Every single robo-advisor review on Stock Street is written by yours truly.  I don’t have a team of writers cranking out reviews – this is all me.

Do you know what I’ve found after months of reviews?

I realize there is no ONE best robo-advisor.

Do you care about socially responsible investing?

Do you care about a robo-advisor for a 529 plan or a 401k?

What’s interesting is that no one robo-advisor I’ve reviewed even fits in all three of those categories.

After lots of thinking and research, I’ve decided the proper way to review the best robo-advisors of 2018 is not to proclaim one robo-advisor best for everyone.

Rather…

It’s best to show you what robo-advisors are best for every category.

This way, if you care about a robo-advisor for socially responsible investing or a robo-advisor for your 401k plan, you know what is best.

After months writing robo-advisor reviews, this list of 2018’s best robo-advisors is the culmination of everything I’ve learned in Every. Single. Category.

You can read about my personal favorite robo-advisor at the very end 😉

This table of contents can help you navigate (collapse it if you don’t want to use it).

2018 Best Robo-Advisor Winners

Below are the category winners.  The explanations are after the category tables.

Best Robo-Advisor Winners by Category

Best Robo-Advisors Sub-Category

Taxable Accounts

Retirement Accounts

A quick note about passive vs. active robo-advisors. 

There is a distinct difference between a passive robo-advisor and an active robo-advisor.  A passive robo-advisor uses question based risk tolerance information to invest your money using an algorithm.  You answer some question about your financial picture and your risk appetite, then the company will automatically allocate your money accordingly.

A passive robo-advisor does not use a questionnaire and is more do-it-yourself.  The benefit of an active robo-advisor is the ability to create a more customized portfolio.  The downside is having to make decisions about your investment mix and the potential to monitor rebalancing yourself.

The Best Overall Passive Robo-Advisor is Charles Schwab Intelligent Portfolios

About Charles Schwab Intelligent Portfolios

There are some great passive robo-advisors out there.  Companies such as Betterment and Wealthfront have been considered the top robo-advisors for years in the passive category.  While Charles Schwab has been a leader in the stock brokerage industry for decades – it has not been known for its robo-advisor services.  The company has always been a low-cost broker, and it continues to hold true to that title in the age of robo-advisors.  Charles Schwab Intelligent Portfolios is a bit younger than companies like Betterment and Wealthfront.  However, Schwab has integrated an impressive robo-advisor that is hard to beat, mainly due to the extremely low fees it charges.

Why Charles Schwab?

Fees.  This is the main reason Charles Schwab is considered the best passive robo-advisor in 2018.  Almost all of Schwab’s competitors charge a management fee of 0.25% or more – Charles Schwab has no management fee.  Are you wondering how Schwab is able to provide this service and not charge a fee?  Because Schwab is a titan in the online brokerage industry, it has created its own in-house ETFs.  Charles Schwab is able to incorporate its own ETFs into Intelligent Portfolios.  This is a win-win scenario because you receive high quality low fee ETFs, Charles Schwab earns fees from your money inside it’s ETFs, and, hence, they don’t need to charge a management fee.  Other companies like Betterment and Wealthfront don’t own their ETFs, so they must charge a management fee in order to make a profit.  On top of this, Schwab offers tax loss harvesting for accounts with $50,000 + as well as automatic rebalancing.

Who is Charles Schwab best for?

• Low-cost investors – If you are looking for the lowest cost passive robo-advisor, Schwab is the winner. With no management fees, other large robo-advisors like Wealthfront and Betterment can’t compete with Schwab’s low fee.
• Passive investors – Charles Schwab Intelligent Portfolios will be good for you if you are a set-it-and-forget-it type of investor.
• Investors with taxable accounts over 50K – If you have a taxable account with over 50k, you will receive tax loss harvesting services from Schwab. This will help increase your long-term portfolio value by reducing taxes.

Who is Charles Schwab not for?

