Personal Capital serves up a unique triad of services comprising savings accounts, financial calculators and wealth management services. But minimums for portfolio management start at a steep $100,000, and its fees aren’t the most competitive on the market. Compare your investment options with these three Personal Capital alternatives.
This financial planning platform offers one-on-one guidance from a certified financial planner for a flat annual fee. Facet offers dedicated financial planners to help you manage your portfolio. While it doesn't offer its own accounts, it can help you with existing investments as long as you're willing to pay the entry cost: $480 per year for access to a dedicated financial advisor and $800 per year for investment management services.
SoFi offers automated investment options for investors who don't mind handing their portfolios over to a robo-advisor. SoFi doesn't offer access to human financial advisors. But that's because a digital algorithm-driven robo-advisor handles its portfolio management. SoFi offers no-fee commission stock, option and ETF trades, with no options contract fees
INVESTMENTS ARE NOT FDIC INSURED • ARE NOT BANK GUARANTEED • MAY LOSE VALUE
Other fees, such as exchange fees, may apply. Please view our fee disclosure to view a full listing of fees.
Investing in alternative investments and/or strategies may not be suitable for all investors and involves unique risks, including the risk of loss. An investor should consider their individual circumstances and any investment information, such as a prospectus, prior to investing. Interval Funds are illiquid instruments, the ability to trade on your timeline may be restricted. Brokerage and Active investing products offered through SoFi Securities LLC, Member FINRA(www.finra.org) /SIPC(www.sipc.org).
There are limitations with fractional shares to consider before investing. During market hours fractional share orders are transmitted immediately in the order received. There may be system delays from receipt of your order until execution and market conditions may adversely impact execution prices. Outside of market hours orders are received on a not held basis and will be aggregated for each security then executed in the morning trade window of the next business day at market open. Share will be delivered at an average price received for executing the securities through a single batched order. Fractional shares may not be transferred to another firm. Fractional shares will be sold when a transfer or closure request is initiated. Please consider that selling securities is a taxable event.
Options involve risks, including substantial risk of loss and the possibility an investor may lose the entire investment Before trading options please review the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options
Advisory services are offered by SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser.
Utilizing a margin loan is generally considered more appropriate for experienced investors as there are additional costs and risks associated. It is possible to lose more than your initial investment when using margin. Please see https://www.sofi.com/wealth/assets/documents/brokerage-margin-disclosure-statement.pdf for detailed disclosure information
Probability of Member receiving $1,000 is a probability of 0.028%
Terms and conditions apply. Roll over a minimum of $20K to receive the 1% match offer. Matches on contributions are made up to the annual limits.
For full promotion terms please visit: https://www.sofi.com/acatoffer. SoFi does not accept cryptocurrencies and has limitations on some mutual funds and OTC stocks. Brokerage and Active Investing Products offered by SoFi Securities, LLC, Member FINRA/SIPC.
Robo Advisor: Automated investing is offered through SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. 0.25% fee is based on your account value. The wrap program fee may cost more or less than purchasing brokerage, custodial, and recordkeeping services separately.
Like Personal Capital, Betterment offers savings accounts in addition to its investment service. But compared to Personal Capital, Betterment’s fees sit lower at 0.25% and you don’t need $100,000 to open an account: Betterment lets you get started with any amount you want. Of course, these lower fees and account thresholds only apply to the platform’s robo-advisor service. If you want access to certified financial planners, you’ll need to bump up to Betterment Premium — and that does require a $100,000 portfolio.
Account types
Brokerage, IRA
Annual fee
0.25% on balances up to $99,999 0.4% on balances of $100,000+
Available asset types
ETFs, Cryptocurrency
Annual fee
0.25% on balances up to $99,999 — 0.4% on balances of $100,000+
Pros and cons of Personal Capital
Personal Capital offers an attractive suite of services but has its drawbacks.
Pros
Free financial tools. Investors have access to Personal Capital’s free financial tools, including retirement planning, fee analyzers and net worth calculators.
Well-received. Well-received.
Human advisors. Personal Capital’s wealth management service is made possible by a combination of investing algorithms and the expertise of human financial advisors.
Cons
Account management fee. Investors with portfolios under $1 million pay 0.89% for Personal Capital’s wealth management service — more than you’d pay for automated investing with many of its competitors.
High portfolio minimum. To qualify for Personal Capital’s portfolio management services, you’ll need a portfolio of at least $100,000.
Limited support. Phone support is only available on weekdays.
How to transfer your brokerage account
Has another broker piqued your interest? The account transfer process will depend on the type of account you have and the platform you plan to move to. For information specific to the Personal Capital account transfer process, reach out to a rep during business hours and ask about applicable fees and next steps. Here’s a look at the typical process:
Contact your new broker to inform them of the transfer and provide them with your Personal Capital account number.
Complete any required transfer paperwork from your new broker. For accounts under $250,000, you may be asked to notarize your signature. For accounts over $250,000, you may be asked for a medallion signature guarantee.
Submit your transfer paperwork to your existing broker.
The account transfer process typically takes between seven and 10 business days.
Compare trading platforms
If you’re looking for a new investment account, here are some options.
1 - 9 of 9
Paid non-client promotion. Finder does not invest money with providers on this page. If a brand is a referral partner, we're paid when you click or tap through to, open an account with or provide your contact information to the provider. Partnerships are not a recommendation for you to invest with any one company. Learn more about how we make money.
Finder is not an advisor or brokerage service. Information on this page is for educational purposes only and not a recommendation to invest with any one company, trade specific stocks or fund specific investments. All editorial opinions are our own.
Shannon Terrell is a lead writer and spokesperson at NerdWallet and a former editor at Finder, specializing in personal finance. Her writing and analysis on investing and banking has been featured in Bloomberg, Global News, Yahoo Finance, GoBankingRates and Black Enterprise. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and English literature from the University of Toronto Mississauga. See full bio
's expertise
has written 164 Finder guides across topics including:
How likely would you be to recommend Finder to a friend or colleague?
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Very UnlikelyExtremely Likely
Required
Thank you for your feedback.
Our goal is to create the best possible product, and your thoughts, ideas and suggestions play a major role in helping us identify opportunities to improve.
Advertiser Disclosure
Finder.com is an independent comparison platform and information service that aims to provide you with the tools you need to make better decisions. While we are independent, the offers that appear on this site are from companies from which Finder receives compensation. We may receive compensation from our partners for placement of their products or services. We may also receive compensation if you click on certain links posted on our site. While compensation arrangements may affect the order, position or placement of product information, it doesn't influence our assessment of those products. Please don't interpret the order in which products appear on our Site as any endorsement or recommendation from us. Finder compares a wide range of products, providers and services but we don't provide information on all available products, providers or services. Please appreciate that there may be other options available to you than the products, providers or services covered by our service.
We update our data regularly, but information can change between updates. Confirm details with the provider you're interested in before making a decision.
