Gyroscopic Investing

This began as a PM to Buddtholomew (unsent) because I thought he might be interested, but maybe it merits a public post.

I've noticed a lot of threads on Bogleheads and other forums about automated financial services, specifically automated investing. Betterment, Wealthfront, WiseBanyan. I started to take an interest when I saw that Burton Malkiel, author of A Random Walk Down Wall Street, was behind Wealthfront.

I'm sticking with Vanguard, but curious about these and similar firms nonetheless. It doesn't hurt to learn about who they are and what they do. Anyone have any experience with these places?

A sample Boglehead thread - http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... 0&t=133215
Wall Street Journal - http://online.wsj.com/articles/taking-s ... 1407519771

A little bit. I opened accounts at Betterment and WiseBanyan, because I think these are interesting new and easy ways to invest. To be honest, I think you might as well just invest in Vanguard Target Retirement 9999 or Vanguard LifeStrategy xxxx which would cost less below $100,000. What I do find interesting is the tax loss harvesting at Betterment, but that requires an account balance of over $50,000.

Betterment is pretty slick, they have a nice app and a good looking website, and the experience has so far been very smooth. You can set up multiple accounts for different goals, with a different stock/bond allocation. They rebalance as much as possible using your automatic deposits.
WiseBanyan is still a bit rough around the edges. Just feels more beta. Also, for now you can only have one allocation set up. Some things don't work yet, like changing your email/username after signup. Also, no Android app yet.

Both would be good options for saving. Set and Forget. Sexier than LifeStrategy or TargetRetirement. But in the end I don't think it matters, as long as you can stick to a regular investing schedule...

The next service I try will be acorns, as soon as they have an Android app...

There's a continuation of this thread over at http://gyroscopicinvesting.com/forum/pe ... #msg115652