Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Review 2023 – A Free Robo Advisor?
Charles Schwab, the creator of the popular discount stock broker, originally rocked the investment world by offering stock trades at a fraction of what traditional brokers were charging. Competition is good.
Robo advisors — or as Schwab likes to call them, automated investing services — have become popular in the past few years.
Commissions & Fees - 10
Customer Service - 10
Ease of Use - 8.5
Tools & Resources - 8.5
Investment Options - 5
Asset Allocation - 8
8
Charles Schwab's fee-free Intelligent Portfolios is competent and offers a wide range of its own ETFs. The service also offers tax-loss harvesting, which is a big plus. However, it might be a bit too pricey for new and small investors.
Schwab of course has an edge in that it's part of the larger Charles Schwab family. This gives you the opportunity for all-inclusive investing. But how does it work? I took it for a test-drive to find out.
Pros & Cons
pros
cons
What Is Schwab Intelligent Portfolios?
Similar to other popular robo advisors, Schwab Intelligent Portfolios is a professionally managed, fully automated investment portfolio.
Your portfolio selects investments depending on your risk tolerance, ranging from conservative to moderate, to aggressive. The portfolio also rebalances daily as necessary. Tax-loss harvesting is available on accounts with a minimum balance of $50,000.
In addition to Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, you can take advantage of all the investment options that are available through Charles Schwab. The company is a full-service discount brokerage firm and one of the largest in the world. It has almost $3 trillion in client assets under management.
It offers a virtually unlimited selection of investments, including exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds, bonds and other fixed-income investments, options, real estate investment trusts (REITs) and commodity-based investments.
It's possible to have Schwab Intelligent Portfolios managed for you while also maintaining a self-directed portfolio with the same broker.
Charles Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Features
| Minimum Investment | $5,000 |
| Fees | None |
| Accounts |
|
| 401(k) Assistance | |
| Tax Loss Harvesting | |
| Portfolio Rebalancing | |
| Automatic Deposits | Monthly, Bimonthly and Quarterly |
| Advice | Automated |
| Smart Beta | |
| Socially Responsible | |
| Fractional Shares | |
| Customer Service | Phone: 24/7; Live Chat: 24/7; Email |
How Does Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Work?
You can open an account with as little as $5,000. You begin by completing a questionnaire that includes 12 questions that help to establish your investment risk profile, time horizon and investing goals.
Your portfolio is built of as many as 20 individual ETFs. These include stocks and fixed-income investments. But Schwab also adds a few investment allocations that are not typical of robo advisors. These include real estate, precious metals, bank loans and even master limited partnerships (MLPs). Schwab Intelligent Portfolios also includes a cash component, which will be based on your investment profile.
Since Charles Schwab has its own line of ETFs, some will be included in your portfolio, along with the funds of other fund families.
And as one of the largest investment brokerages, Schwab offers everything you need to invest. The customer service is among the best in the industry. And it provides you with full access to investment professionals, round the clock. The platform also has a wealth of educational resources and investment tools.
Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Model Portfolio
Schwab Intelligent Portfolios has a very different composition than that of typical robo investing portfolios. Most allocate your portfolio across no more than a dozen ETFs. The funds are primarily in stocks and bonds, with the stock funds representing the broadest indices. Schwab Intelligent Portfolios uses very specific stock allocations, then adds a few twists to the mix.
Schwab evaluates hundreds of different ETFs, reducing the number that it uses to construct portfolios down to just 53. Each individual portfolio holds approximately 20 of those ETFs. And there's two ETFs in each asset allocation, a primary and secondary. This is done to facilitate tax-loss harvesting. The process involves buying and selling similar funds within the same asset class.
The general asset class mix includes the following broad categories:
- Stocks
- Fixed income
- Commodities
- Cash
The cash position is held in the Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Sweep Program, where it will earn money market rates of interest. It's FDIC insured for up to $250,000 per depositor. The cash allocation is determined by your risk profile, with the largest position being held by the most risk-averse investors.
Stock Portfolio Makeup
The stock allocation is made up of several sub allocations, including the following:
- US Large Company Stock
- US Small Company Stock
- International Developed Large Company Stock
- International Developed Small Company Stock
- International Emerging Markets
What's more, there are two allocations within each stock allocation. One is the general market index weighted by market capitalization. The second is the “fundamental” allocation of the same stock class. Schwab Intelligent Portfolios believes the combination of the two allocations to be preferred investing methodology.
