Last Updated: 04/18/2025
SuperMoney User Recommendation Score +36
Mostly recommended11 total votes
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Highlights
Community Rating
Mostly recommended
Minimum Initial Investment
$0
Management Fee
0.25% - 0.4%
Number of Reviews
Betterment Review
Betterment investing was founded in 2008 and is based in New York, NY. It is a Registered Investment Adviser or RIA. RIAs have a fiduciary duty to work in your best interest. Betterment investing is not tied to a particular company or product and can therefore offer unbiased investment advice.
Betterment investing Pros & Cons
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Betterment investing FAQ
What fees does Betterment investing charge?
Betterment investing uses a fee-only model.
This means Betterment investing gets paid a flat fee regardless of what financial products or services you use. It also means they have a fiduciary responsibility to their clients. Instead of making money on trades commissions or selling products, they recommend an asset allocation and get paid a flat-fee or a percentage of the assets under administration. That requires that they act in their client’s financial best interest at all times.
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| Monthly Service Fee | $0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Annual Fee | $0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Management Fee | 0.25% - 0.4% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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What management fees does Betterment investing charge?
Betterment investing charges an annual management fee that starts at 0.25% and ranges up to 0.4%.
Many financial advisors charge based on how much money they oversee by using a fee-structure called “assets under management,” or AUM. For instance, a 0.40% fee translates to $4 per year for every $1,000 an investment advisor manages. Management fees, also known as maintenance fees, cover the operating costs of investment advisors and are typically deducted from your account every month or quarter. The management fee does not cover the underlying expense ratios of the investment vehicles purchased by investment advisors.
What are the investment expense ratios of Betterment investing?
Hiring an investment advisor with competitive investment fees is one of the most important steps to maximizing your portfolio's performance. Investment expense ratios can vary drastically depending on the types of accounts and assets involved. A survey by the ICI puts the average expense ratio for actively managed funds at 0.76% and indexed funds at 0.08%. The investment expense ratios of an investment advisor will vary depending on the type of assets they invest in and whether they attach additional charges to fund fees.
Betterment investing does not charge fees based on an investment expense ratio. What features does Betterment investing offer?
Access to human advisors: Robo-advisors are great at keeping costs down and helping investors with modest balances make good investment choices. However, it is also nice to have access to human financial advisors when you need them.
Automatic rebalancing: Having a good balance of investments is important. But a well-balanced portfolio is not something you can set up and forget. Markets are constantly changing and can easily throw your portfolio out of balance. Betterment investing allows you to rebalance your investments back to your target asset allocation at set intervals.
Full-service brokerage: Betterment investing provides access to a wide selection of financial advice and products, such as facilitating trades, managing portfolios, and wealth management services.
Betterment investing is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. Registered investment advisors are required to provide detailed information on the financial and legal status of the company and its staff. This allows investors to examine closely any conflicts of interest and look into the background of the company and its advisory team.
Betterment investing offers the option of direct indexing. Direct indexing allows investors to buy individual stocks in all the companies included in an index without having to pay a trading fee for each one. Among other things, this allows investors to take advantage of tax-loss harvesting tools at a scale that is not possible with traditional index funds.
Betterment investing gives investors access to advanced indexing. This is an investment feature that uses multiple factors to determine the weighting of stocks in your portfolio when using indexed funds. While traditional indexed funds only consider market capitalization, advanced indexing also takes into account other factors, such as dividend yield and volatility.
What type of investment accounts and asset classes does Betterment investing support?
Betterment LLC offers the following types of assets and account types.
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These are the investment options Betterment LLC offers its clients.
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What is the minimum amount you have to invest to open an account with Betterment investing?
Betterment investing does not have a minimum amount to open an account.Betterment Disclosure: Brokerage services provided to clients of Betterment LLC by Betterment Securities, an SEC registered broker-dealer and member FINRA/SIPC.
Investments: Not FDIC Insured • No Bank Guarantee • May Lose Value. Investing in securities involves risks, and there is always the potential of losing money when you invest in securities. Before investing, consider your investment objectives and Betterment's charges and expenses. Betterment's internet-based services are designed to assist clients in achieving discrete financial goals. They are not intended to provide comprehensive tax advice or financial planning with respect to every aspect of a client's financial situation and do not incorporate specific investments that clients hold elsewhere. For more details, see our Form ADV Part 2 and other disclosures. Past performance does not guarantee future results, and the likelihood of investment outcomes are hypothetical in nature. Not an offer, solicitation of an offer, or advice to buy or sell securities in jurisdictions where Betterment is not registered.
