Are Robo-Advisors Worth It A Complete Guide - Money Under 30

Are Robo-Advisors Worth It A Complete Guide - Money Under 30 Are Robo-Advisors Worth It? A Complete Guide Robo-advisors like Betterment and Wealthfront have been exploding in the past two years.  In November of 2015, Betterment announced that they had surpassed $3 billion in assets under management. Wealthfront is not too far behind with $2.6 billion. Investment services like these offer convenience and expertise for a fraction of the cost of a financial advisor. While significantly cheaper than a flesh-and-blood financial advisor, robo-advisors arent free.  Fees for Betterment are .25 percent for all balances under $2 million (no additional fees if your balance goes over $2 million); Wealthfront manages your first $10,000 free, and its  fees start at .25 percent once youve accumulated at least $10,001, then drops to .15 percent when your balance reaches $1000,000. But, it should be noted that Wealthfront offers completely free financial planning that can help you plan for retirement, college expenses, home buying, and more. How to understand investment fees When comparing the cost of a mutual fund or ETF, you need to look at the expense ratio. The expense ratio is the percentage fee the fund charges to  pay for its management. Actively managed funds (ones that have a person running it) are the most costly. Index funds are passively managed and  cost much less. Target-date funds A type of index fund is a  target-date fund, which aims for your planned date of retirement, shifting investments as you get older. This would be a very simple way for you to set it and forget it when investing for retirement. Pick a date that youll expect to retire, and put all your money in that fund. According to Morningstar, the average expense ratio of target date funds is around 0.78 percent. So for every $100,000 you have invested in the fund, youll pay $780 in fees. But thats the average target-date fund.  A Vanguard target-date fund could cost as little as 0.14 percent. Thats like getting 82 percent off! ETFs But what if you dont want to use a target-date fund? What if you want a little more freedom and flexibility? At Vanguard, you can pick up well-diversified exchange-traded funds (like the Total Stock Market ETF) for as little as .05 percent. ETFs are a newish innovation, and are similar to mutual funds, only theyre traded on the exchange (hence the name) like stocks. This makes them more versatile and liquid than a mutual fund. Thats unquestionably cheap. But  which ones do you want, and how much of your money should you put into each? Thats the going-it-alone dilemma. How to calculate robo-advisor fees First of all, when using a robo-advisor youll still have to pay the expense ratio of the funds youre invested in. Theres no way around that. On top of that, youll pay a fee to the robo-investor for doing the work for you. Theyll choose your funds and rebalance them as necessary. Now lets look at what this could actually cost you in the long run. Are robo-advisors worth it? To give you a sense of the way these different fees add up over the years, we ran a test. Here are our assumptions: Youre saving $5,500 per year in an IRA (or about $458 per month). You get an  average annual return of 5 percent. Youre 25 years old. This gives you about 40 years until retirement age. With regard to fees, Im going to use 0.25 percent as the fee for a robo-advisor, as thats the median fee across both Betterment and Wealthfront. For a full list of robo-advisors that weve reviewed, go here. To estimate the cost of a financial advisor, Ill use our estimate  of 2 percent of total managed asset value. Here are a few other notes and assumptions of the chart below: The first column (Portfolio Value*) is the estimated value as if you paid no fees and got a 5  percent  annual return The rest of the columns are what that same portfolio would look like if you invested using each of the 4 methods (an index fund, a target-date fund, Betterment, or a financial advisor) The number in parentheses is the dollar amount youd lose to fees (from the original no-fee portfolio) up to that point in time (so the portfolio value shown is the value after fees) The estimated fees for the index fund and target-date fund portfolios were 0.05 percent and 0.14 percent, respectively, per the Vanguard estimates I noted above These figures dont account for inflation or any other external factors Now that Ive cleared up any questions you may have, heres a look at an example cost comparison using four different investment methods: YearsPortfolio Value*Index FundTarget Date FundRobo-advisorFinancial Advisor 531185$31,146 (-$39)$31,076 (-$109)$30,989 (-$196)$29,651 (-$1,534) 1070986$70,803 (-$183)$70,473 (-$513)$70,072 (-$914)$64,025 (-$6,961) 20186615$185,584 (-$1,031)$183,744 (-$2,871)$181,524 (-$5,091)$150,068 (-$36,547) 30374964$371,663 (-$3,301)$365,806 (-$9,158)$358,790 (-$16,174)$265,704 (-$109,260) 40681763$673,326 (-$8,437)$658,436 (-$23,327)$640,737 (-$41,026)$421,109 (-$260,654) So what do you notice? The first thing your eyes probably go to is the amount you could pay in fees over the course of 40 yearsover $260,000! Since Im sure you dont want to lose out on that kind of money, take a look at the other three. Obviously, if you assume the same return and the same contributions for each option, then the one that costs the least will also be the cheapest over the long term. However, target-date funds, robo-advisors, and financial advisors all claim to offer consumers a better deal: higher returns, less hassle, or both. Financial advisors, especially, claim that they can beat the market and get much higher returns. (Ninety percent of them miss their targets, however.) How have robo-advisor portfolios performed against target-date funds? Its impossible to say what return a hypothetical financial advisor would give you over the long term. We can, however, say what