really interesting takeaways from the Wealthfront landing page[0]:
* every example is shown as a smartphone app - not a single "desktop-oriented" screenshot to be found. I guess we are finished with the days where every service has an app. Now, every service is an app.
* In the first example, an investment portfolio is shown where roughly 10% of the holdings is in a group called "single stock bets." Yikes! Though maybe this a case of "know your audience"? maybe they are trying to convert the hordes of GME-pumpers to try something a bit less risky?
* lots of emphasis on "emerging markets", "socially responsible funds", crypto. I've always heard the best long-term advice is to simply throw your money into an ETF tracking the s&p500 or nasdaq, but clearly wealthfront is targeting those who want some emotional connection to their savings.
all in all, seems like a cool service, especially if it helps convince those to begin saving who would otherwise not be saving.
> * In the first example, an investment portfolio is shown where roughly 10% of the holdings is in a group called "single stock bets." Yikes! Though maybe this a case of "know your audience"? maybe they are trying to convert the hordes of GME-pumpers to try something a bit less risky?
Don't read too much into marketing materials.
It's likely that they surveyed a lot of potential customers and found a significant number were afraid that Wealthfront wouldn't allow them to choose individual stocks. So that factoid filtered its way over to the graphics design department, who were told to prominently display something about how you can still buy individual stocks.
I don't think having 10% of your equity investments in single stock bets is a yikes-worthy level of irresponsibility. It may not be the best way to perfectly optimize your long-term return, but for the vast majority of people it won't mean the difference between retiring comfortably and destitution—especially if actively managing a portion of your portfolio encourages a higher level of overall saving.
Re: the first example - Wealthfronts dashboard aggregates all your investments (if you give it access). The "single stock bet" is being pulled from the user's Robinhood account. The other two investments (with the purple icon) are through Wealthfront.
> * every example is shown as a smartphone app - not a single "desktop-oriented" screenshot to be found. I guess we are finished with the days where every service has an app. Now, every service is an app.
Their desktop experience isn't bad though! Other commenters have mentioned how garbage Wells Fargo/JP Morgans investment dashboards are and wealthfront thankfully takes user experience on both platforms seriously
Maybe they were trying to differentiate themselves from the offerings of a potential acquirer and prepping themselves for aquisition - particularly perhaps once they realized they weren't going to be able to beat the legacy banks.
Wealthfront used to have only a very limited portfolio options that used relatively best practices bogglehead-lite-ish, but I think ran into users constantly wanting customization, regardless of its "optimality".
Yes - this is the problem with all "we know best" style platforms.
Example: networking gear that supplies a dhcp server. You shouldn't have to put in the IP address range. It should just be yes or no, so no admin ever needs to know what dhcp even really does. It satisfies 80% of customers.
...but someone wants your own custom DHCP server, with custom IPs so that it can support your legacy printers, with reserved ranges of static IPs because the ghosted profile wants a printer at 172.16.12.2 etc. etc. etc. and that customer is willing to buy $1B of equipment, so you do add the customization. The slippery slope begins to acquire more customers.
* every example is shown as a smartphone app - not a single "desktop-oriented" screenshot to be found. I guess we are finished with the days where every service has an app. Now, every service is an app.
* In the first example, an investment portfolio is shown where roughly 10% of the holdings is in a group called "single stock bets." Yikes! Though maybe this a case of "know your audience"? maybe they are trying to convert the hordes of GME-pumpers to try something a bit less risky?
* lots of emphasis on "emerging markets", "socially responsible funds", crypto. I've always heard the best long-term advice is to simply throw your money into an ETF tracking the s&p500 or nasdaq, but clearly wealthfront is targeting those who want some emotional connection to their savings.
all in all, seems like a cool service, especially if it helps convince those to begin saving who would otherwise not be saving.
[0] https://www.wealthfront.com/