Can you distinguish between a human financial adviser and a robot?

[Niuatoputapu]

Interesting article at MarketWatch.com. The sample recommendations are quite an advertisement for Vanguard, but that's not a bad thing.


Can you tell a human financial adviser from a robot? - MarketWatch

 

[pb4uski]

Other than two, I thought that they were all horrible portfolios. Most all had way too much fixed income for a 35 year old and way too many tickers. The Schwab recommendation of 19 tickers was ridiculous. The XY Planning Network and Garrett Planning Network recommendations were the most sensible, but why not just buy the Vanguard Target retirement fund or the four funds within the target retirement funds in the proportions that you desire and declare victory?

 

[LOL!]

They are all decent portfolios. It was easy to tell a human from a robo-advisor.

@pb4uski, did you read the explanation of why the recommendations were so much like a target retirement fund? It's because the advisors recommended a target retirement fund as explained in the subsequent slides. They said, "Buy a target retirement fund."

Also interesting was that none of the human advisors would take on a client like the one proposed since the portfolio was too small.

 

[pb4uski]

...@pb4uski, did you read the explanation of why the recommendations were so much like a target retirement fund? It's because the advisors recommended a target retirement fund as explained in the subsequent slides. They said, "Buy a target retirement fund."...

That was true in one case, Garrett Planning Network, which was one of the one's that I liked. The other one that I liked used the same funds as the Vanguard's target date fund but in different proportions.

I see now that Orr recommended STAR. I actually like STAR and have held it in the past, but at 38% fixed income it is more bond heavy than I would like for a 35 year old.