SuperMoney Disclosure: SuperMoney.com is an independent, advertising-supported service. The owner of this website may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. Read more...
Editorial Disclaimer: Editorial and user-generated content on this page is not provided or commissioned by the issuer. Opinions expressed here are the author's alone and have not been approved or otherwise endorsed by any financial institution, including those that are advertising partners.
Message from Betterment investing
Hours of Operation
Sunday
Closed
Monday
9:00AM - 6:00PM
Tuesday
9:00AM - 6:00PM
Wednesday
9:00AM - 6:00PM
Thursday
9:00AM - 6:00PM
Friday
9:00AM - 6:00PM
Saturday
Closed
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Learn MoreSuperMoney Net Recommendation Score
SuperMoney users mostly recommend this product, giving it a user recommendation score of +36, or 3.7 on a 5-point rating scale.
+36
-1000+100
No one recommends
Everyone recommends
Betterment Community Reviews
Would you recommend Betterment to your friends?
NK
Noor K.
Jan 24, 2023
May or may not recommend
I have been trying for over 3 weeks to resolve an issue with them. I just got reset to square one with another support person . They get back to me once or twice a week at most - email only; no calls have ever been returned. They are just not able to manage timely customer support/
SA
Samuel A.
Dec 23, 2020
May or may not recommend
I am a fan of Betterment and their automated investment services at low rates. Using the website is user-friendly, which means all of your transactions are as easy as they get. They are a trustworthy organization, and you are safe in dealing with them. I have done a lot with the services of Betterment, and I can rightfully say that I am better than I was before I got to ...Show More
EO
Eunice O.
Dec 7, 2020
May or may not recommend
The Betterment checking account is so great that after just a few visits, I have my account running as a first timer in the State. The company's customer service policy is so top-notch and always ready to listen to complaints. I would recommend them for any traveling and digital transactions.
VI
Victoria I.
Nov 22, 2020
May or may not recommend
I came across this platform when I wanted to set up my 401(k). To be honest, they shouldn’t be a company if they’re not ready to work with people. Their communication or support isn’t responsive. All I can say is that they strive to provide services to their visitors. I will not recommend anyone to setup their 401(k) with Betterment.
KN
Kodi N.
Sep 2, 2020
May or may not recommend
Betterment made it incredibly easy for me to understand and decide how to handle my money as a total newbie on my financial journey. They are not at all what I expected an investment company to be like. I learned so much about finances and investing from Betterment. I am excited to be investing in EFTs and participating in the global economy. They even have social responsibility portfolio, which is ...Show More
OD
Orlando D.
Aug 7, 2020
May or may not recommend
Cannot say how thankful I a for being able to take advantage of Betterment, The process of setting up an IRA and an Emergency Funds was super simple. one of the great features is like having a financial advisor in your pocket.
It automatically rebalances your investment portfolio based on your needs, tax-harvesting, and on top of it all it is easily available.
U
Anonymous
Feb 26, 2016
May or may not recommend
Investing can be intimidating with all the jargon and various funds etc. This is a simple way to start investing.
U
Anonymous
Mar 28, 2015
May or may not recommend
You can get three free months with this company, but you need to read the fineprint in order for that to happen. It clearly says that you have to fund an account with 5,000 within 30 days and keep it in there for 90. So you essentially need some extra money to make money and get those savings.
U
Anonymous
Mar 28, 2015
May or may not recommend
Now that I've tried Betterment, I have to say that I have absolutely fallen in love with ETF's. I always knew that they were a good thing to have in your portfolio and now I know for sure that they are a smart option, because they've done really well for me.
U
Anonymous
Mar 28, 2015
May or may not recommend
I've always struggled with making my investments diversified and not putting too many eggs in one basket. So when I saw that Betterment does that task for you, I signed up on the website and decided to give automated investing a try! Good news is that it works! I am now diversified and feel so much safer and relieved.
U
Anonymous
Mar 28, 2015
May or may not recommend
Nice model they have here. The automation is interesting, and I really like how it cuts down on investment costs. I also think that the system is pretty strong and seems to be fairly bullet proof. I've made quite a few investments so far and find that it works really well.
Showing 11 of 11 reviews
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