A Look at the Top Robo-Advisor Services. Learn How Robo-Advisors Work and How to Find the Best One for You in 2020
Robo Advisors are a relatively new invention in the investing world and they have gained in popularity in recent years. To find out if robo advisors are smart investing tools for you and your portfolio, we’ll take a look at how they work, how they can benefit investors, the fees they charge, and we’ll take a look at the top robo advisors on the market today.
A robo-advisor is, like the name suggests, a form of automated investment management service that requires little to no human interaction once the client makes the initial contact. Sometimes called digital financial advice, robo-advisors are executed by software that utilize mathematical rules or algorithms to calculate asset allocation and investment selection for the client.
The first step in working with a robo-advisor is to find the appropriate asset allocation and specific investment recommendations for the investor client. To initiate this process, the client will typically complete a risk tolerance questionnaire or similar form that requires the client to answer questions about their personal financial goals and tolerance for risk.
The investment type most often used with robo-advisory services is Exchange-Trade Funds (ETFs). The robo-advisor tool may also use other investment security types, such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, futures, and real estate may be used. After the initial investments are selected and allocated, the robo-advisor software will make periodic adjustments over time, similar to the rebalancing process that advisors and investors do manually.
The benefits of robo-advisors can be summed up in one word—automation. Whenever possible, automating one’s finances is almost always a smart financial move. Examples of automation in personal finance include automatic deposits from payroll, systematic investment plans, and automatic rebalancing (most common with retirement accounts, such as 401(k)s).
Probably the greatest benefit or advantage of an online, automated investment service that investors can get with robo-advisors is that the removal of the human element also removes the potential of portfolio-wrecking decisions that both investors and advisors can make when overcome with damaging emotions like fear and greed.
Plenty of research and statistics show that average annual returns of portfolios are reduced by poor human judgment, such as selling in a panic or buying to chase higher returns. That’s not considering other common investing mistakes, such as holding too many income-based investments in a taxable account or paying expenses that are too high.
Robo-advisors have been around since 2008, which is not old in the investment world, but there are already hundreds of services. While each variation of robo-advisor is similar, there are some subtle differences, including fees.
Here are some of the top robo-advisor services available on the market today, including the basics of operation and their fees:
The question of whether or not investors need robo-advisors is a highly subjective one. It’s not much different than asking if you can do it yourself or hire a human advisor. If you are able to adhere to the simple rules of asset allocation, use index funds, automate finances where possible, use only term insurance, keep debt under control, and you won’t cross over $2 million in assets any time soon, you can certainly manage your own finances.
Investors that are capable of finding low-cost funds, diversifying assets, and avoiding errors made by human emotion can do well to invest on their own without the help of an advisor — human or not. But if an investor wants to completely remove themselves from the management of their investments, a robo advisor may be worth considering.
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