The fundamental allocations invest in ETFs that screen and weight companies based on fundamental factors like sales, cash flow and dividends. This is also referred to as “smart beta” or “strategic beta.” But in practical terms, it's value investing — investing in stocks with strong fundamentals but out of favor with current investment strategies.
Fundamental index strategies tend to lag market cap indexes in general booms in the market or during times when large companies outperform smaller ones. But research has indicated that fundamental index strategies outperform market cap indexes over the long haul. That's because they overweight companies that are relatively cheap based on financial metrics. As well, they do well in markets that reward value stocks.
The ETFs that are included in Schwab Intelligent Portfolios include:
| Category | Primary ETF | Secondary ETF |
|---|---|---|
| US Large Company | SCHX — Schwab U.S. Large-Cap | VOO — Vanguard S&P 500 |
| US Large Company — Fundamental | FNDX — Schwab Fundamental U.S. Large Company | PRF — PowerShares FTSE RAFI US 1000 |
| US Small Company | SCHA — Schwab U.S. Small-Cap | VB — Vanguard Small-Cap |
| US Small Company — Fundamental | FNDA — Schwab Fundamental U.S. Small Company | PRFZ — PowerShares FTSE RAFI US 1500 Small-Mid |
| International Developed Large Company | SCHF — Schwab International Equity | VEA — Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets |
| International Developed Large Company — Fundamental | FNDF — Schwab Fundamental International Large Company | PXF — PowerShares FTSE RAFI Developed Markets ex-U.S |
| International Developed — Small Company | SCHC — Schwab International Small-Cap Equity | VSS — Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Small Cap |
| International Developed Small Company — Fundamental | FNDC — Schwab Fundamental International Small Company | PDN — PowerShares FTSE RAFI Developed Markets ex-U.S. Small-Mid |
| International Emerging Markets | SCHE — Schwab Emerging Markets Equity | IEMG — iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets |
| International Emerging Markets — Fundamental | FNDE — Schwab Fundamental Emerging Markets Large Company | PXH — PowerShares FTSE RAFI Emerging Markets |
| US Exchange-Traded REITS | SCHH — Schwab U. S. REIT | USRT- iShares Core U.S. REIT |
| International Exchange-Traded REITS | VNQI — Vanguard Global ex-U.S. Real Estate | IFGL — iShares International Developed Real Estate |
| US High Dividend | SCHD — Schwab US Dividend Equity | VYM — Vanguard High Dividend Yield |
| International High Dividend | VYMI — Vanguard International High Dividend Yield | DWX — SPDR® S&P International Dividend |
| Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) | MLPA — Global X MLP | ZMLP — Direxion Zacks MLP High Income |
Unusual Stock Allocations
In addition to the general stock allocations, Schwab Intelligent Portfolios adds a few sectors to the stock portion that you don't typically see with other robo advisors.
Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) — These are funds that invest in commercial real estate and large apartment complexes. They can invest in the properties themselves or in the mortgages that are secured by those properties. The funds trade on exchanges and must pay out 90% of their taxable income to their shareholders. REITs have a history of paying out high dividends, as well as being a hedge against inflation. They represent a solid diversification away from an all-stock portfolio and tend to do well in times of inflation.
High Dividend Stocks — Schwab Intelligent Portfolios includes these in the stock allocation in order to add income. High dividend stocks function as a growth-income component, providing both predictable income and stock price appreciation. As well, dividend paying stocks tend to have more stable prices and can reduce volatility in a portfolio.
Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) — This is an allocation that you never find in other robo advisor portfolios. MLPs typically invest in real estate or the production, processing or transportation of oil, natural gas, coal and other commodities. This is another way that Schwab Intelligent Portfolios adds a commodity diversification to your portfolio.
Fixed Income Portfolio Makeup
Schwab Intelligent Portfolios' fixed income allocation includes the following general categories:
- US Treasurys
- US Investment Grade Corporate Bonds
- US Securitized Bonds
- US Inflation Protected Bonds
- US Corporate High Yield
- International Developed Corporate Bonds
- International Emerging Markets Bonds
- Investment Grade Municipal Bonds
- Investment Grade California Municipal Bonds (for California residents)
Schwab Intelligent Portfolios departs from the usual allocation by adding two unique categories to its fixed income portfolio:
Preferred Securities — These are the preferred stock of major companies. These shares provide high dividends and the potential for price appreciation.
