InvestorGreg upholds the most rigorous standards for testing of brokers. We may receive compensation for advertising or for links that feature inside our reviews. Learn more about our methodology and review process.
Gone are the days of managed funds that are only suitable for the high net worth individual. Never in the history of humanity has automated investing opportunities, financial planning, and wealth creation been this easy. And now these high end services all come at very low costs.
The truth is that online, Robo-advisors are now providing workable options for almost every investor out there; they monitor, track markets and optimize portfolios to offer a great option for those that want to engage in automated trading.
We are providing a review and comparison service that looks at the leading roboadvisers on the market and puts them side by side to help you choose the best of the best.
Assets Under Management
3.36$ Trillion
Charles Schwab is one of the biggest brokers in the industry today. They cater for investors of all experience levels. They have been in the industry since 1973 and they now have more than $3.18 trillion in client assets.
In addition to offering the trading of securities, futures and options, they also have FDIC backed banking services and retirement account options. They play host to over 10.5 million brokerage accounts. They try to lead the way in the industry in terms of the latest trends.
In 2017 they underwent a major overhaul of their commissions and fees. This saw Charles Schwab become a lot more competitive in terms of costs with the rest of the industry.
This Charles Schwab broker review will look at the various aspects which makes it one of the market leaders.
Assets Under Management
$311 Billion
E*Trade started in 1982 and they conducted their first online trade the following year. They went public in August 1996, with their headquarters being in New York City. They currently have more than 4,100 employees and they have 30 retail branches around the United States.
They are one of the leading financial services companies in the space and were one of the pioneers of online brokering. They have long been involved with digital innovation, constantly being on the lookout for the next advancements they can make to take their offering to the next level.
They currently have more than 3.6 million customers globally, providing them with two proprietary platforms to choose from when trading which are looked at in this E*Trade broker review.
Assets Under Management
$5.3 trillion
Founded in 1975 by Jack Bogle, the Vanguard brand is well known among the financial investing community for low cost investments, especially for ETFs and index funds. Vanguard’s cost of investing is much lower than what one would normally find in the funds investing industry. The broker’s average ratio for transactional expenses is just 0.11% as compared to the typical industry funds’ ratio of 0.62%. In the world of financial investing especially when you are investing for the long term, cost is everything. Trading costs can easily eat into your gains. For example if you invest $200,000 and make just a 5% gain annually, a difference of 0.5% will translate into an additional $1000 gain per year.
Previously, Vanguard financial investment products were only available through an intermediary like a investment broker or a funds management company. However recently, Vanguard introduced its Vanguard Investor platform which allow investors to invest directly in its range of products without having to go through an investment broker or an investment fund platform. Today, Vanguard is a global brand that has more than 20 million clients all over the world. An asset management company, Vanguard is owned investors rather than by shareholders of the company. In short, this meant that Vanguard is supposedly to operate more towards the interests of investors as opposed to the shareholders.
Minimum Investment
$100,000
Assets Under Management
$10 Billion
Personal Capital is a financial management platform aimed at consumers who want to get their finances in order as well as investors looking for an automated yet personal approach. This Personal Capital Review will outline the pros and cons of this provider and describe all aspects of how it operates.
Aside from free financial tools, the platform allows for investing services, wealth management, and niche options such as hedge fund reviews, deferred compensation strategies, private equity investments, and more. Personal Capital manages over $10 billion in assets. It has over 21,000 clients in 50 US states. Over 2 million individuals use their free financial tools for personal planning.
Assets Under Management
N/A
Social Finance, or SoFi for short, is a company based in the United States that started out in 2011. In the early days, it mainly focused on being an organization for student lending. However, as time went on it branched out into other areas of finance.
SoFi now offers a variety of different services most notably both automated and active investing brokerage services. It is under the regulatory control of both FINRA and the SEC in the US.
It has been focusing more on its robo advisory services in recent times, having made a significant impact in this sector to date. This is due to it having no admin or advisory fees. Investors are also able to access low-cost funds for low buy-ins and there are even complementary sessions available with financial planners.
As a broker, it tends to focus more on younger investors who will be a lot more conscious when it comes to fees. This review looks into the various strengths and weaknesses of the SoFi offering.
Minimum Investment
$5,000
Assets Under Management
$463 Billion
Morgan Stanley is a name that is synonymous with the world of finance. With the increasing popularity of robo-advisors, the finance giant decided in 2017 to launch its own offering of this kind.
