Personal Capital offers free financial planning tools to all users, as well as a paid advisory service for high net worth investors. Personal Capital has investment management solutions to help you reach your financial goals.
The Personal Capital app is widely used by the financial independence retire early community, and is the single most helpful tool that helped me become a millionaire!
In this Personal Capital review, I will explain why I think it is the best free performance tracker available, the pros and cons, and how you can use Personal Capital to assist in your wealth-building journey! Personal Capital can help you keep track of your financial goals and make more informed decisions about your finances.
Personal Capital Overview
Personal Capital is a There are additional physical branches in San Francisco, Denver, Dallas, and Atlanta for the U.S.-based investment service company. Quality investment and financial services have been provided by the company for over two decades. Four people started the company in 2009. The company has experienced tremendous success.
The co-founders wanted to give customers access to their full financial picture in one place and provide a more personalized and streamlined investing experience. To create a financial experience that was easy to understand and tailored to the individual customer’s needs was their goal.
The trend of online-only financial services companies is popular with the younger generation. Personal Capital is poised to be a leader in this rapidly growing industry as more and more people become comfortable with the convenience of online financial services.
Personal Capital has more than $21.3 billion in assets under management.
Let’s take a closer look at the services the company offers and how you can use them to get a better handle on your finances.
Personal Capital Products & Services
Personal Capital has products and tools within these 3 specific service areas:
Wealth Management Services
Personal Capital Wealth Management Services can be broken down into 3 tiers:
- Investment Services ($100K to $200K Investment)
- Wealth Management ($200K to $1M Investment
- Private Client ($1M+ Investment Assets)
1. Investment Services
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- Customer support from their team of financial advisors whenever you might need it
- Personal Capital’s Robo-advisor will professionally manage your funds
- You’ll have access to the company’s suite of useful investing tools
- Your funds will be invested in ETFs only
2. Wealth Management
If you have over $200,000 to invest, you can open a Personal Capital Wealth Management account and enjoy the same benefits as a standard account, as well as the following benefits:
- Access to two dedicated financial advisors
- Free consultations are available to speak with sector-specific investment specialists, like real estate and options
- Ability to invest in individual stocks in addition to ETFs
3. Private Client
The highest level of wealth management service is available to investors with over $1 million. Private Client will have a dedicated team of wealth advisors who specialize in managing high net worth portfolios.
In addition to the benefits included in the Investment Services and Wealth Management plans, Private Client account holders receive:
- Exclusive access to Personal Capital’s Investment Committee
- More in-depth estate, tax, legacy, and wealth planning advice
- Access to invest in private equity and hedge funds
- Private banking services offered only to private clients
- Ability to trade individual bonds (in addition to ETFs and individual stocks)
A complete comparison chart of these plans can be found here
Personal Capital’s Wealth Management plans give investors access to their service along with personalized advice from the company’s certified financial advisors. budgeting calculator and portfolio tracker are two of the financial tools provided by the plans.
Wealth Management Account Holder Notable Features
- Making sure your funds aren’t invested in one sector limits your risks. The tool helps ensure that your portfolio is well-diversified and more resistant to market shifts. It allows you to maximize your asset allocation and make sure your investments are working for you.
- Dynamic Portfolio Allocation helps meet your evolving financial needs by making adjustments to your investment account as your financial situation changes. It uses technology to determine the best asset mix for your goals, with the goal of maximizing your returns while managing risk.
- Tax Optimization lets account holders take advantage of tax-advantaged investing strategies, such as tax-loss harvesting.
- Investment management can be automated by adjusting your accounts at the best times. It is easier to maintain healthy allocations, manage taxes and fees, and stay on track with the help of Intelligent Rebalancing.
Socially Responsible Investing
Personal Capital’s Socially Responsible Personal Strategy accounts aim to invest your funds with companies that align with your values. You can invest with confidence because these accounts are tailored to your goals.
In the past, a socially responsible investing strategy might include a blanket rule of “no investing in oil funds.”
Personal Capital takes this idea one step further by taking what you value the most into account. You will have a clear understanding of how to prioritize your finances with Personal Capital. If you want to focus on companies that have embraced renewable energy or if you want to avoid investing in conflict minerals, your funds can be routed into assets that align with these values. It is possible to invest in companies that have a positive social impact, such as those that provide educational services or promote good health practices.
Cash Management
Personal Capital also offers a high-yield online savings account called Personal Capital Cash.
As of August 3, 2022, this account has no minimum balance requirements, no monthly fees, and 2.05% and 2.05% APY for Personal Capital Advisory Clients. You can use the tools to track your finances and make informed decisions. Having your bank account funds insured by the FDIC will give you peace of mind.
For most clients, the withdrawal limit is set at $25K per day; however, personal advisory clients can see that raised to $100K per day and wire up to $1,000,000 with no fees. The deposit limits are $250,000 per transaction. For more information, visit their site. You won’t want to miss out on the great opportunities they have to offer, so be sure to check it out!
Financial Planning Tools
Personal Capital’s most popular product is its personal finance software, which offers a variety of free budgeting and retirement planning tools.
A spending tracker is one of the tools you can use with your online account. You can use the spending tracker to stay on top of your finances. The easiest way to access these tools is in the Personal Capital app, which has a 4.5-star rating in the App Store and 4.3-star rating in the Play Store.
Here are the main financial tracking services you can use:
- Investment Checkup is a tool that automatically monitors the performance of your investment portfolio and suggests opportunities for better allocation. Investment Checkup is a great way to stay on top of your investment portfolio, allowing you to maximize potential returns and minimize potential losses. It helped me discover that my IRA held the wrong asset classes and that I need to invest in a total stock market exchange traded fund like VTI. I’m confident that my investments are properly diversified after I made the necessary adjustments to my IRA.