Bank Loans — Being tied to short-term interest rates, bank loans would likely be unaffected if long-term interest rates were to rise. They can be attractive in environments where short-term interest rates are rising.
The fixed income portfolio includes the following allocations:
| Category | Primary ETF | Secondary ETF |
|---|---|---|
| US Treasurys | SCHR — Schwab Intermediate-Term U.S. Treasury | VGIT — Vanguard Intermediate-Term Government Bond |
| US Investment Grade Corporate Bonds | SPIB — SPDR® Portfolio Intermediate Term Corporate Bond | VCIT — Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond |
| US Securitized Bonds | VMBS — Vanguard Mortgage-Backed Securities | MBB — iShares MBS |
| US Inflation Protected Bonds | SCHP — Schwab U.S. TIPS | STIP — iShares 0-5 Year TIPS Bond |
| US Corporate High Yield Bonds | HYLB — Deutsche X-trackers USD High Yield Corporate Bond | SHYG — iShares 0-5 Year High Yield Corporate Bond |
| International Developed Country Bonds | BNDX — Vanguard Total International Bond | IGOV — iShares International Treasury Bond |
| International Emerging Markets Bonds | EBND — SPDR® Bloomberg Barclays Emerging Markets Local Bond | EMLC — VanEck Vectors JP Morgan EM Local Currency Bond |
| Preferred Securities | PSK — SPDR Wells Fargo Preferred Stock | PFF — iShares U.S. Preferred Stock |
| Bank Loans | BKLN — PowerShares Senior Loan | N/A |
| Investment Grade Municipal Bonds | VTEB — Vanguard Tax-Exempt Bond | SHM — – SPDR® Nuveen Bloomberg Barclays Short Term Muni Bond |
| Investment Grade California Municipal Bonds | PWZ — PowerShares California AMT-Free Muni Bond | CMF — iShares California AMT-Free Muni Bond |
Commodity Fund Addition
Schwab Intelligent Portfolios also includes a commodity fund, or more specifically gold and other precious metals. This allocation uses one of two funds:
- IAU — iShares Gold Trust (primary EFT)
- GLTR — ETFS Physical Precious Metals Basket (secondary ETF)
The precious metals allocation increases overall portfolio diversification and is considered to be a defensive strategy and good inflation hedge. That's because precious metals tend to perform well when financial assets decline.
Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Premium
If you want to avoid account management fees and don't need a human advisor for backup, you can stick with Schwab's core robo advisor. But customers with at least $25,000 to invest can upgrade to the Premium version which provides perks like:
- Unlimited, one-on-one chatting with a certified financial planner
- A more customized digital financial plan
- Premium digital planning tools to help you stay on track with your various financial goals
There's a $300 one-time planning fee plus a $30 monthly fee for Schwab Intelligent Portfolio Premium. At $30 per month on a $25,000 portfolio, you're looking at a 1.44% annual management fee; almost six times higher than leading robo advisors like Betterment and Wealthfront. But if working with a human advisor is a must, this could be a selling point.
Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Fees
Schwab Intelligent Portfolios doesn't charge any account management fees or setup fees for its regular robo advisor. However, the Premium version charges a $300 setup fee and $30 monthly management fee. All customers also pay operating expense ratio (OER) on the ETFs held in your portfolio. This fee is typical of all robo advisors and is paid through the funds themselves.
Schwab Intelligent Portfolios' operating expense ratios (OERs) range from 0.3% to 0.65%. The weighted average annual OER varies by portfolio type and looks like this:
- Conservative portfolio, 0.06%
- Moderate portfolio, 0.15%
- Aggressive portfolio, 0.20%
Overall, Schwab is a very competitive robo advisor due to the lack of management fees. In contrast, many competitors charge 0.25% in annual fees. Options like M1 and SoFi don't have management fees either, but it's not a given, even for such a competitive space as robo advisors
Is Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Safe?
All accounts are protected by SIPC. SIPC insures the value of your account for up to $500,000, including $250,000 in cash. There is also FDIC coverage, also up to $250,000, for cash held in the Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Sweep Program.
Best Alternatives
One of the main reasons Schwab Intelligent Portfolios is so popular is because of the name behind the robo advisor and lack of fees.
