FutureAdvisor Review 2022 – US Robo For More Than Just for Retirement

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FutureAdvisor Review. FutureAdvisor is an online investment advisor that automatically manages your investments. It helps you do this in an advantageous way by using modern portfolio theory (or MPT) to build and maintain a portfolio to maximize your return based on certain levels of risk indicated by your investor profile.

FutureAdvisor is an easy-to-use Robo advisor that offers features such as tax-loss harvesting and managed 529 accounts. However, the fees are a bit on the high side and its asset allocation isn’t as flexible as that of other services.

FutureAdvisor competes with similar online investment advisory services such as Personal Capital, Wealthfront, and Betterment.

FutureAdvisor Review, How does it stack up against them? It depends on what services you’re looking for.

Review What Is FutureAdvisor Robo?

The company launched operations in March 2012. It’s led by a team of finance professionals, data scientists and software engineers backed by the same venture capital team that backed PayPal and Google.

The service offers direct management of taxable investment accounts — both individual and joint. It also offers direct management of IRAs, including traditional, Roth, rollover and SEP IRAs.

With direct management, you grant the service the authority to trade in your accounts on your behalf. Since the last update, FutureAdvisor has revamped some of their services and now has new features and offerings to help you reach retirement, personal and other life goals.

Review How Does FutureAdvisor Work?

FutureAdvisor works with Fidelity and TD Ameritrade accounts. These firms charge their usual transaction fees for trades within the account, in addition to any fees you may pay to FutureAdvisor.

Once you sign up for a FutureAdvisor account, you can get started by linking your investing accounts or manually reporting your holdings. The service will analyze everything via the dashboard and then provide you with analysis and recommendations tailored to your portfolio and specific goals.

Your recommended retirement plan will be broken down into nine simple steps. The software will then determine how well you’re doing and where there’s room for improvement. The recommendations will show you exactly why FutureAdvisor recommends these changes, and the updates will be made in real-time.

Management includes the following services — depending upon the plan selected:

  • Index fund investing that favours low-fee index funds, primarily with Vanguard or iShares.
  • Personalized diversification through a specific portfolio based on your age, risk tolerance and investment horizon.
  • Low fees, by making portfolio fees transparent to help you pick lower fee options.
  • Rebalancing recommendations –- typically two to four times per year -– based on significant changes in your portfolio.
  • Emphasis on value and small-cap funds for greater long-term returns includes U.S. and internationally centred funds.
  • Tax harvesting, by monitoring your holdings and looking for positions with at least $1,000 in harvestable losses at current market prices.

FutureAdvisor Fees & Features Review

Minimum Investment $10000
Fees 0.50%/year
Accounts Taxable, Joint, Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, Rollover IRA, SEP IRA, Coverdell, 529, 401(k) Guidance
401(k) Assistance Yes
Tax Loss Harvesting Yes
Portfolio Rebalancing Yes
Automatic Deposits Daily, Weekly, Biweekly, Monthly, Bi-monthly and Quarterly
Advice Automated
Smart Beta No
Socially Responsible No
Fractional Shares No
Access Web Based, iPhone App, Android App
Customer Service Phone: M-F 8:30A-5P PT; Email
  • Retirement Planning — A service that analyzes your funds, makes recommendations and offers tailored advice to better your portfolio and holdings.
  • Investment Management — This service costs 0.50% annually and affects only the assets that you select for them to directly manage.
  • Comparison of Advisors — One benefit to using FutureAdvisor’s Investment Management service is that you’ll get access to a chart that shows the difference of returns and fees when using FutureAdvisor versus a traditional financial advisor.
  • College Savings — Advice to help you create an optimized plan for your finances and children’s future education plans. FutureAdvisor can open and manage your 529 accounts, as well as handle disbursements to the school.
  • Investing Library — FutureAdvisor has an entire library of articles and educational content to help you find the answers you’re looking for.

FutureAdvisor Pricing Review

FutureAdvisor charges a flat annual management fee of 0.5% of assets directly managed. This means that those investments and accounts that FirstAdvisor doesn’t directly trade in — such as your 401(k) — are managed for free.

FutureAdvisor Portfolio Review

FutureAdvisor’s portfolios are comprised of varying positions in low-cost index-based ETFs. It’s a balance of stocks and bonds, depending on your age and risk temperament. See their allocation chart to determine where you might fit.

