Best Robo-Advisors for Investing

Many robo advisors minimize the importance of human advice. After all, the entire point of a robo advisor is to automate investment account management. At Betterment, you can get a bit of both automation and human advice. With three different membership tiers available, you can choose to pay more and get more personalized service. Betterment also offers fractional shares investing. (Check out our best fractional shares investing reviews to learn more about fractional shares.) If having access to experts and someone to walk you through the complexities of investing is important to you, Betterment is one of the best robo advisors out there.

Industry experts routinely hand out 5 stars for Betterment. Affordable, transparent pricing and a whole suite of features and customization options make Betterment a top option for finance experts, but expect to see some negative reviews from the investing public. When a fund doesn’t perform as well as expected or there is a short-term downturn, frustrated investors might write a negative review. There is no such thing as an investment that always goes up, so don’t expect to see constant jumps in your net worth. Instead, look for long-term trends in the upward direction. Here is our own in-depth Betterment review to give you more information about the service.

If you are looking for a more hands-off investment platform and have a hefty balance to invest, Betterment might be the best place to get started. When you make a large investment, you enjoy free management for up to a year. That fee waiver makes trying Betterment a risk-free proposition. That means Betterment is an option for virtually everyone. If you’re planning to eventually retire or build a nest egg to fund activities and boost your income, this platform has great, goal-based planning features that can help.

The round-up option is what sets Acorns apart from the competition. By automating investing, Acorns essentially automates the process of saving (and earning) money. Any savings you don’t need to think about are more likely to add up. This is part of the reason 401k plans do so well as an investment tool — the money comes out of your paycheck automatically. Acorns takes the same principle and applies it to more than just your retirement savings.

One of the most common complaints about Acorns comes down to the lack of options. Acorns automates the investment process, but it also limits the types of accounts available and only offers a few fund options to choose from when robo investing.

If you’re new to investing and just want to test the waters, Acorns can be a great way to get started. You’re only investing small change and usually buying fractions of shares. That adds up to a very small investment that can help you learn a lot. By watching the market and seeing how your Acorns account performs, you can eventually graduate to a more comprehensive investment management platform, though that doesn’t mean you should cancel your Acorns account. After all, automated transfers make it easy and relatively painless to grow your investment portfolio.

When making a robo advisor comparison, price is often the only real difference. With Personal Capital, features are what really make this personal finance product stand out. This robo investing platform goes beyond simply handling your investments and into real financial planning. You can link all of your accounts to your robo investor and monitor your financial health. A vast library of resources, continued access to human advice when needed and plenty of account options all help make Personal Capital the best option for those that can afford to open an account.

Personal Capital is one of those companies that easily stand at the top of the field. Not only do industry experts routinely give this robo investor the thumbs up, but so do consumers. It enjoys a near 5-star rating on virtually every site where it is mentioned, and even the complaints are more like service suggestions.

If you have $25,000 ready to invest, Personal Capital is an excellent option. The holistic approach to financial health and investing lets you build a long-term plan with your robo financial advisor. That can help you find more money to invest, plan for major purchases and find ways to minimize the tax burden on your investment income. If you don’t have much experience investing or want to start out with a smaller deposit, Personal Capital is not the place to get started.

Getting started with Ally Invest is quick and easy. Simply go onto the company website, fill out an online form and wait for an approval. Most new accounts are approved within a few minutes. Once you have an account opened, you need to fund your account and select your investments. If you want a managed portfolio, you will need to invest a minimum of $100.

When shopping for a robo advisor to handle your investing, most platforms don’t offer much self-management. They let you select some basic parameters, and then the platform handles the actual investments. With Ally Invest, you have the option of having a self-managed account. That allows you to quickly see what investment strategy is doing the best in current market conditions.

You’ll likely see a lot of positive reviews of Ally Invest, though you might not see as much about its managed account services. For many, Ally Invest is all about self-management, and it offers that service at a price that really can’t be beat. Even the managed services are priced competitively.

One common complaint is that Ally doesn’t offer cryptocurrency trading. That’s actually probably for the best since companies that specialize in cryptocurrency are a better choice. Our best cryptocurrency apps reviews breaks down how these companies operate.

If you want to start working on financial freedom, planning for your retirement or building your personal wealth, Ally Invest is a great place to get started. You can build a portfolio at relatively low cost, and as you grow your investment pool, eventually switch to a managed account. With Ally Invest, you can be as hands on or off as you like, so if you want more options when it comes to investing, Ally Invest should definitely make your list as a robo financial advisor.

When signing up for FutureAdvisor, you will enter your information, including age, income, planned retirement age and risk tolerance level. Using this information, FutureAdvisor will generate a personalized management plan for your investment accounts. Once your profile has been created, you can include retirement and non-retirement accounts in your portfolio. FutureAdvisor will manage IRAs including Roth, traditional, SEP and rollover accounts. Additionally, you are able to include your joint taxable and individual non-retirement accounts in the managed list of entities.

You also have the option to open new accounts with help from the team of financial advisors. A $10,000 initial deposit is required to obtain this service. After creating your account, you can contribute additional small deposits of at least $500 to be added to your investment portfolio.