Robo-Advisors - Barron's Rankings

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Robo-Advisors - Barron's Rankings, 2020
community.morningstar.com/s/question/0D53o00005E8ZwRCAV/from-barron%C3%AFs-august-3-2020-part-2

Barron’s 4th Annual Ranking of Robo-Advisors. AUM $631 billion [2019]. Top-level ERs range from 0 to 0.50%; some have flat $ fees. Top 10 of 40 ranked:

#1-SigFig, #2-TD Ameritrade, #3-Fidelity Go, #4-Vanguard, #5-E*Trade Core, #6-Betterment, #7-Ellevest, #8-Wells Fargo, #9-Wealthsimple, #10-SoFi.

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Robo-Advisors - Barron's Rankings, 2021
www.barrons.com/articles/best-robo-advisors-2021-51628213685
www.backendbenchmarking.com/the-robo-report/

Barron’s 5th Annual Ranking of Robo-Advisors. Top 10 of 40 ranked:

#1-SoFi, #2-SigFig, #3-E*Trade (Morgan Stanley/MS), #4-Betterment, #5-Fidelity Go,
#6-Vanguard PAS, #7-Morgan Stanley/MS, #8-Axos Invest, #9-Wealthfront, #10-Ellevest

2020 #2 TD Ameritrade was acquired by Schwab. As new signups for TD Ameritrade were no longer possible, it was removed from consideration. In a side panel, the SEC investigation of Schwab SIP’s “no fees” claims while holding large % in cash at Schwab Bank is noted. Note that by robo-AUMs only, Vanguard is #1, Schwab #2.

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Robo-Advisors - Barron's Rankings, 2022
www.barrons.com/articles/the-best-robo-advisors-barrons-annual-ranking-51659712291?mod=hp_DAY_Theme_1_1

Overall Ranking: #1-SoFi, #2-Wealthfront/UBS, #3-Fidelity, #4-SigFig, #5-Merrill Edge, #6-Personal Capital/Empower, #7-Vanguard, #8-Betterment, #9-Schwab, #10-US Bank, #11-Morgan Stanley (includes E*Trade), #12-Wells Fargo, #13-Ally, #14-Acorns, #15-JP Morgan Chase

Digital Advice by Firm AUMs: #1-Edelman Financial Engines, #2-Vanguard, #3-Morningstar, #4-Fidelity, #5-Schwab, #6-Betterment, #7-Wealthfront/UBS, #8-Personal Capital/Empower, #9-TD Ameritrade/Schwab, #10-Guided Choice, #11-Bloom. Total industry AUM $987.6 billion.

Also mentioned are Best Overall (SoFi), for digital financial planning (Personal Capital/Empower), for 1st timers (Betterment), for complex financial planning (Vanguard). (Edited 8/7/22)

There are several variations - digital-only, digital+ with some personalization/customization (menu-based) and limited support, tax-loss harvesting.

Related developments include direct-indexing, ESG, mobile apps.

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Robo-Advisors - Barron's Rankings, 2023
www.barrons.com/articles/best-robo-advisors-ranking-d7ff0bcf?mod=past_editions

BEST ROBO-ADVISORS, 2023: #1-Schwab/SCHW, #2-Merrill/BAC, #3-Fidelity Go, #4-Wealthfront, #5-Vanguard PAS, #6-Betterment, #7-SoFi/SOFI, #8-Empower, #9-Ally/ALLY, #10-US Bank/USB, #11-E*Trade/MS, #12-SigFig, #13-J.P. Morgan/JPM, #14-Wells Fargo/WFC, #15-Acorns.

Robo-advisor AUM is $900+ billion (by AUM, #1-Vanguard, #2-Edelman Financial Engines, #3-Morningstar, #4-Fidelity, #5-Schwab, etc). Some financial advisors/planners now just use robo-advisors (?). More robo-advisors are getting into the 401k/403b business and high-interest cash accounts. Several have added human touch for what are called hybrid robo-advisors, but some remain digital-only (Betterment, Wealthfront, etc). Only a few pure-play robo-advisors remain because the profitability has been low; many have been acquired or shut down; large established players dominate the scene now. Most of the article writeup is on Betterment.