Following are some of the stocks and bonds FutureAdvisor uses:

Stocks

Sector ETF Ticker
U.S. Vanguard US Total Stock Market VTI
U.S. iShares S&P 500 Index ETF IVV
Foreign iShares MSCI EAFE Value Index EFV
Foreign Schwab Fundamental International Large Company Index FNDF
Real Estate Vanguard REIT Index Fund VNQ
Real Estate SPDR Dow Jones International RelEst ETF RWX

Bonds

Sector ETF Ticker
U.S. iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond AGG
U.S. Schwab US Aggregate Bond SCHZ
Foreign Government iShares International Treasury Bond IGOV
Foreign Vanguard Total International Bond BNDX
Short-term U.S. Inflation-Protected Treasury Bonds iShares 0-5 Year TIPS STIP
Short-term U.S. Inflation-Protected Treasury Bonds PIMCO 1-5 Year U.S. TIPS Index STPZ

FutureAdvisor Screenshots

Futureadvisor Planning Tools FutureAdvisor Review FutureAdvisor is an easy to use Robo advisor that offers features such as tax loss harvesting and managed 529 accounts.
Futureadvisor Planning Tools FutureAdvisor Review FutureAdvisor is an easy to use Robo advisor that offers features such as tax loss harvesting and managed 529 accounts.
Futureadvisor Recommended Allocation FutureAdvisor Review FutureAdvisor is an easy to use Robo advisor that offers features such as tax loss harvesting and managed 529 accounts.
Futureadvisor Recommended Allocation FutureAdvisor Review FutureAdvisor is an easy to use Robo advisor that offers features such as tax loss harvesting and managed 529 accounts.
Futureadvisor Portfolio Suggestions FutureAdvisor Review FutureAdvisor is an easy to use Robo advisor that offers features such as tax loss harvesting and managed 529 accounts.
Futureadvisor Portfolio Suggestions FutureAdvisor Review FutureAdvisor is an easy to use Robo advisor that offers features such as tax loss harvesting and managed 529 accounts.

BlackRock Purchase

The buyout of FutureAdvisor by BlackRock Solutions proved that this robo advisor is here to stay. Currently, FutureAdvisor manages over $950 million in assets and will continue to serve both existing and new individual investors from its home base in San Francisco.

So why is BlackRock interested in FutureAdvisor? They plan to sell the company’s automated advisory services to other banks, securities firms and insurance companies that are customers of BlackRock.

This new company sells a system that allows financial institutions to place trades and assess how those trades will affect their portfolios’ risk profiles, among other features. This makes the buyout with FutureAdvisor a good match for both companies.

FutureAdvisor Pros & Cons Review

Pros

  • Ability to Link Up Brokerage Account — You can link up and have FutureAdvisor automatically perform the trades to get your account into their recommend asset allocation. Though currently only custodian with TD Ameritrade and Fidelity.
  • More Flexibility — Unlike Betterment or Wealthfront in which you must transfer assets to their firms. FutureAdvisor gives recommendations based upon your existing portfolio.
  • Review Trades Before Adjusting — FutureAdvisor will review your existing investments before making recommendations, taking into account tax implications of selling what you already have.
  • Easy-to-Use Interface — Better user interface when compared to Wealthfront, but not as good as Betterments.
  • Tax-Loss Harvesting — Decrease your taxes by taking investment losses and pair up with your gains. Though retirement accounts don’t have to be concerned about this issue.
  • Managed 529 Accounts — FutureAdvisor will manage your 529 college savings plan and even help with distributions, all for fees you pay for low-cost ETFs within the plan.

Cons

  • Higher Fees Than Competition — When compared to the other robo advisors FutureAdvisor is slightly on the expensive side.
  • Limited Asset Allocation — Asset allocation isn’t as flexible when compared to Betterment’s service.
  • Not for Overall Financial Planning — Unlike Mint.com or Personal Capital, FutureAdvisor can not be used for daily finance and budgeting.

FutureAdvisor Review Summary

If you’re looking for a service to maintain your brokerage account, FutureAdvisor might be a great choice for you. It’s great for set-it-and-forget-it investors.

However, note that the fees can quickly add up, when you compound your annual FutureAdvisor fee with the fees that the brokerage service you use for each trade will charge.

 

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