• Socially responsible investors – Unfortunately, Charles Schwab Intelligent Portfolios falls short on its socially responsible options.  However, Schwab does offer socially responsible investing ETFs in its brokerage platform.
• Those interested in planning software – Schwab offers technology for tracking life goals with Goal Tracker.  Unfortunately, Goal Tracker doesn’t integrate with outside accounts.  If you want a comprehensive financial picture, you will not be able to achieve this.  Other companies, like Wealthfront and Betterment, allow integration for goal tracking between everything from credit cards to savings accounts.
• Investors with less than $5,000 – The minimum amount of money needed to invest in Charles Schwab Intelligent Portfolios is $5,000.  If you don’t have this amount, you will not be able to invest in Schwab.

.

Best Overall Active Robo-Advisor is M1 Finance

About M1 Finance

M1 Finance is a young robo-advisor based out of Chicago.  The company has been targeting more of the active investors not looking for a strict set-it-and-forget-it algorithm based robo-advisor.  M1 Finance is great for investors who want a little more say on what they will be investing in.  You have the ability to create “pies”, which are the equivalent of portfolios.  You can create many different pies and create a portfolio based on these pies.  You can rebalance your pies with ease and there is a wide variety of ETFs to choose from.  ETFs are available from most of the big fund companies, such as Vanguard.

Why M1 Finance?

While there are not many active robo-advisors on the market, M1 Finance wins thanks to its lack of a fee and its rebalancing technology.  Like Charles Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, M1 Finance has no management fee.  Because there is no management fee, you can create a low-cost portfolio with low-cost ETFs.  If you want a more passive way of investing, you can even invest in their pre-made pies.  You can also create a portfolio based on risk tolerance.  One of the main differences between M1 Finance and Charles Schwab Intelligent Portfolios is that M1 Finance will not start your investment journey with a risk tolerance questionnaire.  You will need to decide your risk tolerance, then you can proceed from there and build your portfolio.

Who is M1 Finance best for?

• Low-fee investors – M1 Finance charges no management fee and allows you to create a portfolio out of many different ETFs.  You can choose low-cost ETFs and develop an inexpensive portfolio with great rebalancing technology.
• Active investors – Because M1 Finance does not use a  risk tolerance questionnaire to invest your money through an algorithm, you will need to decide your investment risk.  From there, you have the ability to create a portfolio based on your risk.  Also, if you want to blend both ETF investing with the purchase of individual stocks, this is where M1 Finance shines.  If you want to add stock positions to your passive portfolio, you can do so easily.
• Socially responsible investors – Socially responsible investing (SRI) is possible through the pre-made pies of M1 Finance.  Basically, a portfolio is already made for SRI investors.  If you to want to invest in this, all you need to do is buy the pre-made pie – they make it simple.
• Investors with a low amount to invest – The minimum amount to invest is $100.  This is quite low and allows you to test the company with a small amount before you commit.  If you don’t have much to invest (or want to test a small amount first) M1 Finance allows you to do so.

Who is M1 Finance not for?

• Investors looking for a passive algorithm – If you’re looking for a robo-advisor to automatically invest your money based on a proprietary algorithm, M1 Finance will not be for you.  The company does not use a question based risk tolerance to invest your money via an algorithm.  If you’re looking for this functionality, a different robo-advisor will be for you.
•  Investors looking for tax loss harvesting –  If you are invested in a taxable account and are looking for tax loss harvesting functionality, M1 Finance won’t be for you.  Unfortunately, the company does not currently provide tax loss harvesting.
  
• Investors looking for access to advisors –  Companies like Betterment and Charles Schwab have advisor services available for their investors.  M1 Finance is strictly a robo-advisor and does not offer access to “human” advisors.
  

Best Robo-Advisor for Ethical Investing

*Ethical investing has different sub-categories.  Both socially responsible investing (SRI) and impact investing are featured here.

