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Betterment vs. Fidelity
Compare annual advisory fees and access to financial planners when looking at these two robo-advisors.
Updated
Betterment and Fidelity both offer robo-advisor services that match you to a set of recommended portfolios. But only one platform lets you step in and fine-tune your portfolio.
Which one is better?
- Choose Betterment if you want to tweak a preset investment portfolio.
- Choose Fidelity if you can invest at least $25,000 and prefer to work with a financial advisor, or if you’re an active trader.
Both Betterment and Fidelity offer investment portfolios with no minimum balance requirement to open an account. While Betterment has a more competitive advisory fee — 0.25% to Fidelity’s 0.35% — you’ll need deep pockets to access a financial adviser. Betterment’s premium plan has a $100,000 minimum investment to speak to a professional, but your annual fee shoots up to 0.4% on the premium plan.
On the other hand, Fidelity provides advisers with a $25,000 minimum investment — a lower threshold, but you pay for the service with a 0.5% advisory fee. And at this service tier, you’ll unlock tax benefits that come standard at Betterment.
On top of its robo-advisor service, Fidelity has a powerful trading platform for traders that want complete control over their investments. While Betterment allows you to customize your portfolio, it doesn’t have the robust tools and analytics that Fidelity does.
How do Betterment and Fidelity compare?
Betterment | Fidelity | |
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Overview | Betterment is an online financial advisor that makes investing easy by creating a portfolio just for you, based on your preferences and financial goals. It’s a solid choice for those new to investing. | Fidelity Investments is a platform catering to new and active traders. Its range of trading services span wealth management services, access to international markets and actively-managed ETFs. While it lacks access to crypto, forex and futures, it has almost everything else a trader needs to get up and running, including a hybrid advisor service that combines automated portfolio management with one-on-one financial coaching. |
Annual fee | 0.25% | 0% |
Minimum deposit to open | $0 | $25,000 |
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Drawbacks |
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Tools and research |
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Reputation and customer reviews |
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Apple App Store reviews | ★★★★★ 4.8/5 | ★★★★★ 4.8/5 |
Google Play Store reviews | ★★★★★ 4.3/5 | ★★★★★ 4.6/5 |
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Learn more |
Bottom line
Betterment and Fidelity offer similar robo-advisor services. But Betterment gives you the reins on your portfolio and lets you adjust the weights of individual asset classes, making it a good option if you want to customize your portfolio.
On the other hand, Fidelity is pretty strict about making sure your investment strategy matches your profile. If you want ultimate control over your investments, consider ditching the robo-advisor altogether and start trading on Fidelity’s platform.
If neither of these robo-advisors fit the bill, or if you’re interested in trading online, consider a few other trading platforms.
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