January Robo-Advisor News – More Choices for 2019
While 2018 was an exciting time for robo-advisor news, the new year brings with it the chance to look forward at new opportunities. The fields of robo-advisors and investing are no exception to this! If your new year’s resolution is to grow your wealth or finally try taking advantage of all that robo-advisors have to offer, you’re in luck: 2019 promises to be even better in terms of robo-advisor options.
Our robo-advisor news for the month represents a wide range of new opportunities for investors, including robo-advisors that have joined the market within the last few years, contenders for recognition among the top robo-advising platforms, and the promise of further development in the market.
New Robo-Advisors Have Hit The Market
New robo-advisors are always an exciting addition to the investing scene, and 2018 gave us a wide variety of new options. Recently, the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) launched a national robo-advising platform specifically for Canadian investors.
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The RBC robo-advisor is a low-fee robo, with 0.5% AUM management fees and a minimum balance of $1,000. While these numbers seem to be average in terms of robo-advisor offerings, there is one additional benefit that not many competitors carry: clients have access to human investment specialists via telephone.
These specialists will monitor portfolios and be able to give advice, which puts the RBC’s robo-advisor ahead of the game in many places.
RBC’s robo-advisor is not the only new platform to show up in 2018, however. Overstock.com also added a robo-advising platform to their offerings in 2018. The retailer’s robo is run by tZERO Advisors.
Investors can create a custom portfolio on their own, but Overstock’s robo-advisor also generates suggested portfolios based on user responses to basic questions. For example, users input their age, investment preferences, target retirement age, and other basic information in order to generate suggested investments that best match these parameters.
This robo-advisor offers automatic rebalancing that takes into consideration market factors, which makes it a strong contender in the robo-advisor arena.
High Performing Robo-Advisors Still Abound
The third quarter of 2018 showed that there is still steep competition among robo-advisors. According to Globe Newswire, Zacks Advantage, a low-cost robo with active management options, came out on top in competition with 26 other robo-advisors.
The reason for their victory? An intelligent combination of robo-advisor algorithms and human financial planner input to guide the investments in response to a fluctuating market. This combination of human and algorithm analysis makes for a powerful investment team.
Exciting Fintech Robo-Advisor Updates For 2019
Wealthsimple and Apex Clearing have combined with Empower Retirement to create a three-firm-strong set of digital investing tools and is slated for launch sometime in the second half of 2019.
These tools, which will be available to individual investors and those who already invest with Empower Retirement, will make use of Wealthsimple’s strength in the robo-advisor front, Apex’s back-end clearing knowledge, and Empower Retirement’s hefty customer relationship base to provide a well-rounded, comprehensive investing experience.
More January Robo-Advisor News
“Overstock.com Launches Robo-Advisor” by Bernice Napach at ThinkAdvisor.
“While talk persists about Amazon, Google or Apple entering the investment business as asset managers or providers of financial advice, one household retailer has made the move.
Overstock.com this week announced the launch of a digital investment platform powered by tZERO Advisors, within its FinanceHub.
‘This service introduces robo-advising investment management services to our millions of customers and continues Overstock’s commitment to bridging Wall Street and e-commerce,’ said Patrick M. Byrne, Overstock’s founder and CEO, in a press release.”
“RBC unveils low-fee robo-advisor service, investing in ETFs” by Barbara Shecter at Financial Post.
“Royal Bank of Canada is rolling out a national robo-advisor service, following a pilot test of the digital advice and investing platform on a smaller scale in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Portfolios generated on the RBC InvestEase platform will invest in index exchange traded funds (ETFs) developed by RBC Global Asset Management.
The robo-adviser platform, which will carry a management fee of 0.50% on investment balances of at least $1,000, will provide automated recommendations and advice, as well as ongoing portfolio management.”
“Zacks Advantage Earns Top Spot in Robo Performance Rankings. The Actively Managed, Boutique Robo Advisor, Tops Robo Report Ranking for First Time” at Globe Newswire.
“In the latest edition of Backend Benchmarking’s The Robo Report, an ongoing study that monitors the performance of the most well-known robo advisors, Zacks Advantage was ranked #1 in performance year-to-date among the top 26 Robo Advisors. This accomplishment is noteworthy considering the group monitored includes many of the largest banks and financial institutions in automated investing.
To get an accurate picture of how robo advisors perform and what services they provide, the authors of the Robo Report opened, funded, and invested in specific portfolios some of the top robo advisory firms. They publish their findings each quarter, with reports” on performance, fees, allocation decisions, services, and more.
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In the 9th edition of the Robo Report covering the third quarter of 2018, Zacks Advantage was named the top performer in the equity category and also for overall total portfolio performance year to date.”
“Empower Retirement Developing Robo-Advisor for Mass Affluent” by Barbara Napch at ThinkAdvisor.
“Empower Retirement, the second largest retirement plan record keeper in the U.S., has teamed up with hybrid robo-advisor Wealthsimple and custodian firm Apex Clearing to develop a digital wealth management platform for individual consumers.
The platform will offer one-stop shopping for investment advice, financial planning and insurance to mass affluent investors who may not currently work with a professional advisor. It will be available for existing Empower IRA customers as well as prospective individual investors and is expected to debut during the second half of next year.”
