You've heard about Curvo, our app that promises to improve your financial future through the power of good investing. But is it really as good as they say? And is it for you? We gathered some reviews from real users, highlighting both good and downsides of Curvo, to help you decide if Curvo is right for you.
What they like about Curvo
At the time of writing, Curvo has a 4.5 star rating on the App Store and a 4.0 star rating on the Google Play Store. Let's start with the positive things our members say, before we look at the bad ones.
Reliable way to save money monthly
Totally a fan! Very clear & reliable and an easy way to save money monthly. Also their transparency that they do via email is great. I am a Curvo fan and will continue to use this system with great pleasure!
We built Curvo to simplify the difficulties of investing through a broker. So we're so happy that Kimberly appreciates this!
You do one thing and do it well
Not an overloaded app with useless features, but limited to the essentials: your portfolio and top it up. Great, that's all it needs to be!
Our mantra is "do one thing and do it well". Instead of offering dozens of different investment products, we do one thing: helping you grow wealth thanks to index investing. And because it's passive investing, there's not that much you can do in the app. We do it all for you. Some may find it boring, but we think that good investing should be boring!
Automation is a winner
As Curvo focuses on these aspects:
- No individual stocks, one bundle of ETFs which is always the same - I don't need to spend time looking into finding the right stock/ETF, there's a continuity in knowing I'm purchasing the right thing.
- Automation, due to the automated purchase each month, I'm not even looking into the purchase anymore, it just happens.
- Peace of mind, due to the automation, I know my money is working for me and I can just leave it where it is without worrying whether I'm doing the right thing.
- Being Belgian, just as you mentioned on the book. Curvo helps to invest wisely in Belgium. A lot of resources on investing can be found but nearly all of them are targeted on the US market. It's great to find a company like Curvo which simplifies everything surrounding taxes.
Adding up all of this, is the reason why I have already recommended you to numerous friends/family members.
We're all about living a healthy financial life. And we think that investing part of your monthly income is one of the best habits one can adopt. In Curvo you can automate this. Choose the amount and it'll automatically be debited from your account every month and invested in your Curvo portfolio. And as your career progresses, you can easily increase your monthly contribution to adapt to your new financial situation
What YouTuber "Financial Age" has to say about Curvo
Learn more about the pros and cons of Curvo by Financial Age:
What they don't like about Curvo
It's not all positive though! This makes sense. Curvo is not for everyone, and we're not trying to be. And we are aware that there parts of the app that we can improve. Let's look at some of these objections.
Your app looks like a toy
I don't doubt the seriousness of your IT backend. But on the frontend I'm going to be a bit shocking, it's worthy of a student starting out as a web developer. Compared to Saxo and Keytrade in its current state, the Curvo application looks like a toy, when you could be investing substantial amounts of money in your platform.
Ouch for our co-founder Yoran, who developed the Curvo app.
Yes, compared to the complexity of the broker apps of Saxo and Keytrade, the Curvo app feels like a toy. You can't trade, you can only contribute to your portfolio of index funds. And if you think a complicated app is better than a simple one, then Curvo is not for you. Because we think the opposite.
We think the finance industry is trying to make you believe that you need all these complicated financial products. Surely a well-diversified portfolio of simple index funds isn't enough? And you have to do a lot of trading to have success investing? Well, the data shows the contrary. The investor who consistently invests every month in the same portfolio of index funds will in all likelihood have a much better return than the day trader. And he will have spent his time on his family, friends and hobbies, rather than stressing about his investments.
So in short, we're happy someone thinks that Curvo is so simple that it feels like a toy. Because we think simplicity is a feature.
Why can't I sign up!
I have been waiting to create an account since September... I was extremely interested after reading "De hangmatbelegger", but I still can't sign up for your platform. Very disappointing.
A long waiting time to sign up links the majority of our negative 1-star reviews.
Unfortunately, we had to pause new app signups during the end of 2023 and start of 2024. So many people were frustrated with the process and, justifiably, took out their frustrations on us through a negative review on the app stores. We don't hold it against them because we would also feel annoyed if we couldn't sign up to a service.
It's expensive, I can use a broker for cheaper
Dear, I am by no means crazy about the proposed pricing ! You can invest in trackers today at rates considerably lower than that charged by Curvo. Hence, I do not really wish to continue with Curvo either and you may delete my account. Thanks in advance and kind regards.
Curvo isn't a broker and we don't pretend to be one either. We provide a ready-made portfolio for you based on your goals. And we help you achieve those on the long term.
But, we understand many prefer to choose their own investments. That's fine with us. Our mission is to help more Belgians invest their savings. That's why we've been publishing many resources on ETF investing, and our co-founder Yoran wrote a book on the topic. So if you use a broker to invest, we are also pleased.
Why does it take so long to invest my money?
Too much time between the deposit and the investment. It takes almost 14 days to finalise the investment in the chosen fund and the deposit... in that time everything changes very quickly on the stock market! That seems far too long.
We get it. The investment times on Curvo are long. Especially if you've invested in the past in stocks or crypto, where trades are instantaneous.
We are making efforts to improve it. The investments take a few days because of the settlement period, which is the time it takes to confirm a trade. A trade on the stock market can take days to settle. That's why stock exchanges have clearinghouses. These are parties that can guarantee a trade, meaning it can be confirmed in seconds or minutes rather than the hours or days it can take to fully settle the trade.
The Curvo portfolios are composed of index funds. ETFs are traded on the stock market, but these funds are purchased directly from the providers (Vanguard, iShares, Amundi). So, there's no clearinghouse involved. This means we have to wait the full settlement period to confirm the trade, which takes 2 business days. Yes, like at banks, the computers of financial institutions "don't work" during weekends and holidays.
This way of working certainly isn't suited for rapid trading based on short-term movements in the markets. But that's not the goal. Curvo is built for long-term investing. Investment gains are made over time, and day-to-day fluctuations are mostly noise.
Regardless, we do want to reduce the time before you can see that your money is invested. Settlements very rarely fail. So as soon as the investment order is sent through, we can show that your money has been invested, and notify you afterwards in the rare occasion that there was an issue.
There's no desktop app
In the future, will there be a web app as well? it's just psychological, but it is somehow reassuring for me to have access to my investments on a desktop.
Curvo only has a mobile app, no desktop version. Some don't like it and prefer to handle their finances on their computer. But it's unlikely we will ever develop a desktop version. Practically everyone has a phone. And from a technical perspective, two platforms means twice the development work, and twice the number of bugs. In line with "do one thing and do it well", we'd rather develop the best mobile app rather than having a so-so mobile app and desktop app.
Conclusion
We looked at what people love about Curvo - its simplicity, automation, and focus on long-term investing - as well as some of the critiques. It's clear that we're not trying to be everything to everyone. Instead, we focus on doing one thing well: helping you invest consistently in a diversified portfolio of index funds.
If you're tired of complex financial jargon and overwhelming investment options, Curvo might be what you're looking for. We built it for those who want to invest for the long-term without the stress of constant decision-making.