10 Best Robo-Advisors: Q4 2023

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Condor Capital Wealth Management released its fourth quarter Robo Report, noting that robo-advice providers are attracting individual investors in large part because their significantly lower minimums and costs.

At the same time, the report highlighted JPMorgan Chase’s closure of its digital robo-advisor service. The bank cited a shortfall in demand, scale and profitability, and pointed out that the robo-advising business has failed to meet expectations in terms of financial sustainability and customer acquisition.

Condor acknowledged that profitability and scalability have been longstanding challenges for the robo-advisor industry despite initial high hopes that customers would swarm to digital platforms.

The new report also said the Betterment account that Condor tracks received payment as part of the settlement Betterment made with the Securities and Exchange Commission in April over software issues.

The report said this development came against the backdrop of an ongoing narrative within the robo-advisor industry, where regulatory compliance and software integrity remain critical to maintaining trust and ensuring digital platforms’ smooth operation.

To identify the fourth quarter’s top robo-advisors, Condor’s Robo Ranking graded the platforms across some 45 specific metrics, scoring each robo on various high-level categories, including features, financial planning, customer experience, access to live advisors, transparency and conflicts of interest, size and tenure, account minimums, costs and performance.

Besides naming the overall top advisors, Condor gave a nod to individual robos in these individual categories:

Best robo for performance at low cost: Wealthfront
Best robo for first-time investors: SoFi
Best robo for digital financial planning: Wealthfront
Best robo for complex financial planning: Vanguard
One-year total performance: SoFi
Three-year total performance: Schwab Domestic Focus
Five-year total performance: Wealthfront