Top 10 Wealth Management and Personal Investing Apps in the US

Written by: Amit Goel | Let's Talk Payments I have been observing the two popular categories given below. Personal Investing: Digital capabilities for creating an online investment portfolio based on a financial and risk profile. Wealth Management : Digital capabilities similar to personal investing providing private banking and asset management functionality.Here are some companies that are doing a splendid job in these categories:

1. Motif Investing

Company overview & product solutions:

Thematic investing allowing personal investors to take ideas turning them into investments with motifs investing in index-based funds with transparent exposure in a low-cost customizable product as the next generation online broker

Trading platform with speed in investing allowing to buy 30 securities in 1 single click

Personal investors have option in investing via a catalog of 130,000 motifs (professional or community) or create one from scratch

Creator Royalty Program paying personal investors a royalty if another member uses it

Social tools to create Investment Circles including discussion boards

Motif Investing allows personal investors to invest any dollar amount in a stock or ETF

Plans to expand internationally

Future product strategy includes wealth management capabilities

Direct partners: Pershing Securities LLC Revenue model: Their revenue model is based on from commissions, margin interest and other fees. Total funding & investors: Funding received:$126.5 million Investors:JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Foundational Capital, Balderton Capital, Ignition, Norwest Venture Partners, Wicklow Capital, Renren

2. SmartAsset

Company overview & product solutions:

A technology platform that provides personalized and interactive tools to allow individuals to model financial decisions based on 11 areas, including home purchase, retirements, student debt, etc.

Provides a “startup economics calculator” to see how much it is to sell a startup to a larger company

Added detailed housing data when evaluating mortgage data

Detailed interactive maps in all sections

Founded in 2012

Direct partners:Identify IQFI institutions such as Prosper, USAA, GoBankingRates, New York Life, Capital One & others Total funding & investors: Funding received:$7.6 million Investors:Javelin Venture Partners, North Bridge Venture Partners, Peterson Ventures, Y Combinator, Quotidian Ventures, SV Angel, Brendan Wallace, Denis Grosz

3. Hedgeable

Company overview & product solutions:

Named as the private banker to everyone; provides sophisticated wealth management to those not in the top 1% with no minimum account to open and one low yearly fee

Wants to be the Google of investing, providing additional asset classes with a mission to become the most innovative financial service in the world

Automated investing platform with sophisticated portfolio features such as downside protection

Offers high-net-worth client rewards in their Alpha Club such as rooftop parties, private jets, etc.

Partnered with CircleUp to launch The Hedgeable Circle to invest in private companies

Investments include alternative asset classes, private companies, bitcoin, etc.

Highly tailored portfolio customized to your portfolio and goals

Seven-day white-glove services via chat, text, email, phone, etc.

$5,000 minimum to open account

Founded in 2009

Direct partners:FOLIOFINOther registered investment advisors or firms Revenue model: Their revenue model consists of commissions, margin interest, account management and other fees. Total funding & investors: Funding received:$1.85 million Investors:Route 66 Ventures, SixThirty (FinTech accelerator), Pascal Bouvier

4. Wealthfront

Company overview & product solutions:

Wealthfront makes it easy for anyone to get access to world-class, long-term investment management without the high fees or steep account minimums

Monitors and re-allocates 24/7 automatically, rebalancing with tax efficiency in mind

Investment methodology established by world class investment experts

Invests in ETFs that track indexes across major asset classes

Direct partners: APEX Clearing Corporation Revenue model: The revenue model consists of yearly annual assets under management account size fees. Total funding & investors: Funding received:$129.5 million Investors:DAG Ventures, Index Ventures, Greylock Partners, The Social+Capital Partnership, Spark Capital, Ribbit Capital, Dragoneer, Benchmark, and multiple individual Investors

5. Betterment

Company overview & product solutions:

It is the largest automated investing service that helps people manage and grow their wealth through smarter technology

A personalized investment plan is developed creating a diversified portfolio of globally diversified low-cost ETFs

