The Shift Toward Automated Investment Advisors

As the digital age continues to grow, more and more people are putting their faith into computers to protect and grow their wealth.

An industry that used to be associated with suits and formal meetings has grown into an online phenomena that allows users to skip traditional brokerage fees by leaving it up to a machine to manage their investments.

A Shift Online

The service asses how much risk a particular client is comfortable with and then invests their funds accordingly without the need of an intermediary; thus significantly reducing the cost to the customer.

Aimed at young people who are comfortable with technology, the popularity of "robo advisers" is quickly growing.

According to The Wall Street Journal over 200 companies have launched their own version of a robo advisor since 2009, and that figure is only expected to continue growing.

Targeting Young People

The accounts work best for people who don't want to spend time managing their own portfolio, but don't want to pay a hefty price to get a broker to do it either.

Related Link: A Closer Look At Robo Advisors Vs. Traditional Advisors

Most robo advisors are able to charge only a fraction of what a typical advisor would, while others don't charge any transaction fees at all.

Disparity Between Firms

While using an algorithm to invest does have a wide range of benefits, many criticize the service saying that what is considered "risk averse" could vary significantly from one firm to another.

All robo advisors use targeted questions to determine how to diversify an investor's portfolio, however the stocks considered to be high or low risk vary from company to company.