Paid non-client of Betterment. Views may not be representative; see more reviews at the and . about this relationship.

Top Rated For

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• 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Best for Cash Management
• 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Best for Tax-Loss Harvesting
• 澳洲幸🔯运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Best for Crypto Portfolio Selection
  

Our Take

The Betterment platform stands out for its excellent selection of automated portfolios, reasonable fees, and well-designed user journey. Betterment has also been expanding its offerings to crypto and 401(k) and 529 plans (available through Betterment at Work). The robo-advisor's push into serving employers in addition to individuals now includes a new product that allows small business owners to match employees' student loan payments with a 401(k) contribution. This new feature is enabled by the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Secure Act 2.0 legislation to help people save for retirement while paying off student loans. We'll dig deeper into Betterment to see how it stacks up in an increasingly competitive robo-advisory field.

Account Overview

is only available to clients of Betterment LLC, which is not a bank, and cash transfers to program banks are conducted through the clients’ brokerage accounts at Betterment Securities. For Cash Reserve (“CR”), Betterment LLC only receives compensation from our program banks; Betterment LLC and Betterment Securities do not charge fees on your CR balance.

Checking accounts and the Betterment Visa Debit Card provided and issued by nbkc bank, Member FDIC. Checking is made available through Betterment Financial LLC. Neither Betterment Financial LLC nor any of its affiliates is a bank. Betterment Financial LLC reimburses ATM fees and the Visa® 1% foreign transaction fee worldwide, everywhere Visa is accepted.

Account Setup

Similar to all the robo-advisors we’ve reviewed, you can set up a Betterment account entirely online. To get started, simply create a username and password on Bet✨terment’s website. Next, you’ll need to provide the following personal information:

• Name
• Phone number
• Email address
• Mailing address
• Date of birth
• Social Security number (SSN)

 You’ll also need to upload a form of government-issued ID, like your U.S. driver’s license.

The platform will then give you a questionnaire about your goals, time horizon, and investment risk tolerance. Based on your responses, the platform will recommend stock and bond exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that fit your goals. Unf𝐆ortunately, you can’t see the portfolio recommendatiಞon without setting up your account first. However, you can get the recommendation without depositing any money.

Betterment does not have a mi🐲nimum account balance requirement but does require each deposit to be at least $10. Be🀅tterment offers free deposits and withdrawals.

Betterment has also been expanding its services to other investment accounts. You can open a 529 plan (only through an employer) to invest for future college expenses with tax advantages. Betterment also w𓃲orks with employers to offer its portfolios through 401(k) plans.

Goal Planning

As a robo-advisor, Betterment’s job is to create a portfolio that mꩲatches your financial goals. You sta🧔rt by picking from a list of common financial goal types that include:

• Major Purchase
• Education
• Retirement
• Retirement Income
• General Investing
• Emergency Fund

You can pick multiple goals with a different portfolio for each one. You then set your time horizon for each goal. The Betterment robo-advisor will suggest an appropriate portfolio allocation. For example, if you select retirement with over 20 years to go, the platform will recommend a portfolio made up of 90%+ of stocks. On the other hand, if you’ve already reached your retirement age, the robo-advisor will recommend a portfolio with a lesser amount in stocks to protect your savings.

The closer you are to your goal, the more conservative the recommended portfolio will be. Betterment also adjusts based on your selected risk tolerance, ranging from very aggressive to very conservative.

The Betterment platform forecasts how likely you are to reach your long-term goals based on your current savings and project investment returns. If you have other investment accounts, you can also link them to the platform to include those in the forecast.

Betterment also lets you set and track goals for crypto investing and saving money in its cash management accounts. Overall, these goa💫l-setting tools make it easy to figure out how to use Bettermentꦦ effectively.

Account Services

You can access investment, cash management, and checking accounts as a Betterment user. With this combination, you can manage all your money in one place. Next, we’ll discuss what these different accounts offer and whether they are worth it.

Cash Management

Betterment has a few different account offerings within its platform. The investing account is the robo-advisor, but there are also crypto, cash reserve, and checking accounts. Betterment’s澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网: cash management account lets you safely store uninvested cash and earn a generous interest rate at its program banks. Customers earn a variable APY* of 4.00%. This is higher than the competition and competitive with Wealthfront's current rate of 4.50% (5.00% when you refer a friend). When you're a new Betterment customer, you also receive an even higher bonus APY of up to 0.50% for three months with a qualifying deposit (terms apply). There’s no minimum account balance requirement, but you must deposit at least $10 when you open the account. There are no fees, and you can make unlimited, free withdrawals.