However, a $5,000 minimum investment requirement isn't ideal if you're investing with little money. And there are some other great alternatives you can consider:
| Highlights |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | 9.5/10 | 9/10 | 9/10 |
| Minimum to Open Account | $100,000 | $10 | $500 |
| 401(k) Assistance | |||
| Two-Factor Auth. | |||
| Advice Options | Automated, Human Assisted | Automated, Human Assisted | Automated |
| Socially Responsible Investing | |||
As for Personal Capital, it requires $100,000 to invest with its advisory service, which is human-managed. But it has many free, useful tools like budgeting planners, an investment fee analyzer, and a net worth tracker.
Summary
Schwab Intelligent Portfolios looks to be one of the best overall robo advisors available. The fact that Schwab Intelligent Portfolios comes with no fees is an obvious benefit. The typical fee range for robo advisors is 0.25% to 0.50%. This can significantly reduce a portfolio's performance over the long term.
But even more important is the very broad diversification offered. The portfolio seems to be oriented toward advancing in all types of markets. This is reflected by the inclusion of fundamental stock allocations, real estate investment trusts and precious metals, all of which have the potential to run counter to the investment mainstream. This can be an important advantage in a different type of market than the perpetual bull market we're experiencing right now.
The lone disadvantage is the relatively high initial investment requirement. At $5,000, new and small investors would be better served by opening an account with either Betterment, which has no minimum initial investment requirement, or Wealthfront, which requires only $500 up front.
But if you meet the minimum investment, Schwab Intelligent Portfolios is an excellent robo advisor choice.
InvestorJunkie receives cash compensation from Wealthfront Advisers LLC (“Wealthfront Advisers”) for each new client that applies for a Wealthfront Automated Investing Account through our links. This creates an incentive that results in a material conflict of interest. InvestorJunkie is not a Wealthfront Advisers client, and this is a paid endorsement. More information is available via our links to Wealthfront Advisers.
I have had Intelligent Portfolio for 5 years and can say, it has been a miserable failure. I just called them yesterday to close it out(you have to call and can’t do it yourself on line). They tell me it will be 3-5 days to sell it and another 2 days for settlement. Right now the market is crashing further and nothing happened yesterday to sell anything. So, for the last 5 years I have averaged 2.5% a year as of yesterday. When the market goes down, this portfolio crashes and when the market goes up it slowly follows but lags. I complained a couple of times to my contact at Schwab and he talked me out of closing it out. The reasons he gives for the poor performance is because of all the foreign stocks invested. This fund has a lot of Schwab ETFs and some are very questionable as to whether they are worth it. It also invests in about 20 funds plus the cash and some of the funds have a very tiny position. If it’s “intelligent” why does it stay in markets that are almost certain to be in trouble? Look carefully at this and others of similar ilk. I suppose they perform about the same. So, I would say it doesn’t charge a fee, but I think I paid quite dearly for it and do much better with the funds I do on my own.
I tried it for a little over a year and was not impressed…so far lost money. Could have done way better had I just left $ in my Apple stocks rather than “diversifying” into this. Not impressed, at all.
Though I’m not an expert trader, I know my risk level. Had I taken that $25K and invested in the Pot stocks I researched (and also invested in) I would have minimum 60% return. ( Some of them had 300% plus).
I’m not interested in balance, I’m interested in growth. To do that one must learn how to read/research Fundamentals, Technicals, and Sentiment. Thus, I am changing my portfolio to 5 or 6 stocks to watch and know inside and out. Not chasing any other guru or rob-bot recommendations. (pun intended, lol).
I found an Options Trading program that is phenomenal in teaching you the nitty-gritty ya have to learn. Nothing spells success better than knowing what the heck you are doing BEFORE getting into a trade. Hard work, yes. This is not a hobby for me, I want to make money. (If you are interested in where I am learning, shoot me an email, I’ll share info)
Good luck folks, hope my comment made you more cautious with these bots, as I think one should be. “Wealth is not made in the stock market, it is merely transferred from the weak hands to the strong”.
Be the strong with knowledge and hard work.
I’m not impressed either. I am the laziest investor ever, so naturally this seemed appealing. Performance is mostly flat, value now around $12K, up a couple hundred bucks after 2 years. Only reason the value is up at all is due to interest – stock performance is at -0.5% overall at the moment. On the flip side, during this same duration, my poorly-thought-out portfolio of ETFs and random tech stocks is doing just fine. I’ll be abandoning this pile of bot turds soon.
Hello, I would love to hear about the program you mentioned. I am rolling a previous employers money into a ROTH IRA with this company and I’m trying to learn as much as I can about how to allocate and what to allocate into.