Betterment and a Vanguard target-date fund would have given you over the past five years. At their website, Betterment lets you explore the historical return of its portfolios, going back to 2004. If you select 90 percent stocks (which a 25-year-old should), and set your range from between June of 2011 and June of 2016, then the average annual return for your portfolio would be about 5.6 percent. Vanguards Target 2050 fund, which would be suitable for a 25-year-old from 2011, lists its average returns on the fund page. As of the end of the last quarter (i.e. the end of June), its average annual return over the past five years (i.e. the same period as the Betterment example) is almost two percentage points higher, at 7.56 percent. If you go back 10 years (and Betterments only been around since 2010), Vanguard still beats the Betterment portfolio, with an average annual return of 5.8 percent to Betterments 4.7 percent. Average annual returns over short periods of time can be misleading One thing to keep in mind, however, is that annual average return can vary drastically depending on your start date and end date. The SP 500, for instance, has an (inflation-adjusted) average annual return of 7  percent since its inception in 1928. But when an investor entered the market would seriously affect their returns. Those who entered in the late 60s, for instance, wouldnt have much of a return for years. One who put his money in in the 50s, however, would be doing great. Like so many things, timing is everything. This holds true for more recent years, as well. If you look at Betterments returns since July  of 2012, it shows an impressive 8.6 percent return. But the returns since January of 2013, just six months later? A respectable  5.8 percent. In those six months, the SP 500 increased more than 100 points, and would continue to go up for several more years. The later you came into the rally, the less it did for you. (This is why its so important not to panic sell after a market drop; you miss out on the inevitable rally.) Wealthfronts up front about the unpredictable nature of returns  but still estimate an annual pre-tax return of between 4 and 6 percent. Robo-advisors offer you convenience and peace of mind Robo-advisors take the work and worry out of the three most important elements of retirement planning: regular contributions, low fees, and a diversified portfolio Robo-advisors keep you diversified automatically At Money Under 30, we talk a lot about the importance of asset allocation. You want to separate your investments, keeping a certain amount in stocks (and different kinds of stocks), a certain amount in bonds, and possibly some even in cash. However, due to shifts in the market (i.e. stocks go up or down, or bonds go up or down), those amounts may get out of whack, and far away from where they should be to reduce risk. When that happens, you need to rebalance. Robo-advisors algorithms automatically rebalance your portfolio based on a number of different factors, like your age and the amount of time you have until you need the money. Robo-advisor websites make it easier to contribute to your account It doesnt matter what returns you get if you dont regularly put money away. Regular contributions are key to retirement success. Money Under 30 staff writer Lauren Barret likes Betterment for how easy it is to make additional contributions. With other brokers, I feel like its always a pain to figure out how to deposit more money into your account, and to pick where its going, she said. Their websites are very frustrating. With Betterment, its exceptionally easy. Its very consumer-oriented. When the market took a dive after Brexit, I was able to log in to my account and deposit  more money in just a few minutes. I didnt have to worry about where to put it. She  does, however, still have a rollover IRA with Vanguard. Their  fees are exceptionally low on my target-date fund and theyre still one of the best brokers out there. But I rarely deposit more money into this account, or move stuff around much, because its always a pain. I dread doing it. If a robo advisor can get you to put away more money than you would otherwise? Then its worth it. Robo advisors put your money in low-cost ETFs Betterment and Wealthfront almost exclusively invest your money in exchange-traded funds, which tend to be very cheap, with expense-ratios often under .10 percent. Summary While it may seem like Im pushing you toward trying a robo advisor, know that Im completely neutral. In fact, I invest the traditional way of choosing my own funds, but as I learn more about  the benefits to robo-advising, and as I have less and less time, I am changing my opinion a bit. Remember, Im not a financial advisor. But my ask of you is to consider all types of costs when you are deciding how to investspecifically the financial and time costs/savings of signing up with a robo advisor. If you dont know a thing about investing, and dont have time to learn, I dont suggest you try it on your own. Check out robo-advising. But if youre a savvy investor and have time to dedicate to in-depth research and frequent monitoring of your portfolio, a robo-advisor may not be for you. Read more: Best Robo-Advisors How To Invest Recommended Investing Partners Recommended Wealthfront requires a $500 minimum investment and charges a very competitive fee of 0.25% per year on portfolios over $10,000. Visit Site No Fees Ally Invest Managed Portfolios requires only a $100 minimum investment to get started. There are no advisory fees, annual charges, or rebalancing fees. Visit Site No Minimum Low-fee robo-advisor with no minimum investment. Creates fully-automated portfolios based upon your desired allocation. Visit Site $100 Minimum M1 Finance gives you the benefits of a robo-advisor with the control of a traditional brokerage. M1 charges no commissions or management fees, and their minimum starting balance is just $100. Visit Site