SoFi Financial Advisors Review

Services

SoFi offers taxable brokerage accounts and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Experienced investors can choose to actively manage their investments while those who are new to investing or lack confidence may prefer the automated investing service. This is essentially a robo-advisor that invests your money in a certain way based on how you respond to a few questions. Then, it will ensure your portfolio stays balanced so you don't have to do anything.

SoFi also offers term life insurance through its partnership with Ladder, but it's missing many of the features that more robust financial services companies offer, including IRAs, college savings plans, health savings accounts (HSAs), universal and whole life insurance and workplace retirement plans. If you're interested in any of these services, you'll have to go with a different company.

Credentials

SoFi is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) and the Financial Regulatory Authority (FINRA). These organizations help regulate financial advisors to ensure that clients are treated fairly. Membership in these organizations is a good sign that you're working with a reputable company.

All of SoFi's financial advisors are Certified Financial Planners (CFPs). Few other financial services companies can say this, and it can make a big difference in the quality of service you receive. CFPs are held to a fiduciary standard, which means they're required to act in your best interest, not their own.

Fee Structure

SoFi's financial advisors don't earn commissions for recommending certain investment products, so you don't have to worry about potential conflicts of interest. This is rare among financial advisors, but what's more surprising is that SoFi gives all its SoFi Invest clients free unlimited access to its financial advisors. You will still have to pay the platform's fees and the fees for the ETFs or other investments you choose, but you won't have to pay anything for the advice you receive. Only a select few companies offer free access to financial advisors, so SoFi is worth a closer look if you're on a budget.

Online Resources

SoFi's website contains a blog covering all aspects of personal finance and investing to help you improve your money management skills. It also has a handful of financial tools and calculators, but these are mostly directed at its loan products and may not be all that useful to those interested in investing with SoFi.

The company's website doesn't offer any financial advisor search tool or give you any way of setting up a call with a financial advisor until you sign up for a SoFi Invest account. But the accounts are free so this shouldn't pose too much of an inconvenience for interested clients.