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If you want to make investing easier, choosing a robo-advisor can be a smart move. Several of the best online brokerages offer robo-advisor services that can help you put your investments on auto-pilot. With a robo-advisor, you don't have to be a Wall Street expert. The best robo-advisors help you invest your money in a wide range of diversified ETFs and other investment choices based on your financial goals, risk tolerance, and investment style.
But what if you want to spice up your investment portfolio with different investment offerings than you could get from the typical brokerage account? SoFi® recently launched a new range of alternative investments for its robo-advisor service. Some of these investment choices are intriguing, because they used to be available only for high net worth ("rich") investors.
Let's look at SoFi®'s new robo-advisor service and why its new alternative investments are worth considering -- or what you might want to choose instead.
SoFi Robo Investing rates as one of the best robo-advisors. But why should you use a robo-advisor at all? The truth is: robo-advisors can be a good way to get started for beginning investors. The best robo-advisors ask you questions and recommend investments for your personal situation, based on your questionnaire answers and details like your age, income, financial goals, and time horizon.
If you're just getting started as an investor, SoFi Robo Investing can be a great way to buy stocks and bonds in a diversified portfolio, in a low-cost way that manages your risks. Click here to learn more about the best robo-advisors -- including SoFi® and other top-ranked brokerages.
On Nov. 12, 2024, SoFi Robo Investing launched an upgrade to its robo-advisor. The new SoFi Robo Investing platform is now offering a few types of portfolio themes, developed in partnership with BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager.
SoFi Robo Investing customers can now choose from three investment themes:
This theme offers a balanced mix of stock and bond ETFs, like the S&P 500 index or the total U.S. bond market index. These "Classic" types of ETFs are the bread and butter of many middle-class investors' portfolios -- the same types of investments you could get from a typical brokerage or robo-advisor.
This theme lets you invest your cash in a range of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) focused stock and bond ETFs. This could include the stocks or bonds of companies rated as being eco-conscious and socially responsible, and companies expected to benefit from green energy and a transition to a low-carbon economy.
One example of the funds you can invest in with SoFi®'s new robo-advisor is the BlackRock Carbon Transition Readiness ETF. This fund invests in companies like Tesla (electric vehicles), utilities (which are building green energy infrastructure), and financial services and tech companies (which tend to be low-carbon in their business models).
This theme includes several alternative investment funds, such as real estate investment funds and multi-strategy funds, that previously were only available to higher net worth investors or institutional investors. SoFi Robo Investing's Classic with Alternatives investment funds include more complex, actively managed funds from BlackRock, like the Systematic Multi-Strategy Fund (BIMBX) and the Global Equity Market Neutral Fund (BDMIX).
Some of these alternative funds use sophisticated technology and active management strategies from professional investors. They use advanced capabilities to make informed decisions about when and how to trade stocks or bonds, with the goal of outperforming a broader market index or "benchmark."
SoFi Robo Investing is worth considering if you want a robo-advisor, but be aware that not all alternative investments are the best choice for your goals. If you want to invest in companies that might help fight climate change, choosing the Sustainable theme might be a good pick. If you want a traditional mix of diversified stock and bond ETFs, like the S&P 500 index, the Classic theme is right up your alley.
On the one hand, it's hopefully a good thing that SoFi® is making alternative investments available to a broader audience of investors. But keep in mind that many actively managed funds do not beat the S&P 500 index over the long run. And actively managed funds tend to charge much higher fees, which can eat into your investment growth.
For example, the BlackRock Global Equity Market Neutral Fund has a net expense ratio of 1.35% (as of Nov. 13, 2024). That's much more expensive than the SoFi® Select 500 ETF (SFY), which tracks the S&P 500 and has a net expense ratio of 0.05%. If you choose these more expensive alternative investment funds, you might earn a higher return on investment (ROI) -- but you might be better off just investing in cheap, simple index funds like the S&P 500 index ETF.
SoFi Robo Investing is one of the best robo-advisors, and it makes it easy for beginners to get started with buying stocks and investing. But make sure you have a clear understanding of how alternative investment funds work (and their fees) before you buy. Many robo-advisor investors don't need to spice things up too much -- you might be better off buying stocks with a "plain vanilla" portfolio of low-cost S&P 500 index ETFs.
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