blooom is unique among robo-advisors because it specializes in helping investors manage employer-sponsored retirement plans automatically.

Like other robo-advisors, blooom Inc uses computer algorithms to build retirement portfolios. And it goes a step further by connecting customers to financial advisors, who are available by chat, email, and phone during weekdays.

During our blooom review, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that the cost of managing a 401(k) starts as low as $95 per year. The low fee is compelling, especially when you consider that most other robo-advisors steer clear of defined contribution plans.

And unlike some robo-advisors, blooom won’t penalize newcomers with any account minimum hurdle. In fact, when you weigh up the pros and cons, it’s easy to see why blooom offer tremendous value.

Blooom Promo Code

BLOOOM SPOTLIGHT
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How blooom Works

You can create a blooom account and connect easily to your existing 401(k), 403(b), 401(a), 457 or TSP plans. blooom will then analyze your portfolio for free.

If you are not sure whether your portfolio is optimized for your age, risk, and goals, blooom evaluates it using proprietary computer algorithms at no cost.

Here is a quick demo and overview of how blooom works:

Although blooom can analyze and make changes to your portfolio, it cannot withdraw funds from your account.

Once your account analysis has been completed, blooom factors in your age and timeline to retirement in order to build a target portfolio for you.

After blooom reviews your portfolio composition, it recommends investments from up to 14 asset classes.

Where blooom adds value to you is by crunching through thousands of options to select the optimal investment in each asset class to meet your needs.

Usually, low-cost index funds are favored but every once in a while blooom will select an actively-managed fund if it is a better match for your risk level and retirement goals.

Finally, blooom reviews your portfolio to ensure the portfolio built by its algorithms is indeed a match for you and fund changes are made.

Every 90 days, your portfolio will be re-analyzed to ensure portfolio weightings align with your capacity for risk and financial goals. And each time a change is made, blooom alerts you to the funds which are replaced.

blooom Inc Cost & Features

blooom Review: Is It Right For You?

blooom is designed for price-sensitive investors who want to hand off portfolio management to a financial advisor. 

Risk-Seeking Vs Risk-Averse Investors

When you join you will be invited to enter your birth date and specify when you plan to retire. With this information, blooom knows your age and the duration before you retire. It then constructs a portfolio to match your capacity for risk and financial aims.

blooom leans somewhat aggressive in its portfolio composition. Equities are weighted heavily until about 20 years out from retirement when bonds feature in the mix more prominently.

Because of the higher exposure to stocks, blooom is ideal for investors who are more risk-seeking than risk-averse.

Investors Seeking Professional Portfolio Management

Many research studies have shown that investors who receive professional financial advice outperform those who invest alone.

The reason so many investors fall short of the mark without advice is because, according to blooom, they make three major errors.

The first is to build a portfolio of bonds and stocks that have an incorrect mix compared to their risk tolerances and financial goals.

Next, investors frequently fail to diversify their 401k plans and instead invest heavily in a single company. Usually they are biased towards investing in the company that employs them.

And lastly, they don’t want to face the challenge of managing their retirement accounts, so they stick their heads in the sand like an ostrich!

Price Sensitive Investors

For investors who see the value of expert financial advice and care about the cost of receiving it, blooom is hard to beat because it charges a low annual fee.

For a low annual fee, blooom will identify areas of improvement in your existing 401(k) portfolio, make changes, and provide ongoing management of your existing portfolio.

Fix Your 401k with blooom

Investors Seeking Alternative To Financial Advisors

Unless you pay a financial advisor a much higher fee (most likely), blooom is a compelling alternative. Not only is it an excellent option for investors who don’t want to pay a dedicated financial advisor, but it is also unique among robo-advisors.

Few robo-advisors dabble in 401(k)s because they can be a nuisance to manage. Each employer has its own set of limited securities in which employees can invest and it’s a difficult challenge to automate portfolio management of defined contribution plans.