The Best Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) Robo-Advisor is Wealthsimple

About Wealthsimple

Wealthsimple is somewhat new to the U.S. market.  The company has been popular in Canada for a few years and is currently available in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.  Wealthsimple is a passive robo-advisor that uses a risk tolerance questionnaire to invest your money with an algorithm.  The company has three risk tolerance levels: conservative, moderate, aggressive.  You can choose to invest in a traditional portfolio, socially responsible portfolio, or even a Halal investment portfolio.

Why Wealthsimple?

Compared to other passive robo-advisors such as Betterment and Wealthfront, Wealthsimple’s socially responsible investing portfolio is on a different level.  Unfortunately, Betterment and Wealthfront are not good options for socially responsible investing.  Both companies say they support SRI, but they fall way short when it comes to their allocation of investments for SRI.  Wealthsimple has a proper socially responsible investment platform that you can be confident in using if SRI is important to you.  Wealthsimple does have a slightly higher fee than Wealthfront and Betterment (if you invest less than 100K).  The fee for a Wealthsimple account under 100K is 0.50%, while the fee for an account with more than 100K is 0.40%   Compare this with Wealthfront with a 0.25% fee and it will be a bit more to invest with them.  However, if SRI is important to you, this may be worth it.

Who is Wealthsimple best for?

• Socially responsible investors – As mentioned above, Wealthsimple has a proper socially responsible investment portfolio compared to other passive robo-advisors.  If you are interested in a robo-advisor with a proper SRI portfolio, this will be it.
• Halal investors – Wealthsimple has a portfolio strategy based strictly for Halal investors.  If this is important to you, the portfolio is the same cost as a generic portfolio and an SRI portfolio.
• Investors seeking a low account minimum – Wealthsimple has no account minimum.  If you have a small amount of money or want to test the company, you can do so with a very small amount of money.

Who is M1 Finance not for?

• Low-cost U.S. investors – The fee for Wealthsimple (0.50% less than 100K and 0.40% on 100K+) is slightly higher than its competitors.  If fees are the most important factor in your choice of robo-advisor, Wealthsimple may not be for you.  However, none of the passive robo-advisors I have reviewed have a SRI portfolio that is adequate, so if you still want an SRI portfolio, Welathsimple will be best.
  
• Active investors – If you are an active investor and want to make unique choices with your investments or buy individual stocks, Wealthsimple will not be for you.  The company is strictly for passive investors.

The Best Robo-Advisor for Impact Investing is Swell Investing

About Swell Investing

Swell Investing is a bit of an anomaly in this list.  Technically – Swell isn’t exactly a robo-advisor.  The company doesn’t use a proprietary algorithm to invest your money based on a risk tolerance.  Rather, Swell researches individual companies and buys stock in those companies based on both the ability of the company to be considered an impact company and the potential for the company to grow as an investment.  Because Swell does do research, the company has a higher fee than other robo-advisors on this list at 0.75%.  One caveat is that the company does not charge an expense ratio for ETFs (because it buys individual stocks) so you save money by not having an ETF expense ratio.

Why Swell Investing

This company does a fantastic job when it comes to ethical investing.  Swell Investing researches every company based on both its potential profit and its ethical investment attributes/ability to make an impact.  Every company must fall within at least one category of the United Nations Sustainability Goals.   There are six different portfolios you can invest in based on sustainability: renewable energy, green tech, disease eradication, clean water, zero waste, healthy living.  The investments are completely transparent since you can view each investment in the portfolio and where Swell Investing categorizes it in terms of the United Nations Sustainability Goals.  While the fee is higher than other robo-advisors, the company goes the furthest in terms of ethical investing.

Who is Swell Investing best for?

• Ethical investing, socially responsible investing (SRI), and impact investing – Swell Investing is best in terms of ethical investing and it goes further than Wealthsimple in terms of the depth of research into the ethics of a company.  If the fee were lower, it would also be considered best for SRI as well as impact investing.  If ethical investing, SRI, and/or impact investing, are most important to you, this company wins.

Who is Swell Investing not for?

• Low-cost investors – Swell Investing charges a management fee of 0.75%.  Those who are willing to pay this management fee are likely those who care most about impact investing / ethical investing.  If you do not care about this style of investing, the management fee will likely be too high for you to want to invest with the company.
  