This is called Morgan Stanley Access Investing and it was first launched in December 2017. The target audience for this investment offering is younger people, who may in the future be seeking a more fully encompassing advisory service.
Currently, there is a minimum investment in place for this program of $5,000 and for managing your assets, Morgan Stanley will take an annual management fee of 0.35%.
Naturally, the Morgan Stanley name adds a lot of weight to this offering, which is why it is popular with a lot of investors. As well as managed portfolios, investors can also manage their own funds through Morgan Stanley, but not through this platform if they wish to do so.
Assets Under Management
$12 Billion
Wealthfront is one of the most popular robo-advisors on the market right now, for a variety of different reasons. The lows fees and hands-off investment approach is very attractive among passive investors right now. Established in 2008, Wealthfront has a strong investment methodology, and investors are required to fill out a questionnaire to gauge their risk tolerance. Funds are then allocated to exchange traded funds (‘ETFs’) and dynamically rebalanced when an asset class has moved away from its target allocation. Wealthfront offers a suite of free financial tools, even to users who are not signed up.
Assets Under Management
$16 Billion
Betterment is one of the biggest and most well-known robo-advisors on the market right now, attractive for its low fees and automated investment strategy. It has had a huge impact on the investing landscape, primarily in the US market but also internationally. It is a leader in the field of robo-investments with over $16 billion in assets under management, and a wide range of account types are supported. This Betterment review will outline why this is such a popular investment platform.
Assets Under Management
$200 Billion
Established in 2010, Merrill Edge is one of the subsidiaries of Merrill Lynch, an international investment division of the Bank of America. The brand is well known in the financial industry and is considered a household name since it was founded in 2014. Despite the fact that Merrill Edge was only set up in 2010, the brokerage division has already earned a reputation of being a customer oriented broker with its excellent customer service. The broker’s services are open to anyone but Bank of America clients’ do get to receive preferential treatment under the Bank of America’s Preferred Rewards program. Additional benefits which clients get to enjoy under the Preferred Rewards program include integrated account management, seamless funds transfer and universal logins. The preferred reward program also entitles clients to qualify for free trades.
Annual Fee
0.25% to 0.75%
Assets Under Management
£2 Billion
Nutmeg was started back in 2011 and it has grown into one of the leading robo-advisor platforms in the space today. The goal of the platform is to help clients to create portfolios that are diverse and relevant to their given goals and risk tolerance.
It is regulated in the United Kingdom through the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and there is a competitive pricing structure in place. One of the main points to note is that there is no way for you to create your own portfolio, which may be a negative for some people.
This Nutmeg review looks at the ins and outs of this offering, allowing you to quickly see if this will be a good fit for you.
Assets Under Management
$4.7 Billion
Ally Invest serves the needs of their customers in many different ways. They offer everything from banking to home loans, auto finance, corporate finance and of course investing.
They have more than 250,000 active customer accounts, as well as over $4.7 billion worth of assets. They were formerly known as TradeKing, which was an independent broker online for more than a decade. In April 2016, Ally Financial purchased TradeKing for $275 million.
All Ally customers have the same log in, no matter what department they are looking to use. This makes it very easier for customers of Ally Bank to manage their investments. The Ally Invest trading performance is very similar to what TradeKing users experienced. There is a combination of competitive pricing and handy tools for different skill levels.
Combining their range of products and competitive pricing with great customer support, it is easy to see why All Invest is one of the industry leaders.
Assets Under Management
$500 Million
M1 Finance is a financial platform that allows customers more control over their portfolios in comparison to other robo-advisors, such as Betterment and Wealthfront. In addition, the service is free for individual investors, which is a huge advantage. The investment procedure is typical of most robo-advisors.
First, the risk tolerance of the investor is gauged through a questionnaire. Based on this, fund allocations are suggested. However, investors can choose what stocks to invest in and how much to allocate, based on the suggestions. This makes M1 Finance a more customizable and innovative investment platform than its competitors.
Assets Under Management
$4 Billion
This Wealthsimple review will demonstrate that the robo-advisor caters mainly to novice and ethical investors with its automated approach. However, it also offers personal advisors with its premium services.
Fees with Wealthsimple are a little on the high end, ranging from 0.4% - 0.5%. This is nearly double what the more competitive robo-advisors are offering. There is little to justify the higher fees, though it does offer fractional shares and human advisors are at hand. They have over $4 billion in assets under management and are based in Canada, with offices in New York and London.
