This article provides some detailed information about Wealthfront, the pioneer in the robo-advisory (digital wealth management) movement. Since they launched in 2011, Wealthfront has raised over $205 million in private funding and have over $13 billion in assets under management as of 2021.
Wealthfront has been VERY quiet in the news since 2019, so I'm not exactly sure what they are doing with their PR and marketing dollars.
Information About Wealthfront
Headquarters: 900 Middlefield Rd, Redwood City, CA 94063
Description: Wealthfront is the only robo advisor who offers both automated investment management and financial planning, with over $6 billion in assets under management.
Founders: Dan Carroll, Andy Rachleff
Categories: Fintech, Financial Services, Wealth Management
Founded: Launched in 2011
Contact: support@wealthfront.com
Employees: ~150
Sign up link with 5K managed for free: Wealthfront
Company Details
Wealthfront is the only robo advisor who offers both investment management and financial planning. Clients receive a personalized, globally-diversified investment portfolio that is managed for them. Open an account today.
Wealthfront provides data-driven, actionable recommendations to improve net-of-fee, after-tax, risk-adjusted returns. With an annual advisory fee of 0.25%, users can monitor their real-time investment performance, review recent transactions, receive financial advice, and manage their deposits.
Comprehensive Wealthfront review here.
Wealthfront Update For 2021
Wealthfront continues to remain one of the leading digital wealth advisors today. They've grown their assets under management to over $10 billion, and continue to grow to help people easily invest their money in a risk-appropriate manner for a low cost. In the past, you'd need $1,000,000 to start investing. Now you can start investing with just $500.
The long time CEO, Adam Nash, stepped down on October 31, 2016 and was replaced by co-founder and long-time board member, Andy Rachleff.
Rachleff served as CEO for three years before handing the reigns over to Nash, a veteran of tech firms including Apple, eBay, and LinkedIn.
“At the beginning of 2014, I was convinced that I needed to hand over my company and serve as a board member and an advisor. I was an investor, after all, not a CEO,” Rachleff continued. “What I didn't realize at the time is that I'm no longer just an investor, board member or advisor. I am a founder.”
The key for Wealthfront is to accelerate its assets under management growth by partnering up with larger financial institutions. They are very focused on the Business 2 Consumer route, which is great for everyday people. However, to really grow assets, they've got to tie up with institutions.
With a fresh $75 million in funding from Tiger Global, Wealthfront is one of the most reputable digital wealth advisors who is here to stay for the long term.
More Information About Wealthfront: New Product Launch
Wealthfront launched Path, a new free automated financial planning experience for all clients to better plan for their financial future. The product helps you manage your finances better.
Many clients don’t know what their financial goals should be, and even more don’t realize that the goals they’ve set with their current spending and saving patterns are actually unattainable. Wealthfront built something more personal, connected and instant than any financial advisor could ever be. Path takes advantage of their team of PhDs to analyze your past behavior from connecting to your financial accounts, showing you what’s possible for your future.
As your financial advisor, it’s Wealthfront's job to sometimes be the bad guy and tell you that you can’t necessarily afford the lifestyle you want. So Wealthfront designed Path to first assess your basic financial health, before we let you imagine what’s possible. They start with your needs before they get to your wants and wishes for one simple reason: If the foundation is shaky, then the rest is irrelevant.
Path let's you:
- Financially plan for your future
- Explore “what if” scenarios
- Highlight how much you need to save to reach your goal by a certain date
- Highlight how much you can spend to still be on track
- Model your investment forecasts
Best Information About Wealthfront
If you're looking for a low cost way to invest your money using the same sophisticated algorithms based on Modern Portfolio Theory used by the expensive money managers like Raymond James, BoA Merrill, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley, you should sign up with Wealthfront or Betterment. It's free and they'll produce a model portfolio for you to review.
Below is an example of a model portfolio they would create using low cost index funds for a person with a high risk tolerance. Every portfolio is build with Vanguard ETFs because they are best in class and have the lowest fees. All you've got to do is fill out a six question questionnaire and you'll get your own model portfolio to review.
For the best free financial tool to manage your wealth, sign up for Personal Capital.
About the Author: Sam began investing his own money ever since he opened an online brokerage account 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 two of the leading financial service firms in the world. During this time, Sam received his MBA from UC Berkeley with a focus on finance and real estate.