• Passive algorithm based investors – Swell Investing does not use your risk tolerance to invest your money.  You have the option of investing in any of its six portfolios.  There are no bonds in the portfolio, so it is a bit riskier than other robo-advisors.
  
• Investors looking for tax loss harvesting –  If you have a taxable account and are looking for tax-loss harvesting, Swell doesn’t offer this, so it won’t be for you.

The Lowest Fee Robo-Advisors Include Both M1 Finance and Charles Schwab Intelligent Portfolios

Why M1 Finance and Charles Schwab Intelligent Portfolios?

Most robo-advisors charge a management fee of 0.25% or more.  Some robo-advisors charge fees up to 0.5% and others go even higher than that.  Both Charles Schwab and M1 Finance carry no management fees.  They do have fees on the ETFs (called expense ratios) but those fees can be very low since they offer low cost ETFs.  It is hard to beat a robo-advisor not charging a management fee.  The only way some robo-advisors can compete with M1 Finance and Charles Schwab Intelligent Portfolios is via advanced tax loss harvesting.  Tax loss harvesting can reduce the taxation of your taxable accounts.  This can bring down the overall cost of your investments and add to the amount of money you have to invest.  In some cases, tax loss harvesting can net more money than a lower fee.

The Best Overall Robo-Advisor Based on Technology is Betterment

There is an age-old debate in the robo-advisor world.  There are those who believe Betterment is the best robo-advisor and those who believe Wealthfront is the best robo-advisor.  While I don’t think either of them is the “best”, they do have the best technology.  It’s difficult to judge which of the companies have the better technology because they overlap in many areas and have some high-quality tech.  My analysis brings Betterment slightly ahead of Wealthfront in terms of technology.  That being said, they both have a ton of great technical features.

Why Betterment?

The debate between the best technology for a robo-advisor is really between Wealthfront and Betterment.   It’s a close call, but Betterment has a bit of an edge.  Both companies offerin smart beta, tax loss harvesting, goal based technology, external account linking, and rebalancing.  Wealthfront offers something called risk parity, and stock-level tax loss harvesting.  Betterment does not offer these services, however, it offers something called a tax coordinated portfolio, a flexible portfolio, and an income portfolio option.  In the end, my conclusion may be a bit subjective, but I believe the technology offered by Betterment is more important than the technology offered by Wealthfront. Mainly, I don’t believe in using a robo-advisor to try and “beat the market”.  Wealthfront’s risk parity portfolio is basically trying to create a better gain by managing risk differently and using leverage.  I don’t care much for this strategy, and I think Betterment’s tax coordinated portfolio is more important than Wealthfront’s risk parity strategy.  You may disagree, but that is my conclusion.

Who is Betterment best for?

• Investors looking for goal-based investing – Betterment has fantastic goal-based technology.  You can set life goals, such as buying a home or sending your child to college.  The system can link to external accounts and help you better manage your finances.
• Investors wanting a set-it-and-forget-it, passive form of investing – If you want to merely answer a few questions at the beginning of your investment journey and let Betterment take care of the rest, the company can do that for you.
• Interested in access to a CFP through Betterment Premium – Betterment Premium will be an option for those looking for access to a CFP and having at least $100,000.  Once you hit the $100,000 threshold, you qualify for Betterment Premium, however, you will pay 0.40% instead of 0.25%.

Who is Betterment not for?

• Investors wanting to choose your own allocations –  If you want to choose what you invest in, Betterment doesn’t allow you to choose your investment allocation.  It does allow you to change your weighting a bit, but you don’t have a ton of room to tweak the strategy.  If you are looking for this, Betterment may not be for you.
  
• Investor wanting individual stocks and securities – If you want to buy and hold individual securities like stocks, you will not be able to do this with Betterment.
  
