Tag: News
Posted on September 30, 2018
Here at Backend Benchmarking we have been closely following the robo advice industry for over two years. Our project started by opening accounts at the largest robo advice providers so we could track their performance, trading, and other activities. Since the project first started, we have grown to track more than 50 accounts across the industry and have become the only comprehensive provider of performance on different robo advice platforms. Our results are published quarterly in The Robo Report™. Most recently, we expanded our project to also rate the services, customer experience, financial planning, and other features of the robo advice providers. These qualitative features, combined with performance and other quantitative features, were recently released our first ever Robo Ranking™. Throughout the process of ranking the robos, we took a deep dive into each platform. While full ranking results can be found at theroboreport.com, our thoughts on some of the largest players in the robo advice marketplace can be found below.
Read More…
Posted on June 14, 2018
Included in The Robo Report’s quarterly report on the digital advice industry is performance data on real accounts opened by BackEnd Benchmarking. Providing performance data allows for comparison across different digital advice platforms and helps investors make informed decisions when selecting a robo-advice product.
Read More…
Posted on February 14, 2018
Here at BackEnd Benchmarking, we have recently released the fourth-quarter 2017 edition of The Robo Report. In this report we took an in-depth look at two-year returns of seven different portfolios with a full two years’ worth of data. The fourth quarter of 2017 was a strong finish to a strong year in the equity markets and for the digital advice industry as a whole. Since the end of the year, market turmoil has shaken equity markets and tested the systems of robo-advice providers. Despite some technical issues experienced by some robos during recent tumultuous market days, digital advice is expanding across the financial services landscape. Interviews this quarter with TD Ameritrade, Merrill Edge and Schwab gave us insight into where these products are fitting in among client bases, and we are starting to get a clearer picture of where digital advice products are gaining the most traction.
Read More…
Posted on December 2, 2017
Digital advice is gaining traction both among individual investors and advisory firms. Although the concept of a robo-adviser was pioneered by start-ups like Betterment and Wealthfront, the technology is being adopted across the advice marketplace. Increasingly, individual investors will come into contact with digital advice solutions as they search for advice providers. For those interested in a low-cost advice and investment selection solution, there are no longer just a few firms from which to choose. Over the last year alone T. Rowe Price, Zacks Advantage, TIAA, TD Ameritrade, Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo have all released digital advice products. Additionally, LPL and Cetera Financial Group both recently made a robo-advice product available to their advisers to market to end clients. As choices in providers expand, the selection process for investors increases in complexity.
Read More…
Posted on September 7, 2017
When robo-advisers first appeared seven years ago, investors and financial advisers were unsure if this was just the latest investment fad or here to stay. Since that time, it has become apparent that they will be a permanent fixture in the investment advice industry. Starting early in the evolution of these investment products, we opened and funded accounts at the most prominent robo-advisers in order to collect unbiased data. We now publish our findings in The Robo Report to help investors understand the robo-advisory landscape.
Read More…
Posted on June 22, 2017
There has been a proliferation of financial technology enhancements in the last several years, one of which has been the creation of robo-advisers. These algorithmic investment tools offered through name-brand investment companies, including Schwab and Vanguard, offer individual investors an automated way to invest with a low fee.
Read More…