Lisa Shidler

Wouldn’t Vanguard and Vanguard Low-Cost Index Funds be a very good option for nearly EVERYbody—mass affluent, high net worth, ultra high net worth, outrageously rich, etc.? Why not just send the mass affluent to Vanguard and Vanguard can take them from there?

Teresa,

Somebody actually needs to make decisions surrounding the buying, selling, allocation and rebalancing of assets. If Vanguard does that, they will charge a fee on top of the fund fees.

But, yes, “everybody”, including PIMCO is going that ETF/indexing route with Vanguard as a big beneficiary.

Brooke

Josh Brown and Barry Ritholtz, masters of the financial Twitter/blogging universe, launch a robo effort to monetize their followers

Josh Brown: We know the alternatives and we don't like them and we're really happy we have a suggestion.

Jemstep

Upside

Wealthminder

Ritholtz Wealth Management

Uplift

Josh Brown

Barry Ritholtz

Tom Kimberly

Kevin Cimring

Rich Ellinger

Juney Ham

Stripped down to its essentials, financial advice is a fairly straightforward proposition. Done well, a highly ethical individual stewards the assets and actions of an investor in a personal and professional interchange.
 
But now a vibrant new class of entrepreneurs is staking their fates and their fortunes on the premise that financial advice can be delivered in a better, cheaper, easier, more ethical, more transparent manner and, as a bonus, in a way more devoid of human annoyance on both ends of the transaction.
 
Cue the robo-advisors, arguably a callous misnomer for automated asset management. 
 
The prototypical robo-advisory entrepreneur has more brands on his or her resume than NASCAR. The bona fides of these industry upstarts often include Ivy-level colleges and MBA programs at Harvard or Stanford. They are often flush with IPO dollars realized at concerns like LinkedIn, Facebook, eBay, Amazon  and Microsoft. 
 
Robo-folk believe that technology is not an enabler of advice but rather, if engineered correctly, advice itself in digital form. 
 
And, they believe the best solutions originate in Silicon Valley or academia, not Wall Street. Robo-entrepreneurs are white-boarding the whole business model, culture and technology from scratch in the conviction that little can be learned from a legacy advice system still rooted in an investment banking culture acting under the core premise that if stockbrokers get rich some of the good effects will trickle down to clients – with the clients none the wiser. 
 
Robo-advisors are a scintillating topic for students of the advice game as they grow by hundreds of millions in assets every month, constantly evolve their business models and receive cash infusions from ever-larger swaths of venture capitals.
 
Throw in the fact that robo-advisors have yet to see a dime in profits -- and won’t in the foreseeable future -- and you have real intrigue. 
 
RIABiz has avidly covered the fast-evolving robo-advice phenomenon and will continue to do so. We present the growing body of articles here.

Robo-Advisors

Outsourced investments are one of the fastest-growing categories in the financial advisory world. Perched between
the asset custodian and the financial advisor, these (mostly) turnkey asset management programs can handle all or a 
portion of their investing, technology and fiduciary duties.

Advocates of using these TAMPs point to how it's better for the advisor because it frees up more time to spend with clients and prospects. It's also better for clients because the duties are being handled by specialized professionals who benefit from economies of scale.

Skeptics say that it adds a layer of cost and takes away an element of control from the advisors in executing according to a client's financial plan.

TAMPs

The RIA business has many tech vendors working hard to serve its diverse needs, and we're seeing technology become a more crucial part of setting up and running an RIA than ever before.

The Technology section includes unbiased tech reviews, tech-related news, and coverage of tech-related conferences.

Technology

The pair's modest RIA and immodest following could come catch fire with Upside as a partner

Josh Brown and Barry Ritholtz, masters of the financial Twitter/blogging universe, launch a robo effort to monetize their followers

Related Moves

November 22, 2022 at 2:38 AM

Teresa Vollenweider

brooke southall

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