Best Robo Advisory: Top 6 Robo Advisors (2023)

Betterment has maintained its name among the top-ranked robo-advisors on the market for over a decade, on lists collected on some of the most well-regarded online rankings. They are one of the pioneers of the robo-advisor investment strategy and hold great value in this space. 

Across all categories, Betterment covers it all from competitive annual fees, no minimum balance requirement, customizable accounts, and access to live financial planners. 

Upon signing up, you’ll be prompted to fill out their questionnaire stating why you want to invest, your investing goals, and making your first deposit. With this information and funding, Betterment places you in a risk-appropriate investment portfolio of exchange-traded funds (ETFs). 

The robo-advisor will determine the best way to diversify your portfolio’s asset classes based on market conditions and your personal financial needs. You can also choose from other types of portfolios, including retirement plans such as IRAs. 

This platform also provides automatic tax-loss harvesting and tax-coordinated portfolio options. 

Betterment may be a perfect choice for beginner investors looking for a hands-off yet rewarding approach to investing.  

Acorns is a great investing tool for beginners who want to step into the investing world without thinking or lifting a finger to do so.

This tool allows investors to link their checking accounts and uses the spare change from each transaction, rounded up to a dollar, to place funds into a savings or investment portfolio.

With this platform, you can access cash back options at designated ATM locations and educational content available to become more investing savvy.

The downside of Acorns is that there can be high fees on account balances, so you must keep in mind staying within balance limitations. 

SoFi automated investing charges one of the lowest fees for robo-advisor services on the market today. Along with charging no annual advisory fee, the ETFs stocked in your investment portfolio will also have minimum fees. You can open an investment account with SoFi Invest for just $1. 

The initial process when signing up to work with a robo-advisor is pretty standard. You will log in and fill out a questionnaire describing your financial goals. The robo-advisor will collect the information and create a suitably diversified investment portfolio, starting with around 10 different ETFs. 

One possible downside to investing with SoFi’s robo-advisor is that they tend to stock portfolios with their own in-house ETFs, similar to Vanguard’s process. 

For beginner investors looking to dip their toes into the world of robo-advisory investments, SoFi is a good option.

Wealthfront is a trailblazing wealth management platform with relatively low fees and powerful financial tools. 

Getting started with Wealthfront is pretty straightforward. Once you make your initial deposit of $500, Wealthfront will quickly set up a diversified investment portfolio of ETFs, ranging from large-cap companies to municipal bonds. 

Financial planning is Wealthfront’s wheelhouse. After you feed the automated system your risk tolerance and goals and link your bank accounts, Wealthfront will offer two advisory services to help you efficiently manage your investments: Path and Autopilot. 

The Path tool creates a bird’s-eye view of your current financial situation. Autopilot automates your investment strategy, keeping a set amount in cash accounts and automatically transferring the rest to managed portfolios.

E* TRADE can be an excellent option for robo-advice as they have extensive investor tools, education resources, and diversified portfolios with not only ETFs but also mutual funds and index funds.

Like any other robo-advisor service, you must fill out a questionnaire describing why you want to invest, your risk tolerance, your current financial situation, and your future financial timeline and goals. 

From Morgan Stanley, E*TRADE’s robo-advisor is called Core Portfolios. There are three core portfolios, including: 

• Conservative: 40% stocks and 60% bonds
• Moderate: 60% stocks and 40% bonds
• Aggressive: 80% stocks and 20% bonds 

You must select the asset location where you place your funds, sit back and allow the robo-advisor to do the heavy work for you. Typically, like many other robo- advisors, your investment portfolio will be made up of ETFs, providing diversification and lower fees. 

A great feature of most robo-advisors, including E*TRADE, is that if your portfolio’s allocation fluctuates too far from the desired asset allocation, the portfolio will rebalance itself and return to its original target. 

Vanguard Digital Advisor can be an excellent financial planning tool for those who are fresh into their career and want a simple investment tool that doesn’t have complex features but rather an easy way of investing money for a designated purpose.

With Vanguard’s basic services, you can set up your retirement fund, savings, and auto rebalancing for a low annual advisory fee on your account balance. 

Similarly to SoFi, Vanguard will have you fill out a questionnaire and then put together an investment portfolio that fits your risk tolerance and needs. Still, the catch is that your portfolio will be guaranteed to be stocked with inexpensive Vanguard ETFs, which will charge very low management fees for investment portfolio holders and some of the lowest expense ratios out there.

One of the downsides of opening a Vanguard robo-advisory investment account is that you will need $3,000 to get started. If that is a stretch for your current budget, you should not go with Vanguard Digital Advisor. Instead, build up your emergency fund savings before allocating funds for investing services.