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Charles Schwab-Robo-Advisor Review


ConsumersAdvocate.org Rating: 4.4 / 5 (Excellent)
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Charles Schwab & Co. is an investment banking and securities brokerage firm. Founded in 1971, the San Francisco-based firm offers investment advisory, trading, equity research, and online financial services, including its fully automated advisement service Schwab Intelligent Portfolios.
 
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How is Schwab Intelligent Portfolio rated?

Breakdown

4.5/5
Features
4.5/5
Pricing and fees
4.0/5
Reputation

Overall Rating: 4.4 / 5 (Excellent)

Since its launch, Charles Schwab Intelligent Portfolio has outpaced many robo-advisors, with more than $20 billion in assets across its accounts. Schwab offers two robo-advisory services, “Schwab Intelligent Advisory,” a hybrid service that offers automated investing with unlimited human assistance and its more economical, and fully automated, “Schwab Intelligent Portfolios.” This review primarily focuses on that latter, which uses sophisticated algorithms to build, monitor, and automatically rebalance an investor's diversified portfolio based on goals, timeline, and risk tolerance.

Schwab Intelligent Portfolio uses low-cost exchange-traded funds (ETFs.) One aspect that makes the Intelligent Portfolio stand out is the company's high-level of diversification, which goes beyond the basic stock and bond allocations to include real estate, precious metals, gold, and other asset classes. Users can also set and adjust their target withdraw amount to generate a sustainable income stream. Like many other robo-advisors, Schwab Portfolio is great for first-time investors, but also caters to intermediate investors as well.

One major perk is that the company offers free management for its services. However, investors who are looking to use this product will need to invest a little more upfront, as the minimum balance to get started is $5,000. This differs from several of the no-minimum robo-advisory services on the market that offer similar services. Another distinguishing factor is that the Schwab Intelligent Portfolio has a sizable cash allocation, which some investors may not be comfortable with. Schwab explains the reason for doing this is that it helps to create a more stable, diversified portfolio. The most risk-averse or short-term portfolios will hold the highest levels of cash, and the least risk-averse or long-term accounts will hold the lowest.

Schwab Intelligent Portfolio Account Features

Features - 4.5 / 5

Schwab’s Intelligent Portfolio pulls from 53, low-cost exchange-traded funds (ETFs), giving clients access to more than 20 different asset classes in order to create a diversified portfolio. Like other robo-advisors, Schwab helps customize the investor’s portfolio based on a questionnaire that measures a client’s investment knowledge and assesses their risk aversion. These portfolios include stocks, commodities, fixed income, and cash, including Schwab-owned ETFs and third-party ETFs.

Perhaps another unique feature of the Intelligent Portfolio is that Charles Schwab gives investors the opportunity to exclude, or get rid of, three ETFs of their choice from their portfolio. Based on a client’s risk profile, Charles Schwab may also place a portion of cash in an FDIC-insured Schwab account. The Intelligent Portfolio will also alert users if they’re falling short of their goal, such as if the market isn’t performing well or life circumstances caused them to not contribute to their account for a few months. Then, the robo-advisor will help them adjust and get back on track.

One potential downside for would-be investors is that while rebalancing is an automatic feature, the tax-loss harvesting is only available to clients with a minimum of $50,000 in their taxable account – and only if the client enrolls in the service. Rebalancing helps prevent a client's investments from becoming too risky, while tax-loss harvesting helps to save an investor at tax time by selling off losing stocks. While the minimum is higher than some of the other robo-advisor services on the market that offer no minimums, the Intelligent Portfolio makes up for this with low-cost ETFs and with management fee.
Robo-advisor Type
Fully Automated
Account Minimum
$5,000
Goals
Save for Retirement
Save Set AmountSave for a Major Purchase
Education Expenses
General Investing
Safety Net
Integration with Other Accounts
IRA
401(k)
Types of Assets
Stocks
Bonds
Access to Financial Advisors
No
Automatic Portfolio Rebalancing
Yes
Tax Loss Harvesting
Yes

Investment Focus

Schwab's Intelligent Portfolio can help an investor prepare for retirement, save for a major upcoming expense, save for something special, build an emergency or rainy day fund, generate income for expenses or build long-term wealth. These accounts include individual, joint, joint tenant with rights of survivorship, tenants in common, community property and custodial accounts. Investors can also open a living trust for a single trustee or two trustees, a Roth IRA, Traditional IRA, Rollover IRA, SEP IRA or a Simple IRA. For those who want to know exactly where, or how, their assets are being invested, Schwab Intelligent Portfolio offers a comprehensive look at its methodology through its FAQ.

Schwab Intelligent Portfolio Fees & Commission

Pricing and fees - 4.5 / 5

Schwab Intelligent Portfolio requires a $5,000 minimum. The company does not charge an advisory fee or commissions, but a client will pay the operating expenses on the ETFs in their portfolio, which can vary. These can include Schwab ETFs or third-party ETFs. This is a fee typical of all robo-advisors and is usually paid through the funds themselves. Tax-loss harvesting services are only available to those with a taxable portfolio of $50,000 or more. Such clients must enroll in this service, as it does not automatically enroll eligible users.

Clients should also be aware that after a withdraw that their portfolio will be rebalanced to get back on target, but the withdraw may also cause the account to become ineligible for tax-loss harvesting if the account falls below the minimum. If the withdrawn amount is less than the cash allocation in a client’s portfolio, they can either transfer it to another Schwab account immediately, or be linked to an external account overnight. If the withdraw request exceeds the portfolio’s cash allocation, Schwab will sell the ETFs to generate the requested amount. This process can take between 4 to 6 business days.
Commission
No commission.
Fees
ETF

Schwab Intelligent Portfolio Reputation & Customer Service

Reputation - 4 / 5

Charles Schwab as an entity has a B- rating on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) which is considered good. As a large financial firm with many different offerings, some of the consumer reviews applied to its other products and services, not necessarily its robo-advisor offerings. Multiple reviews on the BBB's website complained of Charles Schwab doing hard credit pulls on clients, including at least one customer who signed up for the Intelligent Portfolio. While the company's TrustPilot score is a 6.4 out of 10, which is average, there is only one review on the site that is about Charles Schwab's other products. This also appears to be the case for the Consumer Financial Protection Board (CFPB) where there are 210 out of 1,159,955 total complaints. Additionally, Charles Schwab has a long-term rating of A2 with Moody's. We recommend that customers do their own research before choosing a financial advisement and investment product.
Year Founded
1971
Moody's Financial Rating
A2
Consumer Financial Protection Board (CFPB) Complaints
210
SIPC Membership
Yes
BBB Rating
B-
Trust Pilot Rating
6.4 out of 10
Contact Methods
Phone
Chat
Mobile App
Yes
Date Collected
2018-11-12

Free Customer Support

Schwab offers 24/7 customer service via chat, phone, or at one of the firm's local branches. Schwab’s Intelligent Portfolio can be accessed anywhere, from online to just a few taps through the Charles Schwab app. The website also offers a comprehensive FAQ section, including its methodology for investing.

Company Profile

Full Name
Charles Schwab-Robo-Advisor
Company Website
https://www.schwab.com/
Headquarters
211 Main Street, San Francisco, CA, 94105

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