How Vanguard Group's robo-countering effort got to $1.3 billion of AUM so easily and why its future seems bright
Executed almost shyly, the hints-of-vanilla Malvern indexing giant is the unlikely Silicon Valley nemesis in automated services
Related Moves
Jon Stein ousts himself as Betterment CEO and taps Sarah Levy, who joins an exclusive club of top women executives, with a mission -- an IPO
The co-founder of the New York robo-advisor headhunted the ex-Viacom brass through Harvard professors on the down low to ostensibly scale operations.
December 8, 2020 at 5:27 PM
Karin Risi, who built $170-billion Vanguard Personal Advisor Services, takes new role and Matt Benchener is taking her spot as head of US retail for the $6.3 trillion manager
Risi now heads planning and still directly reports to CEO Tim Buckley and her 34 year-old understudy, Benchener gets her job at year's end.
December 4, 2020 at 2:56 AM
Alan Moore is the No. 2 busiest man in the RIA business and he just convinced the No. 1 busiest man to budget $200,000 to hire a 'rockstar' to replace him
Alan Moore is CEO of both XY Planning Network and AdvicePay -- and he has three young kids; Michael Kitces agreed to let him hire a full-time replacement CEO for AdvicePay -- with some giant reqirements for the new exec.
February 14, 2023 at 3:15 AM
Five RIA Doubletakes: An RIA-only law firm breaks away • Kitces launches picker of 'best of breed' RIA software bundles • Vanguard targets 2070 just as media targets TDFs • SEC fishing for RegBI Scofflaws, including RIAs • CFP appoints first African-American chair
RIA Lawyers will reject RIA custodians• Kitces Nascar montage is now interactive and helpful • Vanguard's super long TDF draws critics• SEC supply lines are stretched with new battle front • Kamila Elliot is ex-DFA, diverse and calling CFP shots
January 12, 2022 at 3:13 AM
See more related moves
Wealthfront
Portfolio Management System
Top Executive: Andy Rachleff
Kitces.com
Consulting Firm
Top Executive: Michael Kitces
Betterment, LLC
Financial Planning Software
Top Executive: Jon Stein
J. L. Livermore
Michael et. al.
I really like the robo advisors. While they last in their current form they will be the great educators of the masses and our market. The lesson learned for John Q. Public will be: “Wow I just lost X% of my portfolio! I have no clue what I am doing. I need to find a real advisor.” Institutional players and larger firms with robo-like capabilities and marketing will benefit and I suspect will pick up those savvy enough to figure out that managing your own money is a lot of work – a full-time job in some cases.
JLL
LCD
I have been following this money flow from VC’s to on line services all the way back to Cha Ching? which now is Wealthfront and as I saw all these platforms switch to ETF portfolios I just kept thinking what are they doing that Vanguard couldn’t do as well and probably cheaper. Little did I know they were already in the game. Brand, reputation, low cost, huge advertising budget, no burn rate to worry about and $1.3 B in the pilot phase, let me say that again in the pilot phase. If I were a robo advisor I would be worried, very worried as there are only so many silicon valley techs to become clients. LCD