Betterment also offers a separate checking account with a debit card. You can use this debit card to make purchases and get free withdrawals from any ATM in the world; Betterment reimburses any fees. The debit card also earns cash back when you spend at select retailers like Costco, Adidas, and Aeropostale.

For Cash Reserve (“CR”), Betterment LLC only receives compensation from our program banks; Betterment LLC and Betterment Securities do not charge fees on your CR balance.

Portfolio Construction

Betterment builds its portfolios using stock and bond ETFs. It follows an asset allocation strategy based on 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:modern portfolio theory thatಌ analyzes each asset's overall risk versus return contribution to build these portfolios for investors. Betterment uses equity funds for stocks in U.S., international, and emerging markets.

For bonds, Betterment uses a combination of U.S., international, and emerging market bond funds. This is one area where Betterment stood out, as it’s not common for robo-advisors to allow investments in international bonds. Betterment has also created new cryptocurrency portfolios.

As an investor, you pick between a combination of different strategies from Betterment. These are:

• Core: Built for long-term investing and low costs using stocks and bond investments from around the world
• Innovative Technology: Focuses on high-growth tech companies like clean energy, semiconductors, and robots
• Climate Impact: Invests in companies with lower carbon emissions while still offering decent long-term returns
• Social Impact: Provides more of a focus on companies working towards minority empowerment and gender diversity
• Blackrock Target Income: A 100% bond portfolio with different yields to offset stock market volatility
• Goldman Sachs Smart Beta: Looks to outperform the market by upping the risk level
• Value Tilt: A portfolio that looks for companies that are undervalued and tilts towards investing more in them
• Broad Impact: Looks for companies that rank highly in 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩💮网:environmental, social, and g☂overnance (ESG) criteria, balancing this filter with long-term performance

Real estate investment trusts (REITs) are one notable asset missing from Betterment’s robo-advisor portfolios. The company believes that real estate as a sector is already well represented in its equity portfolios. You can, however, access REITs through Betterment’s Flexible portfolio where you customize allocations and assets. The Flexible portfolios still have automatic rebalancing and tax-loss harvesting, but choosing a Flexible portfolio does disable the auto adjustment to the portfolio risk level as your target goal date approaches.

Available Assets 

Portfolio Customization

If you’d like to change your portfolio beyond the recommendations of the standard Betterment portfolios, you can do so through its Flexible portfolio option. You start with a portfolio dꦏistribution to match Betterment’s Core portfolio. Then, you adjust what percentage goes into the different investments, such as increasing the percentage in international stocks while decreasing how much you have in U.S. large-cap stocks.

The flexible portfolio also allows you to add asset groups that are not part of the standard robo-advisor portfolios, like commodities, high-yield bonds, and REITs. The Betterment investment review will analyze your customized portfolio to give ratings for your overall risk and portfolio diversification. Betterment also forecasts your future return for both good and bad market conditions.

There is a limit to how much you can customize, as Betterment restricts you to only investing in ETFs. You cannot trade through Betterment and buy individual stocks, bonds, or mutual funds. Betterment also doesn’t offer margin trading. You need to pay for any investments upfront without borrowing.

Portfolio Management

Betterment automatically rebalances your portfolio whenever an asset goes beyond 3% of your target allocation due to portfolio drift or when your account balance is at or past the minimum threshold. Rebalancing is usually done dynamically as deposits come in, but Betterment can sell assets that are overweighted to buy those that are underweighted to get back to your targets. Betterment’s system ch🃏ecks your portfolio once a day for automated adjustment.

Betterment’s system considers taxes for portfolio management. It checks which assets you’ve owned for less than a year that would trigger more expensive short-term capital gains versus long-term capital gain investment🐎s. The system prioritizes selling long-tꦍerm assets for rebalancing to give your short-term investments time for better tax treatment.

If you change your target portfolio allocation, Betterment also rebalances to the new targets. You can turn off the automatic rebalancing so the platform only readjusts when you deposit or withdraw money.

Betterment also uses automatic tax-loss harvesting, seeking opportunities to find taxable losses in your portfolio to offset taxable gains. It aims to replace assets with something similar so you keep in the same position while also receiving the tax benefit.

Betterment is not a licensed tax advisor. Tax Loss Harvesting+ (TLH+) is not suitable for all investors and is subject to certain conditions. Read more at and consider your personal circumstances before deciding whether to utilize Betterment’s TLH+ feature. Investing involves risk. Performance not guaranteed.

