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‘ve written a lot recently about digital advisors (including the piece I wrote for AARP, “Do-it-yourself made easy“). Wealthfront, one of the leaders in this space, now has $1.7 billion under management.
That seemed pretty impressive, until I saw a recent piece in InvestmentNews about Vanguard’s Personal Advisor Services. Although still basically a pilot program, the “human-augmented online advice platform,” as IN termed it, now has $4.2 billion under management.
For all that’s been written about the start-ups who use powerful algorithms to manage your portfolio while you sleep, it’s the the Vanguard offering that may be the game changer. Vanguard can offer everything the start-ups do–asset allocation, automatic rebalancing, ultra-low-cost investment choices–in the mantle of a trusted firm known for its integrity and thrift. The cost? Three-tenths of one percentage point, or $300 a year for a $100,000 portfolio. That’s only slightly more than the .25 percent the newcomers typically charge.
Advisors charging more certainly will argue they’re adding value. But if you’re paying much more for financial management, you might want to at least take a look at what you can get for less.