roboadvisor

Are Robo-Advisors Worth It?

by
robo-advisor

Are Robo-Advisors good enough at what they do? As most regular readers of this financial planning blog know, I used to be a professional Certified Financial Planner for several years. That gives me a lot of insight into just what a financial advisor does and does not do for their clients, and how much that is worth. Susie Orman is a former financial planner who decided that the whole profession was basically rubbish. Other former financial advisors are now out there saying that these professionals are indispensable. The truth, as with most things lies somewhere in between. So, how does a robo-advisor stand up to a real financial advisor? Are robo-advisors safe? And, most importantly, are robo-advisors worth it? What Is Robo-Advisor? Let’s start with getting some facts straight. First, robo-advisor is a fancy, sensational term for bold headlines. The reality is that the so-called robo-advisors are just computer programs that build an investment portfolio, usually out of mutual funds and ETFs, for you. There are no robots sitting behind desks anywhere (although that would be cool.) Second, a robo-advisor isn’t an advisor or financial planner so much as an investment manager. Robo-Advisor vs Financial Planner The reason these things …

Read More

Acorns Review Automated Investing Made Easy?

by
acorns app reviews

Note: This Acorns review article has been updated with the latest information as published on the acorns.com website. No sooner than I finished my Digit review, than I saw an ad for another automated savings app on Facebook that takes a different tack for building up your savings automatically with the help of an app and online financial service. This one is called Acorns. Let’s check it out. Is Acorn legit? Is Acorns a scam? Read on while I do my Acorns app review. Acorns Review – Legit, Scam, Worthwhile? Acorns vs Digit Whereas Digit monitors your bank balance and transfers money its algorithm determines is “extra” into a savings account for you, Acorns rounds up the change on every purchase you make to the next whole dollar amount and automatically saves that money for you. Another version of this type of automatic investing and savings app is Grifin. Grifin does away the clever sounding “round up to the next dollar.” Grifin is a user-controlled automatic app investing. Instead of gathering up a few dollars’ worth of transfers and sending them down into mutual fund land, Grifin take every transaction you make and invests $1 in the stock you just bought something …

Read More

Stash vs Acorns vs Robinhood vs Betterment vs Wealthfront

by
acorns robinhood stash wealthfront betterment

It is time for a mega-review session where we review Stash versus Acorns versus Robinhood versus Betterment, and Wealthfront. Why these apps? These are current front runners in a crowded space that encourages small investments from regular people as a way to invest rather than the traditional broker models of investing. In a way, this Wealthfront review versus the other money investing apps begs for a new investing apps versus Fidelity, Schwab, ETrade, Ameritrade, ScottTrade review. That will have to wait for another day since I’ve already bitten off more than I can likely chew with an in-depth look at each of the Stash, Acorns, Robinhood, Betterment, Wealthfront apps and financial services. The Quick and Dirty Look (No Fine Print) Is Stash safe? What does Betterment do? Why is Wealthfront better or worse than Acorns? These questions demand an in-depth look at each one, and a thorough review of the fine print. Before that, we can take a look at what each money app and financial service say they do, and how that fits for regular investors. What Is Stash? Stash is why I’m writing this mega-review. People keep asking me about Stash. Then they ask me if Stash is …

Read More

Wealthfront Review: Safe, Scam, or Legit?

by
wealthfront reviews

I keep getting questions about the pros and cons of Wealthfront, probably because they are advertising pretty heavily on Facebook and other platforms. So, it’s time for a Wealthfront review. The most important thing is to make sure Wealthfront is legit. It is SIPC insured (that’s like FDIC insurance for brokerages) so it at least has to be a real financial organization. Of course, that doesn’t mean that Wealthfront has good investment advice or good service advice, but it does mean that if they go under all of the sudden, then Wealthfront is safe insofar as your money is insured. Wealthfront reviews agree that Wealthfront is not a scam. Wealthfront Fees Wealthfront’s trademark is “Self-Driving Money.” It’s value proposition is that it will take care of your money, and manage it for you. Wealthfront is a robo-advisor, and one of the mini-investor platforms. Wealthfront fees are low. The main Wealthfront fee is the advisory fee of 0.25% on the amount deposited with Wealthfront. Of course, like any other wealth app, or brokerage, the investments Wealthfront uses have their own expenses. According to the company, the funds Wealthfront uses charge between 0.06% and 0.13%, which are very low fees for mutual …

Read More

Betterment IPO a Distant Future?

by
is betterment a good investment

Betterment, one of the robo-advisor firms, raised an additional $70 million in financing this month (July 2017), according to Bloomberg and others. This values the company at $800 million, although such valuations on pre-market companies are largely meaningless. (Mental note: Write article about the so-called valuations of pre-exit startups.) Is this additional Betterment investment a good idea? It all depends on if they can shove a Betterment IPO down unsavvy investor throats. Check out how Betterment works at this Betterment review. According the article, the company has nearly $10 billion under management, which begs the question why they need to raise more money. Update: There is a new CEO. Is the new CEO’s purpose to get the company to an IPO? Check out my Digit app review. A money management company with $10 billion under management should be profitable. The need to raise another $70 million suggests the company is not profitable, and that begs the second question. At what level CAN the company be profitable? An can a Betterment IPO happen fast enough? If you’re interested in Betterment vs Wealthfront vs Robinhood vs Acorns vs Stash I have that here. Can Stand Alone Robo-Advisors Survive? Obviously, as an add-on …

Read More