Minimum Investment
$2,000
Assets Under Management
$210 Million
SigFig is a low-cost robo-investment platform, much like its rivals Betterment and Wealthfront
It charges a low fee of 0.25% and offers tax-loss harvesting, automatic rebalancing, the first $10,000 managed for free, and financial planning tools.
However, SigFig is distinct from other robo-advisors, in the sense that it is more of an add-on. You use your existing brokerage account and connect it to SigFig - the money stays where it is. If you are a new investor, SigFig will open an account for you with TD Ameritrade.
Assets Under Management
$100 Million
This Ellevest review will demonstrate that Ellevest is quite different than most robo-advisors. For one thing, they are orientated towards women as opposed to men. For another, they don’t rely entirely on investor risk preferences (though it is still factored in). This represents a departure from the Modern Portfolio Theory model that other investment strategies are based upon. Ellevest is aimed at a niche market - women who are new to investing with specific goals in mind.
Assets Under Management
$3 Billion
Blooom is an automated investment platform specializing in retirement planning. It has a clearly defined pricing model of just $10 a month with no minimum deposit. It is only for retirement accounts and not for other kinds of investment. This makes it one of the most niche robo-advisors on the market.
Assets Under Management
Unknown
Swell Investment (or simply “Swell”) is tapping into a niche market by investing in sustainable, responsible, and impact (SRI) stocks only. Due to the fact that it is an SRI-only advisor, the fees are a lot higher than most investment advisors. At 0.75%, they are three times more expensive than the industry standard. This Swell review will investigate if these fees are really worth it or not.
Assets Under Management
$170 million
WiseBanyan is the first free financial advisor and this company offers comparable services as a traditional advisor and pass the savings on to you. WiseBanyan does not charge investment management, trading, or rebalancing fees and has a team with deep financial industry experience. WiseBanyan, Inc. is an SEC registered investment advisor and all cash and securities held in WiseBanyan client accounts are protected by SIPC up to $500,000. This WiseBanyan review will outline the pros and cons of this investment advisory firm and describe all aspects of how it operates.
WiseBanyan has well-diversified portfolios of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to capture market returns. WiseBanyan securely manages and monitors everything, what will you choose depends on your age and risk temperament. This company was built on two pillars: minimize fees as much as possible and help people start investing sooner. This is a very good choice for beginner investors and investors with low balances because there's no minimum to become a client.
Assets Under Management
$1 billion
The investment advisory firm FutureAdvisor serves as a fiduciary and this investment adviser automatically monitors, rebalances, and tax-manages your current investments. The company is wholly owned by Blackrock, Inc and has a team of data scientists, finance professionals and software engineers. This FutureAdvisor review will outline the pros and cons of this investment advisory firm and describe all aspects of how it operates.
FutureAdvisor uses academically researched portfolio management principles and industry best practices and apply them to your situation and your existing investment accounts. FutureAdvisor’s portfolios are comprised of varying positions that include a mix of stocks and bonds. What will you choose depends on your age and risk temperament. It is also important to mention that FutureAdvisor works with Fidelity and TD Ameritrade accounts. To enroll in FutureAdvisor, you must be a legal U.S. resident and U.S. citizen, at least 18 years of age, have at least $5,000 in investable assets, and you must have a valid Social Security Number or Tax Identification Number.
Assets Under Management
N/A
Saxo Bank is a brokerage platform that allows its clients to access more than 35,000 different financial instruments from a range of different asset classes. The broker has been in business since 1992 and it was originally started as an investment bank in Denmark. Over the years, it has grown into a comprehensive online broker that offers an extensive range of CFDs and forex trading.
The broker has a global offering and it has a great reputation thanks to its many years in business. It is also under the regulation of many leading oversight bodies across the world. This includes the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK and the Danish Financial Services Agency (FSA).
This Saxo Bank review looks at the different aspects of this offer. This allows you to get an objective insight into what the platform has to offer its clients.
Assets Under Management
N/A
Swissquote was started back in 1996 and it is a publicly-traded company in Switzerland. The offering provides you with a great selection of a variety of different tradable asset classes. Swissquote is affiliated with the leading Swiss banks.
There are two different aspects to the company. There is the CFDs and forex offering that is based in the UK. Then there is the Swiss arm for futures, options, funds and stocks trading.
Swissquote is regulated by the likes of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). Therefore, you know you are dealing with a safe and fair broker. This Swissquote broker review looks at all the different aspects that make this broker what it is today.