• Socially responsible investor (because their SRI isn’t good) – I do not believe Betterment has an adequate socially responsible investment strategy.  They “tilt” their strategy towards SRI, but they do not do a full SRI strategy.  I believe you should use a different company if this is important to you.
  
• Someone wanting the lowest fees AND doesn’t care about set-it-and-forget-it investing – Betterment increases their fee for money over $100,000.  While they increase their fee from 0.25% to 0.40%, they do allow you access to a CFP.  If you do not care about access to CFP help, you may not care about this.
  

The Best Robo-Advisor for Company Retirement Plans (401k, 403b, 457, 401a) is Blooom

About Blooom

Blooom was started by three guys: Kevin, Randy, and Chris.  Kevin and Chris were financial advisors and Randy was the tech guy.  They basically realized there was a big opportunity in the retirement plan space to help normal people manage their qualified plans.  They are the best robo-advisor offering this type of technology right now and most plans can be linked to their platform.  I was a financial advisor and I’ve seen many retirement plans that were completely mismanaged.  This is mostly because individuals manage their accounts – you don’t have enough money for it to be professionally managed.  This can lead to all sorts of bad decisions.  Blooom will take your information and create an allocation of stock and bond funds so you can automate the process.

Why Blooom?

When you link your retirement plan to Blooom, the company will automatically allocate your money based on your available options.  Blooom will first remove the options you shouldn’t be invested in (it usually removes the highest fee funds).  Then, it will create an asset allocation based on your risk tolerance questionnaire.  It will then allocate your money and keep it balanced.  This is a great service since many investors have no idea what their 401k, 403b, etc…are even invested in.  The company will let you stay allocated correctly and it charges a completely transparent fee of $10 monthly.  The more money you have, the less the fee is as a percentage of your assets.

Who is Blooom best for?

• Anyone who wants to automate their retirement plan – If you want to sleep well knowing your retirement plan is not sitting in a moneymarket making no money (which I’ve seen plenty of times) Blooom will keep your money invested according to your risk tolerance.  If you want to answer a few questions and let Blooom keep your money invested in your 401k, 403b, or 457, then it may be for you.
• Investors with higher account balances – Since Blooom charges a flat fee, the more money you have the less the fee is as a percentage of our money.   For this reason, higher accounts actually pay less as a portion of the money invested.

Who is Blooom not for?

• Investors with low account balances – If you have a small amount of money, the fee for Blooom will be high as a percentage of your assets.  While you can use Blooom if you have a low account balance, you may not want to do this.
• Anyone who wants to manage their retirement account themselves – If you want to make your own decisions in terms of asset allocation in your 401k, Blooom may not be the best for you since it will automatically make the investment allocations for you.

The Best Robo-Advisor with a Human Touch is Betterment

Why Betterment

Betterment is one of the only Robo-Advisors that provides access to financial advisors and even Certified Financial Planners (CFP).  Not everyone cares about the human element when it comes to a robo-advisor.  However, if you are one of those who like the ability to interact with a financial professional, Betterment may be for you.  If you have less than 100K, you will have access to a financial advisor via Betterment’s messaging system.  If you have general questions about investing, you can get answers.  If you have more than 100K, you will have access to a CFP.  While a CFP may be great, remember that you will pay an extra 15 percentage points when you reach an account balance of over 100K and have access to CFPs (0.40% instead of 0.25%).

The Best Robo-Advisor for 529 Plans is Wealthfront

About Wealthfront

Wealthfront is a Silicon Valley-based company that has been around for years.  It is one of the oldest robo-advisors and directly competes with Betterment.  Like Betterment, the company is considered an independent robo-advisor since it is not owned by one of the larger brokerage firms.  From a technology standpoint, Wealthfront is in the top of robo-advisors, just behind Betterment (as I wrote above).  The company offers tax loss harvesting, portfolio rebalancing, goal based investing, and more.

Why Wealthfront?

It’s an interesting fact that not many robo-advisors offer 529 plan services.  Perhaps the market is not large enough for other robo-advisors to jump on this segment of the market?  For whatever reason, Wealthfront is one of the only robos this segment.  You can invest in a 529 plan for the normal fee of 0.25%.

