFs.

[onehair]

It is a Traditional IRA which does earn dividends.  As I have never been able to decide what to do with it I tend to invest with other money and just let it accumulate for now.  My credit union enables me to save for certain purposes it is more of a place where I park money for specific purposes such as my Christmas Club my dead Vacation Club and the IRA or extra cushion money where some of my survey earnings go than an investment vehicle.

[StockBeard]

I'm not seeing the benefit of investing in Vanguard through a third party (I understand it was not directly your choice to invest in Vanguard, but now that you see it seems to be the case, you could "replicate" it directly), if you have way to cut the middle man. Wouldn't you cut fees simply by investing in Vanguard directly instead of going through Acorn?