For this reason, even the robo-advisors who advise on 401(k) plans, like Personal Capital, won’t manage them for you.

In fact, if you want your 401(k) plan managed automatically, blooom is really your only option.

blooom is best for:

• Retirement-focused investors
• Beginner investors
• Fee-conscious investors
• Hands-off investors
• Investors who are more risk-seeking than risk-averse

Fix Your 401k with blooom

blooom Fees Are Low

According to blooom, the average client could save over $60,000 in hidden fees over their working life based on a balance of $43,310 and an average annual contribution of $5,000.

blooom charges an annual fee that starts from as low as $95 for its Essentials package to as much as $25o for its Unlimited package.

The lifetime savings by choosing blooom amount to an astonishing $60,000 in fees based on an average balance of around $43,000.

To save you so much money, you might assume that blooom costs a fortune but in fact the flat annual fee is very affordable, especially for large accounts.

blooom fees

• $95 – $250 Annual Management Fee
• $0 Account Minimum

Compared to traditional financial advisors or other robo-advisors, this fee is very competitive. The $95 fee gets you a personalized portfolio but lacks the auto optimization.

The Standard package will include all the features of the Unlimited package but without the priority advisor access.

For $250 a client receives:

• Personalized Portfolio
• Auto Optimization
• Transaction Activity Alerts
• Advisor Access
• Priority Advisor Access

That still compares well to a human advisor but it’s higher than Betterment and others charge to manage IRA and taxable portfolios.

The gotcha is the only place to manage your 401(k) automatically is blooom so choosing another robo-advisor is not a viable choice.

In our view, the fee is fair given the unique service blooom offers and the fact that clients have access to live advisors by email, chat, and phone.

Fix Your 401k with blooom

How Are blooom 401k Portfolios Invested?

blooom analyzes your existing 401k, removes portfolio holdings that don’t align with your objectives or cost too much, and replaces funds with others that better align with your target allocation and financial aims. 

The following algorithm is applied to assess and optimize your portfolio:

1. blooom analyzes your existing 401k and remove funds that don’t make sense.
2. To keep fees low, blooom generally selects index funds but, every once in a while, actively-managed funds are chosen.
3. After selecting funds that align with your target allocation, computer algorithms select investments to optimize for expense ratios and fund manager experience.
4. Finally, blooom verifies the results and compares the new portfolio with your recommended 401(k) allocation.

Every 90 days thereafter, your portfolio is re-analyzed to ensure selections and weightings are optimal. If needed, your portfolio will be automatically rebalanced.

As you come closer to retirement, blooom will automatically modify the weighting of stocks in your portfolio to create a more conservative portfolio.

blooom App & Tools

You can link an existing 401(k) account to blooom in order to measure fees, and evaluate its composition, and allocation.

blooom makes it simple to analyze an existing 401(k).

Simply link to your existing provider after setting up your blooom account in order to view how well your current 401(k) is performing.

Hands-off investors can leave it to blooom to manage their 401(k) while self-directed investors can act on the recommendations provided.

Where blooom earns a few extra brownie points is its risk tolerance assessment.

Risk tolerance measures are factored into the sign up process using an adjustable slider that allows you to change your allocation by up to 20% either way from the suggested allocation.

blooom Pros and Cons

blooom charges a low, flat annual fee. The onboarding process is easy and it’s free to analyze your existing portfolio.  If blooom were to be docked a few points, it would be the high fee as a % of assets under management on smaller account sizes.

Fix Your 401k with blooom

blooom Fees & Minimums

blooom imposes no account balance minimum, charges a low annual fee for account management and automatic rebalancing.

blooom Account Types

blooom supports employer-sponsored plans: 401(k), 403(b), 401(a), 457 and TSP.

blooom Review Summary

Unlike most robo-advisors, which focus on taxable and IRA accounts, blooom is unique because it manages 401(k) plans automatically for a low yearly flat fee.

