robo-advisers

Stock market crashes don’t just test investors’ mettle. Abrupt downturns also can reveal what kind of financial adviser you have.

Some people will discover, to their horror, that they’ve been dealing with outright crooks. Ponzi schemes are among the cons that fall apart when markets do, as investors try to pull their money out and discover it’s gone.

In my latest for the Associated Press, how to determine if your financial adviser is meeting your expectations.

Robo-advisers have been around long enough that the question is no longer whether you should turn your investment decisions over to a computer. Now the question is: Why wouldn’t you?

The success of Wealthfront and Betterment, two startups that helped launch the trend, led mainstream investment companies including Vanguard, Schwab and Fidelity to add robo-advice services in recent years. Depending on the robo-adviser, you may also have access to human financial advisers, socially responsible investments and tax-loss harvesting to help reduce tax bills.

This is not, and never really was, a niche product only for tech-happy millennials. From the beginning, investors of all ages spotted the significant advantages of letting computers run their portfolios. In my latest for the Associated Press, the advantages of robo-advisers.