Investor’s portfolios are automatically rebalanced regularly

Offers customized financial advice and goals

Direct partners: Betterment Securities LLC Revenue model: The revenue model consists of yearly assets under management fees. Total funding & investors: Funding received:$105 million Investors:Bessemer Venture Partners, Athens Group, Menlo Ventures

6. SigFig:

Company overview & product solutions:

Builds an intelligent, tax-efficient, diversified portfolio including managing accounts at other institutions such as Charles Schwab

Offers a concierge services to speak with a personal advisor online

Investor’s portfolios are automatically rebalanced regularly including developing a customized portfolio

Automatically rebalances and reinvests dividends including seeking ways to reduce taxes

Portfolio Tracker is a free service that allows investors to track all their investments in one place including receiving weekly summaries of portfolio performance along with alerts to sell or buy including how much excess cash could be reinvested

Managed accounts where SigFig actively manages your investment portfolio

Specialized portfolio for diversified income targeting a yield of 4% (requires $100K minimum and annual fees of .5%)

Founded in 2011

Direct partners:TD AmeritradeFidelityCharles Schwab Revenue model: Revenue is not disclosed.Revenue model consists for yearly assets under management fees. Total funding & investors: Funding received:$30 million Investors:Bessemer Venture Partners, Anthemis Group, Menlo Ventures, Union Square Ventures, Bain Capital

7. Personal Capital

Company overview & product solutions:

Offers free online analytical tools to manage your entire financial life in one secure place in an award winning dashboard

Fee Analyzer reviews all fees paid in any account—mutual fund, investing and retirement—for potential reductions

Investment Check-Up Tool analyzes your portfolio to provide improvements to reach long-term goals

Retirement Planner to build, manage and forecast your retirement goals

Dashboard details Net Worth, Cash Flow, Account Balances, Portfolio Performance, Spending Analysis, Income Report among other areas

Create a budget and monitor cash flow against actual spend

Technology platform is powered by Yodlee for the dashboard

Provides financial advisors to develop custom financial plans

Private client member service with clients with over $1 million to invest receive direct access to a certified financial planner with private banking services provided by Bank of New York Mellon

Direct partners: Pershing Advisor Services Revenue model: Revenue is not disclosed.The revenue model consists of yearly assets under management fees. Total funding & investors: Funding received:$102.3 million Investors:Institutional Venture Partners, Venrock, Crosslink Capital, BBVA Ventures, USAA, Venrock, Jump Capital, BlackRock

8. Robinhood

Robinhood, a Silicon Valley upstart, is courting young investors with as little as a few dollars to invest.The year-old company based in Palo Alto, Calif., promises to let investors trade without a fee or commission. A dead-simple interface lets you buy and sell stocks with a minimum of taps and no fees. Elegant charts show you a stock’s performance over time; in a nice touch, the color notifications show when the markets are open. The app’s home screen shows you the performance of your entire portfolio. The company charges for the ability to buy stocks on “margin,” or credit, and also makes money by collecting interest on users’ cash balances. It also plans to offer premium advisory services. Total Funding & Investors Funding received: $66 million Investors:New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Index Ventures, Ribbit Capital and Social Leverage

9. FutureAdvisor

The company is looking to bring top-flight wealth management services to the middle class.Unlike the other services, which are targeting a different price-point and typically tech-savvy, wealthier user, the classic client for FutureAdvisor has roughly $100,000 to invest and multiple accounts with different institutions. In some ways, FutureAdvisor’s service is similar to other offerings on the market, in that it uses algorithms to optimize the portfolio for a potential customer. It offers free services around portfolio optimization and the aggregation of investment data into a single source. Should a customer want FutureAdvisor to actually execute an investment strategy, the company can do that—and indeed expect that service to provide a good chunk of its services.On August 26, 2015, FutureAdvisor signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by BlackRock, a global leader in investment and risk management.

10. MarketRiders

In company own words: MarketRiders is web-based investment management software that lets you build and manage a globally diversified low-cost retirement portfolio using methods developed by Nobel laureates.Reduce your investment fees, get Wall Street out of your pocket and retire with more. Most importantly, we help you stay in control of your investments.