SHOULD YOU OPT FOR PERSONAL CAPITAL`S ROBO-ADVISOR?

Among the most efficient robot advisors that have emerged today is the Personal Capital automated investment platform. The firm was founded by Bill Harris, ex-CEO of Intuit and Paypal. It mainly offers two consolidated consulting services mainly focusing on a free wealth allocation system and an investment handling portal. Moreover, it also gives you access to experts, as well as strategies based on a sector weighting approach.

Dashboard feature

When registering for a free personal finance account and linking their other accounts with it, the user gains a dashboard, which serves as their money tracking and analysis equipment. The quality of this platform was also said to have beaten that of Mint.com versions.

This is also accessible through a computer of mobile applications, and gives you a full view of your finances including debts, saving, spending, income, and the like. For those who are working towards retirement, this automated also has settlement planning calculations. Plus, there are other services which lets you to monitor your spending level and helps you know whether your investment fees have exceeded.

The screen displaying your cash flow compares the inflow and outflow of your funds, and categorizes your expenses. It enables individuals keep track of their weekly or monthly expenditures and examine it in contrast with specific metrics.

In addition, investors will also be able to access graphs showing past returns and where your investments are possibly headed in the future. There are charts for asset allocation and a section for net worth wherein you can see how your investments are faring against prominent benchmarks.

Paid assistance

When you hand over your holdings for Personal Capital management, you will have your own advisor who will invest your cash according to a sector-driven style while considering your risk tolerance as well. It also offers an additional array of other banking services.

Advantages

• Convenience and easy access
• Free services and clear illustrations (charts and graphs)
• Reports containing several financial aspects
• Regular alerts and release of useful information
• High security
• The app and tablet versions are equally comprehensive

Disadvantages

• Online conflicts in setting up retirement accounts
• The paid financial consulting has a minimum investment of $25,000 which is a high entry price for some.
• Sector weight tactic is recognizable in usual market capitalization asset weights used by other robo-advisors and passive index fund approaches. A lengthier period is needed to determine which strategy yields better results.
• Fees for paid services are slightly higher than rivals since they begin at 0.89% yearly for accounts less than one million.