Wealthfront Launches Free Financial Planning

Wealthfront un-bundles its automated planning to help 90 million millennials build a comprehensive financial plan

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Dec 04, 2018, 09:00 ET

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Dec. 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Wealthfront opened up its automated financial planning to anyone for free. For nearly two years Wealthfront clients have enjoyed the benefits of free, comprehensive software based planning and now anyone will be able to download the Wealthfront app, connect all of their financial accounts in one place and receive personalized financial advice. All recommendations are powered by Wealthfront's automated financial advice engine, Path. Using a combination of a client's financial information and third-party data, Path uses artificial intelligence techniques like machine learning to provide answers to over 10,000 financial questions instantly.

"We realized we needed to get our financial planning service into more hands after we found engagement with Path is directly correlated to clients saving more of their income. Wealthfront clients who use Path are saving four times more than the average American every year," said Dan Carroll, co-founder of Wealthfront. "We're excited to see data showing that our software is correlated with good financial behavior because it scales in a way that the advisor call center model cannot." He goes on to say, "we have the chance to scale our advice from 10 to 10 billion people without sacrificing quality. Americans desperately need access to financial planning and advice and it shouldn't be reserved for the wealthy or behind a paywall. Financial planning should be free."

The announcement comes at a pivotal time when the future of financial planning is up for grabs. Most companies are moving towards a hybrid model of advice and creating call centers staffed with Certified Financial Planners (CFPs) to deliver financial planning for a fee that ranges anywhere from 0.4% - 2%. However, Wealthfront's financial planning is delivered solely through software instead of people, allowing the company to easily scale the advice without charging for it. For instance, this past year Wealthfront delivered real-time advice and recommendations each day to 10 to 50 times as many clients as a financial advisor can handle in an entire year.

Wealthfront is thrilled to be in a position to help the 90 million Millennials in the United States build a comprehensive financial plan and receive answers to questions like, "when can I retire?" "in which neighborhood can I afford to buy a home?" "will paying for my child's college education delay my retirement?" or "can I take a year off from work to travel?". To get started with your own comprehensive financial plan visit www.wealthfront.com or download the iOS or Android app today.

Disclosures

Wealthfront Software LLC ("Wealthfront") offers a software-based financial advice engine that delivers financial planning tools to help users achieve better outcomes. All information provided by Wealthfront's financial planning tool is for illustrative purposes only and you should not rely on such information as the primary basis of your investment, financial, or tax planning decisions. No representations, warranties or guarantees are made as to the accuracy of any estimates or calculations provided by the financial tool. Nothing in this material should be construed as investment or tax advice, or a solicitation or offer, or recommendation, to buy or sell any financial product or securities. Wealthfront is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wealthfront Corporation, and an affiliate of Wealthfront Advisers LLC, a SEC-registered investment adviser.

SOURCE Wealthfront