Best Online Financial Advisor
How we picked the companies to evaluate:
NerdWallet reviewed six companies that either provide financial planning services online or connect users with a financial advisor. This category does not cover wealth management services offered by brokerages or banks. It does include several robo-advisors that offer clients access to human advisors as a premium upgrade. Some of the providers are NerdWallet partners, but this did not influence our selection of the winner.
How we chose the winner:
NerdWallet evaluated each provider across the weighted criteria below to determine the winner for online financial advisor:
- Advisor access and credentials, including meeting frequency and contact methods (29.5%).
- Financial planning capabilities (14.25%).
- Account management fees (14.25%).
- Low or no setup or onboarding fees (7%).
- Portfolio construction, including investment selection and customization capabilities (7%).
- Expense ratios on available investments (7%).
- Types of accounts managed (7%).
- Account minimum (3.5%).
- Tax strategy, such as tax-loss harvesting, asset location guidance or direct indexing (3.5%).
- Customer service, including hours of availability and website transparency (3.5%).
- Brokerage options (where accounts are held and whether customers have to move funds to a new custodian to receive management) (1.75%).
- Other account fees (1.75%).
How we verified our data:
NerdWallet writers sent detailed questions to all reviewed companies. NerdWallet writers and editors also confirmed fees, rates, policies and other key features on each company's website.
