11 Top Robo-advisors, August 2023

11 Top Robo-advisors, August 2023

Robo-Advisors

Our experts at Insider have been inundated with questions from readers about investing and have conducted extensive research to provide unbiased product reviews. Today, we’ll be diving into the world of robo-advisors, which are digital investment platforms that utilize computer algorithms and expert oversight to create personalized portfolios for retail investors. These platforms typically use ETFs as their primary investment vehicles, but some also offer mutual funds, index funds, and even cryptocurrency investments.

So, what sets the best robo-advisors apart? Well, for starters, they offer low fees, a wide range of portfolio options, flexible account types, and easily accessible customer service. Whether you’re interested in mutual funds, index funds, or even crypto, robo-advisors cater to passive investors who value educational resources and user-friendly platforms.

Now, let’s take a closer look at some of the best robo-advisors on the market:

Charles Schwab Intelligent Portfolios: Best Account Selection

Charles Schwab Intelligent Portfolios stands out for its wide range of account options. While the account minimum may be higher than most robo-advisors, the lack of advisory fees more than makes up for it. With access to over 51 ETFs, including Schwab ETFs, the platform supports individual and joint accounts, trusts, custodial accounts, and IRAs. Additionally, it offers automatic rebalancing and tax-loss harvesting for accounts with at least $40,000.

Betterment Investing: Best for Human Advisor Access

Founded in 2008, Betterment is one of the pioneers in the robo-advisor industry. It offers goal-based investing, tax-loss harvesting, charitable giving options, cryptocurrency portfolios, and socially responsible portfolios. Betterment has two plans: digital and premium, with the latter providing access to CFPs. While the digital plan doesn’t have a minimum requirement, the premium plan requires a minimum of $100,000.

Ally Invest Robo Portfolios: Best for Investing and Saving

Ally Invest Robo Portfolios is an excellent choice for those looking to save on advisory fees. With a low minimum requirement of $100, the platform allocates 30% of your portfolio as an interest-earning cash buffer to protect against market risk. Ally Invest offers four portfolio options compatible with individual and joint accounts, custodial accounts, and IRAs. Alongside its investment offerings, Ally provides high-yield savings accounts, checking accounts, CDs, mortgage options, and more.

Ellevest: Best for Goal-focused Investing

Ellevest caters to female investors, with a specific focus on factors such as career breaks and longer lifespans. It offers two pricing plans, Ellevest Plus and Ellevest Executive, with the latter offering multi-goal investing. Both plans provide access to personalized ETF portfolios, online workshops, and courses, as well as financial planner guidance. Ellevest also offers private wealth management for investors with at least $1 million.

SoFi Invest: Best for Low Fees

SoFi Invest stands out with its $0 account minimum, zero fees, and complimentary access to CFPs. The platform invests in a mix of SoFi and non-SoFi ETFs, supports various account types, and offers automatic portfolio rebalancing and goal planning. SoFi Invest also caters to active investors with its active investing accounts.

Marcus Invest: Best for Beginners

Marcus Invest, owned by Goldman Sachs, offers ETF portfolios designed for individual and joint accounts and IRAs. Its user-friendly interface provides access to over 50 ETF portfolios, including core, impact, and smart beta strategies. The platform employs asset allocation and portfolio rebalancing to align with your goals, risk tolerance, and time horizon.

Interactive Brokers: Best for Portfolio Options

Interactive Advisors, from Interactive Brokers, offers a broad range of portfolios with over 60 options. Various ETF portfolios cater to different investment strategies, including asset allocation, actively managed, smart beta, and socially responsible options. While some portfolios require a higher investment minimum or have fees for active management, most portfolios have a minimum investment of just $100.

Fidelity Go: Best for Mutual Funds

Fidelity Go stands out by utilizing Fidelity Flex mutual funds, which have no expense ratios. Its fee structure is based on the account balance, with no fees for balances below $10,000. Fidelity Go combines technology and expert teams to build and manage portfolios. It supports individual, joint, traditional IRA, Roth IRA, and rollover IRA accounts.

Axos Invest Managed Portfolios: Best for Portfolio Customization

Axos Invest Managed Portfolios offers a range of investment goals and a competitive advisory fee of 0.24%. The platform provides automated portfolio rebalancing, tax-loss harvesting, quick deposits, and auto-deposit scheduling. While the account is automated, you have control over your portfolio’s ETFs and allocation, with over 30 different investments to choose from.

Wealthfront Investing: Best for College Savings Plans and Crypto

Wealthfront Investing is known for its innovative offerings, including crypto trusts. It offers a wide selection of portfolio options, such as socially responsible portfolios, tax-loss harvesting, and US Direct Indexing. You can customize your ETF allocation and choose from individual accounts, joint accounts, trusts, IRAs, and even 529 plans. Wealthfront also recently introduced an automated high-yield bond portfolio.

Vanguard Digital Advisor: Best Retirement Resources

Vanguard Digital Advisor is one of the automated accounts offered by Vanguard. It builds personalized ETF portfolios based on your investing goals, risk tolerance, and time horizon, with a focus on four Vanguard ETFs. The platform supports individual, joint, traditional IRA, Roth IRA, rollover IRA, and eligible Vanguard-administered 401(k) retirement accounts. Vanguard also provides a wealth of retirement tools and resources.

While we have highlighted our top picks, we also considered other automated investing platforms such as Acorns Invest, E*TRADE, Merrill Edge, FutureAdvisor, Empower Personal Dashboard™, JP Morgan Automated Investing, and Wells Fargo Intuitive Investors.

When reviewing these robo-advisors, our methodology took into account factors such as low fees, diverse portfolio types, human advisor access, customer service, tax-loss harvesting, and flexibility in account types.

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