Wealthfront vs. Personal Capital – How Do They Compare?

With the staggering markets and rising inflation rates, you must practice controlled emergency and retirement savings. That’s why so many people have resulted to technological means to invest money which is efficient and more affordable than traditional advisors.

However, not all robo-advisors are efficient and cheap. The highly rated ones are Personal Capital, known for its human touch, and Wealthfront popular for high automation and affordability. Read on for an in-depth comparison of the two investment advisors.

Comparison Between Wealthfront and Personal Capital

The most important considerations include the rate of returns and security. Luckily, this guide has all these covered precisely and quickly to help you spend more time investing than researching.

Pricing and Fees

The price variance between Wealthfront and Personal Capital sets a significant difference. Managing and investing your money through the former isn’t that cheap. You need a minimum deposit of $100,000, but you’ll only be designated an advisor once you reach the $200,000 mark.

Personal Capital also has an annual fee of 0.9% for people with less than a million dollars in their account and a discounted price for clients with higher balances to encourage bulk saving and investment. Its lowest fee is 0.5% charged from clients with more than $10 million. Of course, some of these fees are lower than what we pay for traditional financial advisors, but still, you can find online advisors at a lower price. 

Starting with Wealthfront is much easier as you need as little as $500. While other robo-advisors begin with an even lower figure, this is much lower than Personal Capital’s $100,000 threshold. Besides, Wealthfront charges a fixed 0.25% fee annually, which is pretty competitive.

In addition to low prices, Wealthfront incorporates mechanisms to increase profits and evade expenses in the long term. These and other tools are present in its special features labeled “Passive Plus.”

Security

Personal Capital and Wealthfront are members of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). SIPC offers $500,000 of insurance to its clients, while FDIC protects the cash account clients with $1.5 million. Both also incorporate industry-standard encryption, which is generally safe.

However, it’s worth noting that the SIPC and FDIC can only pay the insurance funds due to the company’s break of terms of use, money mismanagement, or bankruptcy. They don’t cover losses in portfolio value due to a drop in the market.

While security and insurance for the two companies seem identical, Personal Capital boosts its cash account protection to a tune of $1.5 million compared to Wealthfront’s $1 million. Personal Capital and Wealthfront money management tools target different client segments. Personal Capital is the best option for clients yearning for handsome yearly returns and dedicated human advisors despite high fees. However, if you want to start small and progress gradually to a large portfolio, Wealthfront is for you.

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