What are the risks of using robo-advisors in your financial planning? (2024)

FAQs

What are the risks of using robo-advisors in your financial planning? ›

Business risks

In addition, the inability of the robo-adviser platform to better capture a client's risk tolerance than a human financial adviser may lead to misalignment in asset allocations or conflicts of interest based on fees. Automated questionnaires may not account for behavioral biases.

Business risks

In addition, the inability of the robo-adviser platform to better capture a client's risk tolerance than a human financial adviser may lead to misalignment in asset allocations or conflicts of interest based on fees. Automated questionnaires may not account for behavioral biases.

Limited Flexibility. If you want to sell call options on an existing portfolio or buy individual stocks, most robo-advisors won't be able to help you. There are sound investment strategies that go beyond an investing algorithm.

A Lack of Real Diversification

If you were to look at the portfolios offered by any of the major robo-advisors, you'd see that they consist mostly of just two asset classes: Stocks and bonds.

Robo-advisory solutions, utilizing automated algorithms and artificial intelligence, present challenges in reliability, security, and scalability. Clients may have limited understanding, and effective communication is crucial for trust and informed decision-making.

Robo-advisors, like human advisors, cannot guarantee profits or protect entirely against losses, especially during market downturns—even with well-diversified portfolios. Because most robo-advisors only take long positions, when those assets fall in value, so will the portfolio it has constructed.

Robo-advice remains too much of a solution looking for a problem. As a pure end-to-end D2C solution, it is doomed to failure. Nevertheless, as advisers, there is no room for complacency.

Investing always carries some level of risk, and Robo-Advisors are not a guarantee against investment losses. While Robo-Advisors are designed to prudently invest, they are not immune to market fluctuations or investment losses.

Digital Advisor Use Dropped in 2022

High-net-worth investors exited robo-advisor arrangements at the highest rates. Here's how the data broke down along asset levels: $50,000 or less: A drop from 23.6% to 20.6% in 2022, which translates to a decrease of 3 percentage points.

While a robo-advisor can be efficient in managing your investing decisions, a human advisor may be best for more complex decisions like helping you choose the right student loan repayment plan or comparing compensation packages for a new job. Cost: If cost is a factor, robo-advisors typically win out here.

Are robo-advisors better than financial planners? ›

Financial Planning

While many robo-advisors attempt to provide education and advice through their platforms, they're unable to evaluate your bigger financial picture or make personalized recommendations. Financial advisors work with you to develop holistic plans to meet all of your financial goals.

If you require a high level of personalized service and direct management of your investments, a traditional human advisor might be better suited to your needs. Conversely, if cost and simplicity are your primary concerns, a robo-advisor might be the better choice.

While AI technology may be rapidly transforming the financial sector, it is highly unlikely that human financial advisors will become obsolete anytime soon. The future of this industry lies in a combination of AI-driven solutions and human expertise — the ideal blend of tech-powered precision and personalized advice.

The generic cons of Robo Advisors are that they don't offer many options for investor flexibility. They tend to not follow traditional advisory services, since there is a lack of human interaction.

Drawbacks of Robo-Advisors

Some robo-advisors only offer human support for tech- and account-related questions, which means there's no one to answer questions about your investments. Others have a hybrid model which may give you access to human advisors.

What's more, using automated advisors actually carries less risk than speaking to humans, she said. “Robo-advisors [...] are indeed less prone to biases than human advisors,” Brière said. “For example, some research has shown that young people and women are often less well served by their human financial advisors.”

Digital Advisor Use Dropped in 2022

High-net-worth investors exited robo-advisor arrangements at the highest rates.

Robo-advisor performance is one way to understand the value of digital advice. Learn how fees, enhanced features, and investment options can also be key considerations. Five-year returns from most robo-advisors range from 2%–5% per year.

Robo-advisors are as safe as traditional investment services. All investing carries risks. You could choose bad investments and lose your money. Robo-advisors, like traditional advisors, encourage customers to mitigate risks through diversification.