User Experience

Desktop

The Betterment desktop platform is clear, well-designed, and offers an excellent user experience. In one dashboard, you can see your investment performance, net worth, and balances, including outside accounts you linked to Betterment. You can also schedule deposits and turn features like tax-loss harvesting on or off. You can track your progress towards various goals and adjust your strategies as needed, too. Betterment’s excellent user experience is one of its major strengths.

Mobile

Betterment’s mobile app is available for both iOS and Android. It also gives you the same overview of your accounts, including Betterment ratings on performance, and allows you to schedule future deposits. The mobile app does have some limitations compared to the desktop, however. For example, it doesn’t provide the same level of detail on investments or allow you to access your tax documents. Still, it’s a quality option for checking your account on the go.

Customer Service

• Phone line available Monday to Friday, 9 a.m to 6 p.m. ET
• Email support (active hours same as phone support)
• Virtual chatbot (24/7)
• Extensive FAQs
• Access to Certified Financial Planners (CFPs) for Premium users

Betterment provides phone and email customer service Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET. It also provides a virtual chatbot that can answer questions 24/7. The lack of customer support on weekends is a drawback compared to major brokers.

Security

Betterment’s security protocols do an excellent job of protecting your identity and data. They incꦑlude:

• Website encryption
• Two-factor authentication for logging in
• Biometric authentication for mobile devices
• Limited data access for employees
• Fraud protection procedures
• Protected password storage for third parties

In addition, Betterm▨ent provides high limits of insurance for your accounts:

• Cash Reserve accounts are eligible for up to $2 million ($4 million for joint accounts) of FDIC insurance ($250,000 insurance per ). Subject to certain conditions.
• Checking accounts are FDIC-insured up to $250,000 for individual accounts and $250,000 per depositor for joint accounts (at nbkc bank, Member FDIC, and , subject to certain conditions).
• Investment accounts include $500,000 of SIPC insurance for missing funds, with $250,000 for cash claims (member of SIPC. Securities in your account protected up to $500,000. For details, please see www.sipc.org).

Betterment is not a bank.

Education

Betterment provides an FAQ section, a help center, and an educational library of articles on its website. The educational articles cover investment topics like investment portfolios, retirement planning, and saving money. Betterment has some videos and guides, though most of its resources are articles.  Betterment also🐎 provides some online tools like an investment analysis tool and a goal tracker.

While Betterment’s educational resources are reasonable, they are not quite as comprehensive as what’s available from other companies. Betterment’s focus is offering support through the robo-advisor and other investment tools.

Commissions and Fees

Betterment’s fees are transparent and reasoꦅnable for a robo-advisor. A basic account is $4 per month. If you have at least $20,000 across all your Betterment accounts, the costღ changes to a flat fee of 0.25% of your investment account per year instead. You can also qualify for the annual 0.25% pricing by setting up monthly recurring deposits of $250.

For a premium account that includes access to financial advisors, you must deposit at least $100,🅷000 and will owe an a🍨nnual fee of 0.65%.

Betterment does not charge commissions for your investment trades. The portfolios themselves will charge an expense ratio, but Betterment works to keep these low. For example, depending on your allocation, its core portfolio charges from 0.05% to 0.16% per year.

The Bottom Line

Betterment has become arguably the most popular robo-advisor for good reason: It offers a wide selection of portfolios, an excellent user experience, high-quality automated portfolio management, and competitive fees. If you want access to human financial advisors,𒀰 you can access them through Betterment at a competitive rate versus hiring your own. Finally, Betterment continues to expand its offerings with a cash management account, a 529 plan (offered through an employer), cryptocurrency investing, and options for 401(k) workplace re𒀰tirement plans.

Like any company, Betterment also has some cons. It doesn’t offer customers the ability to trade or buy individual investments, and its educational library also could be more comprehensive. Still, these are minor quibbles for one of the best robo-advisors around. Although it doesn't affect the quality of the robo-advisor, it is interesting to note that Betterment is adding more and more services for companies and employers. As traditional brokerages have gotten into robo-advisors, one of the original robo-advisors is starting to look more like a large, traditional brokerage.

Does Betterment Charge a Monthly Fee?

Betterment charges a $4 monthly fee for its robo-advisor investment account. However, you switch to an澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网: annual management fee of 0.25% of your investment account balance if you have a balance with Betterment over $20,000 or set up automatic deposits for $250 per month. Betterment does not charge any fee to use its Cash Reserve or checking account.

How Does Betterment Help You Save Mon🐽ey on Taxes?

