Just wondering if anybody has experience with these types of sites and whether anyone had any thoughts to add. Thinking of starting a portfolio with one of these. Would most banks even allow their employees to use these?
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I just opened an account at Betterment. From what I know about them, they are essentially target date funds. I think the real value add comes from their tax loss harvesting services. Once you have a certain amount in your account (I think it's like 50k) you can opt in.
Betterment.com ? Or alternatives? (Originally Posted: 02/28/2012)
what is everyone's thoughts on betterment.com? I have excess cash and am already investing in my 401k, company stock purchase plan, and lendingclub, now i want to throw some more cash at this to see if it'll be a good addition to my investments.
they promote it as a savings account on steroids. no penalty for withdrawals, no transaction fees (small mgmt fee) and an portfolio that re-balances frequently. I see some tax implications, but my money is just sitting in my bank accounts and doing nothing.
what would like to see what others thought of this service? The UI reminds me of lendingclub and mint, pretty easy to use and good reporting. it does make investors think that investing is easy, which can be a pro/con for some.
if not this, are there better alternatives?
Vanguard admiral shares. Easy, low cost, reputable. Tons of portfolio choices if you ever decide you are looking for something beyond indexing.
I maxed my 401k(like 90-95% bonds), keep 5k in cash at all times, and put the rest into their VTSAX fund.
I have put almost no thought into this; will rebalance eventually when I decide what I want.
I chose wealthfront.com. Pretty similar (both diversify and rebalance for you in index ETFs and have a slick UI), but wealthfront also helps you figure out your risk tolerance, puts you on the efficient frontier, plus it costs me a bit less. Management fee is only 0.25%, and it's waived on the first $25k.
Why not just build your own ETF portfolio? Save yourself .25% a year.
Thats a huge savings compounded over 40+ years
Hi all, I'm the Community Manager for Betterment and came across this question. Our CEO provides a nice overview of what Betterment does on Quora, which might help: http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-main-differences-between-Wealthfront-…
Happy to answer any further questions you may have. Thanks, Johanna
Betterment (Originally Posted: 02/25/2012)
Long time follower, first time poster. I came across this site, betterment.com, while using my Mint account. After some research, it looks like a really lazy investing site. The only thing you really control is asset allocation between bonds and stocks. The interface is really smooth and a third grader can easily navigate the site but something doesn't seem right. It seems like its in the vein of DIY/Simple personal finance like Mint, Lending Club, etc. Anyone have any experience with this? Any credibility?
I actually interviewed with this company last summer. They are getting increasingly popular and as you might have noticed, they run a promotion with Mint.com. They have been featured all over TechCrunch and the other popular tech/startup sites. I have no personal experience with the site but one of the higher ups at my firm has an account with them and speaks highly of the site. They use mainstream ETF products from iShares and Vanguard. I'd say it's worth a look.
Who has anyone heard of Betterment? (Originally Posted: 10/13/2017)
Has anyone heard of Bettermint? It's an automated investment service where supposedly you could be getting up to 2.5% ROI or more by doing absolutely nothing, which heavily defeats a savings account. Has anyone tried? My friend referred it to me and I just put some funds in and was wondering if any of you monkeys have tried it.
don't think it's a substitute for a savings account, it carries market risk. no such thing as a free lunch bro. betterment is a good alternative to true DIY services like etrade, vanguard and fido which require people to may more attention to their investments.
I keep some money in Betterment. The tax-loss harvesting alone has paid for its fees. I like the idea of keeping a fair share of my personal investments in a low-cost, passive, highly diversified strategy, and I like that Betterment does that while taking zero percent of my mental share.
Now, that's more of a comment on robo-advisors in general - I know there are some other options available (wealthfront, whatever Schwab is doing), and I can't give you a good comparison. Haven't spent the time to shop around since starting with Betterment a few years ago.
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