Best Robo-Advisor Investment Performance Compared To The Market

Best robo-advisor performance

The proliferation of robo-advisors (digital wealth managers) has caused many investors to wonder exactly how they'd perform compared to traditional wealth advisors who regularly charge 1.5% – 3% of assets under management a year. The idea is that excessive fees rob investors of their retirement money or cause people to have to work longer. The best robo-advisor investment performance really depends on the suggested asset allocation.

By deploying sophisticated algorithms based on Modern Portfolio Theory, the robo-advisors are able to provide customized investment portfolios for each individual based on the responses they give in a short questionnaire.

Seeking to illustrate that the assumptions and algorithms that digital advice providers build into their systems vary greatly and impact investment performance, Condor Capital Management's president Ken Schapiro opened accounts at more than a dozen robo-advisers with the goal of comparing the results.

Ken answered each digital adviser's questions with the same profile in mind, portending to be someone with a moderate risk tolerance, in a high tax bracket, who was looking to retire in 20 to 30 years. Ken looked to build a 60% equity / 40% fixed income portfolio.

Best Robo-Advisor Investment Performance

Here are the latest results compared to a ~10% S&P 500 performance, and +3% Aggregate Bond Market performance. I don't have the performance for 2020 yet.

Best Robo-Advisor Investment Performance

It's great to see my favorite robo-advisor, Personal Capital return the highest results. I've been covering them since 2011 and have met senior management numerous times given I'm also based in San Francisco. Personal Capital is considered a hybrid robo-advisor because they have both human advisors and algorithms to help grow your wealth.

Personal Capital is also the most expensive robo-advisor, charging 0.5% – 0.89% of assets under management, depending on assets. However, it is still quite a bit less than traditional advisors. Given Personal Capital also has human advisers to answer questions and guide you on different paths, they should charge more.

For example, you get to talk to a human advisor about what to do during all of life's interesting events (buying a house, investing a windfall, estate planning, etc). Money manage isn't just about returns, but what to do with your investments well.

Worst Robo-Advisor Investment Performance

What's surprising is how poorly Vanguard Personal Adviser Services did at only a 5.55% return. This goes to show that you can only go so far saving money. To build greater wealth, performance matters more. Vanguard Personal Adviser Services charges 0.3% of assets under management, which is great. But underperforming Personal Capital by 3.7% is pretty bad. Using the rule of 72, an investor would double his/her money in 19.5 years with just a 3.7% annual return.

Given Personal Capital is the best performing independent robo-advisor, let me provide more background about the company and highlight some of its free financial tools everybody can use to help growth their wealth.

Best Robo-Advisor Investment Performance: Personal Capital Overview

Personal Capital Review

Total Equity Funding: $220.3M in 7 Rounds from 11 Investors as of 2021. Purchased by Empower in 2020.

Headquarters: Redwood City, California with offices in Denver and San Francisco

Description: Personal Capital is the leading digital wealth management firm.

Founders: Bill Harris, Louie Gasparini, Rob Foregger

Categories: Financial Services, Wealth Management, Finance, FinTech

Sign up link: Personal Capital

Company Details

Founded: July 1, 2009

Contact: press@personalcapital.com | (855) 855-8005

Employees: ~400 as of 2021

Personal Capital is an online investment advisory platform that provides its clients with electronically facilitated wealth management services, objective advice, and strategies. Personal Capital’s charges are based on a percentage of assets managed by the platform, including wealth management, trade costs, and custody.

Personal Capital summarizes its users’ bank accounts, credit cards, mortgages, and other financial details together in one place. The platform also highlights its users’ long-term fiscal health over month-to-month spending with tools such as a visual graph of their investment allocation and a 401(k)-fee analyzer.

Personal Capital Management

Personal Capital current team - Best Robo-Advisor Investment Performance

Personal Capital Funding History

Personal Capital Funding History

Again, purchased by Empower in 2020 for about $850 million + incentives to take it up to $1 billion.

Personal Capital Latest News

I had lunch with the Chief Marketing Officer, Eric Weiss, and their Vice Chairman, Mark Goines in the summer of 2018 to get an update. Here is some key information.

* Performing better than expected. They currently have over 1.6 million registered users tracking over $500 billion in assets.

* Surge in assets under management. Assets under management is over $11 billion as of 2021.

* New app features. They are rolling out new retirement planning, investment analysis, and cash flow analysis features.

Main Personal Capital Free Tools

These are the reasons why Personal Capital has the best tools, besides having the Best Robo-Advisor Investment Performance.

1) Retirement Planner. This tool helps you to know if you’re on track to retire, and even allows you to make adjustments for major life changes, such as job/career/income changes, illness, childbirth or saving for college.

Personal Capital Retirement Planner Tool - Best Robo-Advisor Investment Performance

2) 401(k) Fund Analyzer. Even though Personal Capital can’t manage your employer sponsored retirement plan, they can analyze the plan and make asset allocation suggestions based on all of the investment options available in the plan.

401k Fee Analyzer To Reduce Portfolio Fees - Best Robo-Advisor Investment Performance

3) Net Worth Tracker. Track your assets and liabilities so that you can quickly find your net worth at any time. This tool will help you to really know if you’re on track to reach your long-term financial goals.

Personal Capital Net Worth Tracking

4) Cash Flow Analyzer. Use this tool to create a budget, where you can track your income and expenses whatever the sources. This will help you see where you’re spending money, so that you can free up income for savings, investing, and debt payoff.

Personal Capital Cash Flow Tracker

5) Investment Checkup tool. This can provide a risk assessment of your portfolio, including your retirement plan. It will make suggestions to help you improve your asset allocation plan to make it consistent with your goals and personal preferences.

Personal Capital Investment Checkup

All of these features are FREE for investors to use. I've been using Personal Capital's financial tools since 2012 to grow my net worth to record highs. There is no rewind button in life. Therefore, it's up to all of us to stay on top of our finances as much as possible so we can optimize.

For the Best Robo-Advisor Investment Performance, stick with Personal Capital. It is a great free wealth management tool.

Sign Up For Personal Capital For Free

About the Author:

Sam began investing his own money ever since he opened an online brokerage account online in 1995. Sam loved investing so much that he decided to make a career out of investing by spending the next 13 years after college working at Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse Group. During this time, Sam received his MBA from UC Berkeley with a focus on finance and real estate. He also became Series 7 and Series 63 registered.

In 2012, Sam was able to retire at the age of 34 largely due to his investments that now generate roughly $200,000 a year in passive income. He spends time playing tennis, hanging out with family, consulting for leading fintech companies, and writing online to help others achieve financial freedom sooner, rather than later. With over 1 million organic pageviews a moth, FinancialSamurai.com is one of the largest and most trusted personal finance sites on the web since 2009.