Betterment looks for tax-loss harvesting opportunities in a taxable account on a regular basis. The algorithm avoids 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:wash sales and takes external accounts into consideration. Tax-loss harvesting at Betterment may be paused or postponed when markets are choppy, but over time the tax-loss harvesting can reduce an investor's tax burden by realizing losses to offset gains elsewhere in the portfolio. Tax-loss harvesting does not apply to the crypto portfolios.

Is Betterment FDIC Insured?

Betterment is FDIC insured for its checking and Cash Reserve accounts, subject to certain conditions. The checking account has standard 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:FDIC coverage of up to $250,000 per account. The Cash Reserve account offers FDIC insurance up to $2 million for individual accounts and $4 million for joint accounts through program banks. It provides higher limits as Betterment spreads cash across multiple for higher coverage.

Betterment’s investment accounts do not have FDIC insurance, which only applies to deposit accounts. Instead, the investment account has SIPC insurance up to $500,000 for missing funds, with a $250,000 limit to cover missing cash.

Betterment is not a bank.

Is Betterment Safe?

Yes, Betterment is safe as it provides numerous security features like two-factor authentication, encryption, and biometric authentication for mobile access. Betterment also has FDIC insurance for deposit accounts and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:SIPC insurance for investment accounts. If♏ you inv𒀰est with Betterment, there is always the chance that you could lose money based on your investment performance, but the Betterment security measures are very safe.

Is Betterment Only in the U.S.?

Yes, Betterment is only available in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, but not in Guam. It does not accept customers from other countries. Americans 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:living or working abroad also cannot use Betterment. When you sign up, you must provide proof of a U.S. permanent address and a U.S. banking account. Betterment does support U.S. military personnel living abroad as long as they can provide a valid U.S. address.

Who Owns Betterment?

Betterment is privately traded and owned by professional investors and venture capital firms who funded the company. This includes Investment AB Kinnevik, Bessemer Venture Partners, Francisco Partners, and Menlo Ventures. Together, they hold ownership under Betterment Holdings Company. Jonathan Stein founded Betterment. He was CEO until 2020 and now remains with Betterment as a board member. Stein was replaced as CEO by Sarah Kirshbaum Levy.

How We Picked the Best Robo-Advisors

Providing readers with unbiased, comprehensive reviews of digital wealth management companies, more commonly known as robo-advisors, is a top priority of Investopedia. To collect data for our 2024 best robo-advisor awards and rankings, we sent a digital survey with 64 questions directly to each of the 21 companies we included in our rubric. Our team of researchers verified the survey responses and collected any missing data points through online research and conversations with each company directly. The data co🌄llection process took place from Jan. 8 to Feb. 9, 2024.

We then developed a quantitative model that scored each company to rate its performance across nine major categories and 59 criteria to find th𒁏e best robo-advisors. The score for each company’s overall star rating is a weighted average of the cri🀅teria:

• Goal Planning - 21.00%
• Portfolio Contents - 17.00%
• Portfolio Management - 17.00%
• Fees - 15.00%
• Account Services - 10.00%
• Account Setup - 5.00%
• Customer Service - 5.00%
  
• Security & Education - 5.00%
• User Experience - 5.00%

Many of the companies we review for our projects gra☂nt our team of expert writers and editors access to live accounts so they can perform hands-on testing. Robo-advisor companies allowed us to do this, as well.

Through this all-encompassing data collection and review process, Investopedia has provided you with an unbiased and thorough review of the top robo-advisors. Read more about 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:how we research and revieꦗw robo-ad𓄧visors.

The above material and content should not be considered to be a recommendation. Investing in digital assets is highly speculative and volatile, and only suitable for investors who are able to bear the risk of potential loss and experience sharp drawdowns. Digital assets are not legal tender and are not backed by the U.S. government. Digital assets are not subject to FDIC insurance or SIPC protections.

*Cash Reserve is only available to clients of Betterment LLC, which is not a bank, and cash transfers to program banks are conducted through the clients’ brokerage accounts at Betterment Securities. For Cash Reserve (“CR”), Betterment LLC only receives compensation from our program banks; Betterment LLC and Betterment Securities do not charge fees on your CR balance. Checking accounts and the Betterment Visa Debit Card provided and issued by nbkc bank, Member FDIC. Checking made available through Betterment Financial LLC. Neither Betterment Financial LLC, nor any of their affiliates, is a bank. Betterment Financial LLC reimburses ATM fees and the Visa® 1% foreign transaction fee worldwide, everywhere Visa is accepted.