Who is Wealthfront best for?

• Passive investors – If you are a passive investor looking for a set-it-and-forget-it type of investment, Wealthfront can be for you.
• Investors with taxable accounts – If you have a taxable account, Wealthfront will work well for you thanks to their advanced tax-loss harvesting.
• Investors interested in college planning – If you are interested in a robo-advisor that also has a 529 college savings account option, Wealthfront has this option for you.
• Those interested in planning software – Wealthfront Path offers a great platform that links to your external accounts and will help you better understand your financial path.

Who is Wealthfront not for?

• Socially responsible investors – Unfortunately, Wealthfront falls very short on its socially responsible options.
• Investors who want control – If you want to pick and choose your allocations, funds, or even individual stocks, Wealthfront’s algorithmic based investment solution won’t be for you.
• Investors who want a human touch – For those investors who want access to an actual human will not like Wealthfront’s robotic platform.  Unlike Betterment, Wealthfront does not include options for interacting with financial professionals.

The Best Robo-Advisor for Automated Savings is Acorns

About Acorns

Acorns is a robo-advisor that helps you save and invest more money.  The app is great for those who have trouble saving because it can automatically save some money when you spend.  I know this sounds weird, but the company can be attached to your accounts, and when you make purchases with your cards, Acorns will round up your transaction to the nearest $1 and invest that money (for example if you buy a coffee for $2.60 Acorns can round the transaction up to $3 and invest $0.40).

Why Acorns?

As mentioned above, Acorns invests your change by rounding up your transactions.  The company is great for those who have trouble saving, and you can invest the money in ETFs.  The fee is $1 per month for under $1 million (free for college students) so it’s not too much.  However, if you do not fund the account, that $1 will be high as a proportion of your account balance.  In general, the app is easy to use and can be a great way to trick yourself into investing by doing something you maybe shouldn’t be doing, which is spending.

Who is Acorns best for?

• Those having trouble saving – While the amount of money you will save with Acorns by “rounding up” is likely not the appropriate amount you should be saving each month, it can help you save non-the-less.  Anyone having trouble savings can use the app to “trick” themselves into saving.
• College students – Since Acorns charges no fee for college students, it can be a great platform for saving some extra money.

Who is Acorns not for?

• Do-it-yourself investors – If you looking for a robo-advisor with access to individual securities like stocks, Acorns won’t be for you.
  
• Investors looking for full robo-advisor functionality – Acorns lacks some of the features you will find with companies like Wealthfront and Betterment.  There are no tax loss harvesting features and no goal based investment technology.
  

GET $5 WITH A NEW ACORNS ACCOUNT

2018 Best Robo-Advisors by Subcategory

Why subcategories?

Some robo-advisors have “sweet spots”, and, for some robo-advisors, there will be a minimum investment threshold.  For example, Wealthfront has a $500 minimum deposit and when you invest over $100,000, the company offers an individual stock portfolio for tax loss harvesting purposes.  This can be great if you have a taxable portfolio and more than $100,000.  However, if you have an IRA, you will not benefit from the tax loss harvesting, and an alternate robo-advisor may be better.

Taxable Accounts – Best Robo- Advisors

The Best Passive Robo-Advisor for Taxable Accounts Under 50K is Betterment

Why Betterment?

In the $50,000 threshold, the preferred robo-advisor is Betterment.  Betterment fits well here because the company offers high quality tax-loss harvesting and has no account minimum.  When opening a taxable account, a robo-advisor offering tax-loss harvesting can lead to more money thanks to tax savings.  As mentioned above, Betterment has a slight edge over Wealthfront in terms of technology, and this is the reason Betterment is featured here.

The Best Passive Robo-Advisor for Taxable Accounts 50K – 100K is Charles Schwab Intelligent Portfolios

At the $50,000 threshold, Charles Schwaba begins to offer tax loss harvesting services.  This is where Charles Schwab is hard to beat.   At this dollar amount, not only does Schwab offer tax loss harvesting just like Betterment and Wealthfront, it also has no management fee.  This combination makes Charles Schwab a great robo-advisor in this category.