“Anywhere from 6% – 30% of your investments will be in cash earning zero interest.” I thought it earns money market rates, currently about 0.5%.
I was surprised when my intelligent portfolio purchased shares at a time when the dow was in a crash dive. My portfolio made unsolicited purchases of a number of etf’S at 2:28 pm on one of the worst days during the recent correction. By the end of the trading day each of the shares purchased had lost between 3 and 3.5%. Fortunately the market has recovered since then to recoup almost all of the paper losses my account experienced in 92 minutes. Be aware that intelli portfolios may make trades that a conservative investor would not make.
2/9/18 – Big crash for last few days. I was hoping that my intelligent portfolio will “figure out” potential crash and sell stocks. But when I checked there was no single sell since anticipation. What is good then about this intelligence if no buy low and sell high?
Robo-advisors (even human financial advisors for that matter) cannot predict market gyrations. Robo-advisors were designed to simplify asset allocation. They protect your investments by instead of all assets going the same direction at the same time some may go down, while others may go up.
I also didn’t see any commentary about systematic rebalancing of these portfolios. Does Schwab rebalance portfolios by selling winners and buying losers? For taxable accounts that’s a killer in addition to missing out on bull markets. Also rebalancing generates trades and Schwab benefits from the commissions generated by that trading so there is more going on here than the novice investor would ever think about.
Hi Thomas,
You bring up a valid issue and will discuss with my editor an article on this topic.
There are no commissions on trades.
The cost of the ETFs that Schwab uses are on average higher than at other Robo Advisors because Schwab includes “fundamental” portfolios along with the passive ones. This may or may not improve performance over the long haul. The funds while not crazy expensive can average 0.18% which may be twice as costly as wealthfront. Over time this 0.09% generates additional income for them as well.
The cash drag is overstated. Cash is a stable asset class and when rates go up, its returns do as well. Every mutual fund maintains a cash position as well. It may not be ideal for the individual investor but holding 6% back in cash is not the end of the world. Just invest 6% more and treat the cash position as a savings account.
After a chat session with a Schwab rep I had some serious concerns about withdrawals. When I asked about how to withdraw more than the available cash I was given the run around while the rep tried to deflect my questions. Does anyone know how ETFs are selected to be sold to generate the withdrawal amount needed? Is it the worst performing ETFs, longest held positions?
How does Schwab make money other than what you have mentioned ? I learned it at a painful way.
The expense ratio of the underlying ETF is relatively high. For example, in emergent market(EM), only 1/3 of the money is allocated to the dirt-cheap Schwab EM index, and the other 2/3 to the much more expensive Schwab Fundamental EM. You can delete the Fundamental EM (up to 3 ETF’s), however, instead of going into the cheap Schwab EM index, the money will go to an even more expensive Powershare EM !
Schwab assumes the targeted investors would not be sophisticated enough. Although Schwab is not a charity, I do not think it looks after the best interest of the investors since we all know that expense ratio matters significantly in the portfolio’s long-term performance.
I hope Schwab will learn to improve before all the above become well-known.
I’ve been disappointed. Granted, I invested at the worst possible time – July 2015, right before a serious downturn, but my original 10,000 (a portion of my IRA) is now only 10,560, after what should have been a rip-roaring year for stocks, and I have a fairly aggressive risk profile for the portfolio. I understand the concept of allocation and rebalancing, but I feel like the bond funds are really dragging the overall performance down. I have a couple of balanced and target date funds elsewhere in my IRA, and I don’t feel like their bond components have dragged them down to nearly the extent of the robo-portfolio. The performance on the Vanguard Target 2035 fund has been way better during this time frame. I really can’t think of a good reason to keep the robo and not just put the money back in the target date fund. I really want to get out of bonds altogether due to the interest rate environment. I feel like preferred stock ETFs would be better than bonds at this point.
I concur, very poor performance with Schwab intelligent portfolios, they have little exposure to growth stocks and hence little growth of portfolio. I can guarantee Charles Schwab doesn’t have his money in them.
No one has taken the time to measure investment performance of Schwab, Betterment, and Wealthfront. They all do not offer that, and tell you it is irrelevant or not the way to think about their service. One could do it, but not one pundit or financial or investment adviser has ever done it. What do we investors want? performance over time.
Can anyone comment on how Schwab’s IP performed during the recent correction (Jan – Feb, 2016)?
