Wealthfront automated investing now manages $1b

Do you have a financial advisor? If you're under 40, the answer is probably no. That's exactly who Wealthfront hopes to reach. First, users pick their risk tolerance through a free, no-sign-up quiz. If they decide to move money over, they can sit back and let the internal engines take over. Wealthfront CEO Adam Nash sat down with Jason at the Code Conference and insists: individual investors and financial advisors will never beat the market. Younger users want to know their money is being looked after day and night. Now with over $1b being managed in the system, Wealthfront is betting those users will come to them first. Plus, Adam shares tales of his first job out of college at Apple, and what happened when he bounded up to Steve Jobs in the cafeteria. Never miss an episode! Subscribe in iTunes: Audio (http://bit.ly/TwiStA) || Video (http://bit.ly/TwiStV) Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wealthfront http://twitter.com/adamnash ============== Thanks to our sponsors. Click here to tweet your support (can edit before sending): http://ctt.ec/kge1I Scott Walker at Walker Corporate Law. Scott loves startups and shows it, with fixed-fee pricing. Have a question? Email him directly, scott@walkercorporatelaw.com, and tell him Jason sent you. Sharefile - from Citrix. Secure file transfer - built for business. Visit sharefile.com. Click on the microphone and enter TWIST for a free 30 day trial. To get the exclusive ShareFile Video - "Top 10 Questions by Investors" featuring: David Cohen, Dave McClure, Joanne Wilson, Steve Jurvetson, Brad Feld, Mark Suster and more: Step 1 - Sign up for ShareFile, use the offer code 'TWIST' Step 2 - Send a "request a file link" to sharefile@launch.co. All new video, available only by requesting the file through ShareFile ============== Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jason http://twitter.com/twiStartups Launch Ticker: http://launch.co Launch Festival: http://festival.launch.co Special thanks to the members of the TWiST Backchannel Program!

Comments

1. I've been using Wealthfront for some time now. I would highly recommend it for beginners, and those looking for lower expense, yet quality (read: Vanguard, Schwab, iShares, etc) ETFs. Here is my link for an additional $5,000 managed free!
   
   Link: https://wlth.fr/2fw1mma
2. $5000+ fee free https://wlth.fr/2eHQt1l you're welcome.
3. Who is your prime broker/custodian?
   What are the cumulative brokerage fees you pay per year by continually rebalancing portfolio?
   Who is your auditor?
   Who is your administrator that administers investor funds?
   Who are you regulated by?
   What is the algorithm you use to continually rebalance portfolio?
   What are the risks?
   
   I was just thinking more about this and it smells a bit funny... the costs of doing everything they say they do prudently on a 0.25% fee is not possible or there must be some hidden fees somewhere that they haven't properly disclosed... fyi finance products legally need full disclosure, you can't have hidden costs/kickbacks...
4. Hedge fund fees are high because of the cost to get the best experienced staff and the cost of regulatory compliance, auditors, etc. and still incentivize management...
   Even with $1B AUM, Wealthfront generates just $25M gross fees.  I think it would be extremely hard to get leading experienced risk managers, regulatory compliance, auditors, marketing and have anything left over for staff incentives...
   At the end, they haven't fundamentally changed anything, and you pay for what you get...
   
   Sounds like a great idea, but highly risky getting a google engineer that read a Vanguard whitepaper to manage my funds...