The Best Passive Robo-Advisor for Taxable Accounts 100K+ is Wealthfront

Once we reach the $100,000 threshold, Wealthfront begins to shine.  When clients invest over $100,000 with Wealthfront, they receive Stock-level Tax Loss Harvesting.  This is an advanced tax loss harvesting strategy where Wealthfront will buy the individual stocks that make up an index, instead of you owning an index fund/ETF.  This allows Wealthfront to sell individual stocks at gains and losses to wash as much tax as possible.  The savings in taxation can add to the rate of return and is worth the Wealthfront management fee of 0.25%.

Retirement Accounts – Best Robo-Advisors

The Best Passive Robo-Advisor for Retirement Accounts Under 5K is Betterment

When it comes to retirement accounts, there is no opportunity for tax loss harvesting like there is in a taxable account.  Betterment is best for retirement accounts under $5,000 for two reasons.  First, as stated earlier in this article, Betterment has a slight edge on Wealthfront from a technology standpoint, yet they share the same fee in this 5K threshold (0.25%).  The second reason is that Charles Schwab Intelligent Portfolios has a minimum balance requirement of $5,000 while Betterment has no minimum – which is why Schwab is not listed at this 5K threshold.  Because of these factors, Betterment is best for this category.

The Best Passive Robo-Advisor for Retirement Accounts 5K+ is Charles Schwab Intelligent Portfolios

Charles Schwab Intelligent Portfolios is best for any retirement account over $5,000.  Schwab is not listed in the sub-5K category because there is an account minimum of $5,000 for the robo-advisor.  Because there is no tax loss harvesting capabilities in retirement accounts, Schwab is best for any retirement account over $5,000.  This is because of Schwab’s lack of a management fee, whereas Betterment and Wealthfront have management fees of 0.25% and up.

My preferred Robo-Advisor is M1 Finance

At the beginning of the articl,e I told you I would reveal my preferred robo-advisor at the end of the article.

For my personal taste, the best robo-advisor for me is M1 Finance.

As you may very well know from this website, I like investing.  I enjoy having a say in what I am invested in, and I like being an active investor.  M1 Finance gives me the functionality to invest in individual stocks for FREE, and it’s hard to beat free.  It even has low-cost ETFs available with no trading fees.

The company also has a varied of premade portfolios (pies) that I can use instead of doing all my own research.  This can come in handy in areas I am not well versed in  For example: creating a socially responsible portfolio.  M1 Finance has a premade socially responsible portfolio, so I don’t have to do my own research.

While I don’t receive tax loss harvesting services, I do have access to sophisticated rebalancing technology.

In the end, M1 Finance is my favorite robo-advisor, mainly because I like taking a more active role in my investments, and M1 Finance is completely free.

2018’s Best Robo-Advisor Conclusion

There are some fantastic robo-advisors offering powerful features to help you better invest your money.

The robo-advisor you choose will likely be based on multiple factors.  These can range from the management fee charged, the account options, the sophistication of technology, etc.

Whatever your unique preferences are, I hope this review helped you better understand the robo-advisor space and how each company may compete based on different factors.

Now…

I want to hear from you.

Do you use any of these robo-advisors?

Do you use a robo-advisor not featured here?

Do you disagree with any of my review?

I look forward to hearing from you in the comments below!

Disclaimer: These are the ideas and opinions of the author.  The author is not responsible for the actions of those who read the posts on this blog.  Each individual reader has a unique situation and unique needs.  This blog is not intended to solve those unique situations of the readers.  This blog is not liable for decisions made by the readers of this blog.

Did I provide value?  I hope so, and I want you to know this article includes affiliate links.  Hopefully, I created enough value and you want to support me – here is my affiliate link disclaimer for full transparency  DISCLAIMER

Designed by Freepik