FutureAdvisor, a company who believes financial advice should be accessible to everyone, not just the wealthy, today launched the company and its first online financial service with the same name, designed to help people get the most out of their investment portfolios.
Based on decades of academically researched investing principles and developed by chartered financial analysts and mathematicians, FutureAdvisor's web application provides people with personalized financial advice by recommending ways to reduce fees, maximize on tax efficiency and select the right investments. FutureAdvisor's free service is available today at www.futureadvisor.com.
The founding team includes financial industry veterans, top software engineers from Microsoft and several math PhDs from top universities. Based in Seattle and a Y Combinator funded company, FutureAdvisor is backed by Sequoia Capital and angel investors, Square's Chief Operating Offer, Keith Rabois and Yelp founder Jeremy Stoppelman.
"FutureAdvisor is the only company rethinking personal investments in an industry long overdue for innovation," said Keith Rabois, angel investor and chief operating officer at Square, Inc. "FutureAdvisor offers consumers an alternative way to manage their finances and gives everyone the free tools and knowledge they need to make informed decisions about their investments and portfolios."
Bo Lu, cofounder of FutureAdvisor added, "We envision a world where old school financial advisers are obsolete, except for the very wealthy. The convergence of technology, index funds and investment instruments are making this possible now. We want to empower the 99% everyday investors with information they need to manage their own investments online."
FutureAdvisor's Key Differentiators Help People Optimize Their Portfolios
FutureAdvisor's free online service provides the following:
Free cost for unlimited investment advice: Simply put, FutureAdvisor is free. Optional Gold and Platinum plans, for a low flat annual fee, allow clients to schedule consultations with financial advisers on staff to answer any specific questions they may have.
The big picture through financial reporting: FutureAdvisor analyzes your entire financial picture and takes every cture and takes every detail into account by providing personalized, actionable recommendations for future investments based on age, risk tolerance as well as current and existing investment situations.
Advice on how to save money: FutureAdvisor provides unbiased, data-driven analysis and recommendations to reduce portfolio fees which save you money annually and at retirement.
Tips on how to keep your portfolio diversified: Market movements can cause your portfolio asset allocation to be out of balance. FutureAdvisor watches over the markets for you and alerts you when it's time to rebalance.
Guidance on your retirement goals: FutureAdvisor tells you exactly how much you need to save per year to stay on track of your retirement goals and calculates how much you need to save to retire comfortably.
Empowerment with objective advice: Investing in the stock market is scary and risky, but add more fear and emotion to the process, and bad choices can be made. FutureAdvisor empowers people because it translates widely accepted, proven investment principals into a powerful web application that everyone can understand, without being swayed by human emotions.
Unlike other financial advisers online and in the real world, FutureAdvisor is the only company that offers the following:
No commissions: FutureAdvisor does not push people to invest in products or purchase unnecessary insurance or annuities. FutureAdvisor never accepts commission.
No percent of assets: Many traditional financial advisers charge an average of one percent of assets which means people pay thousands of dollars in fees per year. FutureAdvisor's basic service is free for everyone.
No load funds: FutureAdvisor does not steer clients to load funds, because unlike other advisers, FutureAdvisor does not accept payment from these funds to "recommend" them.
FutureAdvisor Pricing
FutureAdvisor's basic online service is free at www.futureadvisor.com. FutureAdvisor is launching with a referral program whereby people who refer three people to FutureAdvisor receive the Gold Plan, a $49 value for free.
In addition, there are two additional options for people looking for more services.
Gold Plan. Includes 24/7 portfolio monitoring, coupled with rebalancing alerts and an annual scheduled video call with an investment adviser on staff for $49 USD per year.
Platinum Plan. Provides a face-to-face connection of a real-life adviser and includes everything from the Gold Plan plus unlimited video calls with an investment adviser for $195 USD per year.