How awesome is this? The asset management business is now being attacked for being…free! Yes, Schwab Intelligent Portfolios unveiled their free Robo Advisory product today and it was attacked viciously by Wealthfront, the leading Robo firm. That’s right, a free product is being attacked! No, they’re not going after hedge funds charging 2&20, front loaded mutual funds or c-share closet index funds charging 1.5% (the guys who totally dominate the financial services industry). They’re attacking a free product!
This is awesome in my opinion. And the big winner here is obviously consumers who now have to choose between how “bad” their low fee products are. I personally enjoy watching the gloves come off here. We should all be taking our gloves off battling for low fee supremacy. Heck, I took my gloves off this year. I think the Robo Advisors are overrated. And it’s part of why I started my own low fee asset management service. And it’s totally awesome. You know why? Because we’re not arguing about how crummy the high fee asset management business is. We’re arguing about how perfect the low fee services are. Did I mention that this is awesome?
There’s never been a better time to be an investor. Or, as I prefer to say, a saver.
Mr. Roche is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Discipline Funds.Discipline Funds is a low fee financial advisory firm with a focus on helping people be more disciplined with their finances.
He is also the author of Pragmatic Capitalism: What Every Investor Needs to Understand About Money and Finance, Understanding the Modern Monetary System and Understanding Modern Portfolio Construction.