Have any of the robos (besides Personal Capital) published performance of their canned portfolios at all? None of the reviews on robo advisers even mentions investment performance. Isn’t total return on one’s investment the whole point of taking the risk of being in the markets at all?
I’ve been disappointed by the total lack of any performance information when it comes to evaluating the automated advisers.
Hi Barry,
There are multiple issues in comparing performance or giving out performance metrics.
The first is your specific entry point and the amount you add to your portfolio over time.
The second is asset allocation and the many different options to ensure apples-to-apples comparisons.
The last issue is it’s backwards looking. Ultimately annual fees and tax efficiency (if in a taxable account) are more important. Asset allocation is important though impossible to predict which service would be the winner in the future.
In addition to Schwab requiring the large cash allocation to profit from its investors (sorry, Chuck, everyone knows why you’re doing this), some of the funds it uses have fairly large bid/ask spreads. Since Schwab is selling its order flow, and because most investors’ orders will be in blocks of fewer than 100 shares, they are going to get screwed by the large bid/ask spread every time money is allocated to those funds. In many cases, this can be a significant amount of money. For larger investors, it could exceed the cost of a typical broker commission.
Used to be that any cash sitting in my account earned reasonable interest depending on prime rates, until I invested it or withdrew it. Schwab holds this cash, and lends it out. It’s called a FLOAT. Now, with their bank split off from their brokerage, and transfers in the customers hands rather than theirs, it feels like I am tricked out of my interest. I cannot keep tabs on my cash, that’s their problem. Or should be. With nearly $20k free cash for last month, my interest was exactly .16. That’s 16 CENTS, folks. Why aren’t the authorities interested in this practice?
Schwab Intelligent portfolios seems like a “rip off” to me. I’ve had my portfolio for more than a year, there has been zero movement/re-balancing, the funds are either not rated by morningstar, or have low ratings, and some of the funds have high expenses. The historical performance (compared to what I could do myself) is pitifully poor. If you are a completely clueless investor, than go for it, but if you have an inkling on how to invest, you’re better off investing on your own. I think this vehicle is being used to allow Schwab to “play” and “experiment” with your money. Take control of your own money…
“Although their marketing material states it’s to help smooth out returns, we question if there aren’t ulterior motives that help pay for the “free” service.”
Yeah. I use Robinhood, and the sitting balance pays for their service by interest.
Funny how Schwab requires you to keep cash. Hahaha.
For anyone interested in reading more about how cash can contribute to portfolio returns, Schwab published an analysis here: https://intelligent.schwab.com/public/intelligent/insights/blog/a-cost-benefit-analysis-of-cash.html. The real “drag” is paying too much in advisory fees.
-Mike Cianfrocca, Schwab PR
The point here is the lack of transparency. I have never seen any research that defends Schwab’s position on this topic – especially for aggressive investors. I’d rather pay a flat fee than get hustled like this. That and the higher fee’s on fundamental ETFs makes me question Charles Schwab’s integrity. It’s a very big deal. Just be honest and state that you have to make money somehow.
Cash does not “contribute” to returns, it cushions volatility, but subjects people to opportunity cost.
Nice review. The horde of cash is the soft underbelly of the business model from a customer/investor’s standpoint. Give a broker rights to hold your idle cash–and to require that customers tolerate as much as 30 percent idle cash!!!!! –is an invitation to pillaging the mistreatment. Schwab can invest that at many multiples than you could, and you have no control over this. This is certainly where Schwab makes the most money. They have gone to a lot of trouble as their fleet of “managed portfolios” have continued to decline, e.g., Windhaven, which charges .95 percent just to shuffle some ETFs with the aid of a fancy algo. This is the next development, but, in terms of dollars and sense, Schwab will make more money at this than you will in an average market. Take out a calculator. Check it out.
re: true cost of IP, you didn’t mention the much higher expense ratios on CS’s “fundamental” ETF’s, typically 35 basis points. That’s another way they make money.
You can get the cash down to as little as 6% depending on your risk profile. If they’re skimming 25 bps on 8% cash, that’s just 0.02% over the whole portfolio. Yes, the cash is an annoyance, but not a deal-killer for me.
I like their ETFs a lot. In particular the REITs and California munis.
Great review! Thanks for the info. I’ll have to look into them if they change the “cash holding” to a smaller position.
Nice write-up. Seems like a new Robo-advisor every day. Takes a lot of time to find all the detailed differences.