Anyone who has worked with databases knows that matching up multiple datasets knows that the nitty, gritty behind-the-scenes detail work is not exactly the most glamorous work —- but it is necessary.
That realization was once again driven home when we downloaded the SEC list of registered advisors. The goal was to match that list up with the RoboAdvisors list we have been building as part of the FinTech Dynamic database. From that exercise we could find which Robo Advisors are registered with the SEC and then find other SEC registered advisors might be large enough to be part of the Global 5000.
In that exercise we found:
- 12,700 registered SEC advisers
- but some of those are registered entities of the same company — for example Charles Schwab has 3 entries
- and not all Robo Advisors have to register with this SEC — for example, those in other countries not doing business in the US or those with assets under management that are below the SEC minimum. Those have to register with individual states.
The bottom line is that whenever you are bringing in or adding data from another list/source, it will take some manual review and research to incorporate them and make sure what you end up with fits your intended goal.
We are currently working with a list of 37 Robo Advisors and another 33 advisors who are traditional firms who are competitors and likely have ‘robo’ products as well. Here is the list of companies generally considered in the Robo-Advsor category. They are listed in alphabetical order. You will see some of the names listed that are subsidiaries of others in the financial space:
- Acorns Grow, Inc.
- AgentRisk
- AssetBuilder, Inc.
- Betterment Llc
- Blooom
- Clover
- Ellevest
- Financial Engines Advisor
- Financial Guard (sub of Legg Mason)
- Folio Investing
- FutureAdvisor (sub of BlackRock, Inc.)
- Hedgeable
- Helium Investments
- Hello Wallet (subsidiary of KeyBank)
- Learnvest
- LendingRobot (algortithmic)
- MarketRiders
- MoneyFarm
- Motif Investing, Inc.
- Newsystock
- Nutmeg Saving and Investment Limited
- Personal Capital Corporation
- PlanWise
- Polaris Portfolios
- Quantfolio
- Rebalance IRA
- Scalable Capital
- SigFig Wealth Management, LLC
- Stashinvest
- TAnalyzer
- Trizic
- Vestwell
- Ways2Wealth
- Wealthfront
- Wealthify
- Wealthsimple Financial, Inc.
- WiseBanyan