By imposing no account minimum, blooom makes it easy to get started. And by charging nothing to analyze your 401(k), there is no reason not to give it a whirl.

If you are like the average blooom client, you will experience instant fee savings and, over the life of the account, potentially save as much as $60,000.

The bottom line is if you have a defined contribution plan, like a 401(k), 403(b), or 401(a), blooom offers compelling value at a fair and flat yearly rate.

Fix Your 401k with blooom

The article Fix Your 401(k) with Blooom (Review) was originally posted on Investormint

Schwab is a full-service brokerage firm that will impress new clients with high touch points, such as quick phone calls post sign-up, responsive live chat features, perhaps the best research in the industry, including proprietary stock ratings, intuitive trading platforms, streaming live events via Schwab Live, and competitive commissions’ costs.

Options traders will love Schwab’s options platform that was built with the proficient options trader in mind, and features such as the all-in-one ticket trade feature. Plus on-the-go traders will find Schwab’s mobile solutions, whether Smartphones, Tablets or Watches to be a pleasant user experience.

Charles Schwab Spotlight

CHARLES SCHWAB SPOTLIGHT
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Charles Schwab Customers

Charles Schwab pioneered low-cost trading that made it possible for the masses to access markets inexpensively, and the strategy of low-cost commissions combined with best-in-class customer service has resulted in Schwab managing well over $2 trillion in client assets.

Charles Schwab serves beginner traders and active, experienced traders equally well. Schwab’s platforms include:

• StreetSmart.com, which is web-based and best for beginners;
• StreetSmart Edge, which is desktop-based; and
• Trade Source, a website.

Schwab’s options platform is designed for experienced options traders and includes advanced capabilities, such as Walk Limit that optimizes for the best National Best Bid or Offer (NBBO) price.

A wide variety of tradeable securities are supported to meet the needs of almost any trader across the spectrum:

• Stocks
• Options
• Bonds
• Mutual funds
• Futures
• Pink Sheets (OTCBB)
• ETFs

For investors seeking life planning and retirement preparation advice, Schwab also has extensive support and resource capabilities. As a result, Schwab caters to not only the self-directed trader but the hands-off investor too.

Charles Schwab is an excellent fit for the following trader types:

• Beginner traders
• Hands-off investors
• Options traders
• Experienced traders
• Retirees
• Traders in need of quality research
• Mutual fund and ETF investors

Charles Schwab Promo Deal

Charles Schwab offers tiered cash rewards as high as $500 for deposits.

• Earn a cash bonus of $100 with a deposit between $10,000-$24,999
• Earn a cash bonus of $200 with a deposit between $25,000-$49,999
• Earn a cash bonus of $300 with a deposit between $50,000-$99,999
• Earn a cash bonus of $500 with a deposit of $100,000+

Open a Charles Schwab Account

Charles Schwab Pros and Cons

Charles Schwab has an abundance of positive attributes going for it, including high quality research, excellent customer support, low commissions for the most part, mobile trading, and intuitive trading platforms.

Charles Schwab Securities

Other than Forex, virtually every other tradeable security is available through Schwab’s options platform:

• Stocks
• Options
• Bonds
• Mutual funds
• Futures
• Pink Sheets (OTCBB)
• ETFs

Charles Schwab Fees

Charles Schwab has an industry-leading fee schedule, particularly as it relates to options and stocks:

Charles Schwab Platform Features

Charles Schwab Summary

Schwab is a compelling choice as a one-stop solution for beginner traders, active traders, options traders, hands-off investors and just about every trader type in between.

Featuring 24/7 phone support, Live Chat, Email and local branch accessibility its customer support ranks among the best in the business. Schwab stands toe-to-toe with competitors like Fidelity and ETrade on commissions costs, high quality research, an extensive range of commission-free ETFs and powerful trading platforms.

Open a Charles Schwab Account

The article Charles Schwab Review 2020 was originally posted on Investormint