- Personal Capital keeps an eye on your financial progress as you move towards your retirement goal. It allows you to make informed decisions that can help ensure your retirement savings are on track. You will have real-time access to information that will let you know if you are spending too much or saving the right amount.
- Net Worth Tracker: (One of my favorite features that Personal Capital offers!) On your financial dashboard, you have real-time access to your net worth, which is a tally of all your assets and liabilities from various accounts displayed in a neat, single financial dashboard. It’s a great way to get an overall picture of your financial health, and make sure that you are on track to reach your financial goals. It saves a lot of time if you have an automated tool. It is possible to use the extra time to focus on other important tasks. A net worth calculator is used. Tracking your finances and understanding where you stand financially can be done with a net worth calculator.
- Fee Analyzer tracks the fees you pay within your financial investments and can alert you if the fees are higher than average. Those looking to get the most out of their investments can use the Fee Analyzer. The fee analyzer will help you understand the total impact of certain fees on your retirement account. This can help you make informed decisions to maximize your retirement savings.
- Cash flow monitoring keeps track of incoming and outgoing money in your accounts, giving you insight into your monthly cash flow. This data can be used to make informed decisions.
- Education Planner can help you figure out how much you need to save for school. You can compare different savings strategies to find the best one for you.
How Much Does Personal Capital Cost?
Spending and budgeting tools are free to use, which is one of the cool things about Personal Capital. It’s great that Personal Capital makes it easy to keep track of your finances. You only pay money if you have a Wealth Management account.
Wealth Management account fees can be tiered depending on your account balance.
Personal Capital Fees and Costs
Tiered fees for Personal Capital are:
| Balance | Annual Fee |
|---|---|
| $100,000 – $1,000,000 | 0.89% |
| $1 – 3 Million | 0.79% |
| $3 – 5 Million | 0.69% |
| $5 – 10 Million | 0.59% |
| $10 Million+ | 0.49% |
How To Sign Up for Personal Capital
There is a seamless sign-up process for Personal Capital. Personal Capital uses multiple layers of security protocols to keep their account and data safe. The highest level of security for their customers is ensured by the dedicated teams of experts monitoring their systems 24/7. They have a dedicated security team that is constantly testing the system for vulnerabilities. State-of-the-art protocols have been implemented by the team. The company uses a variety of technology. The platform can be used safely and securely by the company’s customers. Personal Capital doesn’t sell user data. Personal Capital doesn’t share your data with third parties. Learn more about their extensive security protocols here. Free account holders can receive self-service support from Personal Capital. Answers to frequently asked questions are included in the self-service support. You can also submit requests on this online form. Only Wealth Management clients have access to the phone. During business hours, phone support is available for Wealth Management clients. If you’re interested in becoming a Wealth Management customer, call this number: 1-855-855-8005 . The company has branches in Denver, Atlanta, San Francisco, and Dallas. Quality services are provided in each of the company’s branches. Here are the main alternatives to Personal Capital for wealth tracking apps: It will be hard to find a service that beats the ease-of-use and user-friendly dashboard that Personal Capital offers. The dashboard of Personal Capital is designed to make the process of reviewing your finances simple and straightforward, so that you can get the most out of your financial decisions. Mint doesn’t come close to the features of Personal Capital, which has way more features and gets updated a lot more frequently. The support team at Personal Capital is incredibly helpful and always responds to my queries in a timely manner. Check out my full comparison of Personal Capital vs Mint. Some of the most common questions I hear about personal capital are answered. To get started, you need to create a free account and link the accounts you want to track. From there, you can use the powerful tools and insights Personal Capital provides to help you manage and grow your wealth. Personal Capital has a financial planning and retirement tool that combines all your financial institution account balances under one roof. You can take control of your financial future with the help of Personal Capital. This will give you a clear overview of your finances. You can make better decisions if you understand your financial life. If you are interested in tracking your investment strategy, you can easily see your expense ratios or assess your risk tolerance based on your asset allocation. In order to maximize returns and achieve desired results, you can make adjustments to your portfolio. You can see how much you spend and how much you save. Tracking your spending can help you save money and make better financial decisions. It’s also easier to determine where you can cut back on spending to save more. Absolutely. The data is secured using U.S. ciphers. Military standards and Personal Capital require two-factor verification. This protects your financial information from unauthorized access. They have over 3 million customers and manage over $21 billion in assets. Their success is due to the fact that they provide a reliable, safe and easy-to-use platform for their customers. Their bank account is insured by the FDIC. Customers can be confident that their money is safe. We’ve also written an extensive post about their security measures you can check out here: Is Personal Capital Safe To Use? There is no fee to use Personal Capital’s app. Track and manage your finances is one of the services provided by Personal Capital. If you have more than $100,000, you will not pay a fee. The fee will be determined by your financial situation and goals. If you want to take a hands-off investment approach, but also want access to a certified financial advisor, the advisory fees (0.89%, decreasing with higher account balances) might be worth it. The convenience and security of having a professional to manage your investments is worth the added cost. If that seems steep, I recommend researching the other best Robo-advisors. Advisory fees are charged on Wealth Management accounts. They currently manage $21.3 billion. They are one of the largest asset management companies in the world. If you sign up for a free account, be ready to get ads that encourage you to enroll in a Wealth Management account. No online financial company is more likely to be hacked than Personal Capital. It is important to keep personal information secure and up-to-date. The company seems to have a very robust security platform. The company has a team dedicated to monitoring suspicious activity and responding quickly to any potential threats. Personal Capital was acquired by Empower Retirement in June 2020. A comprehensive suite of retirement planning and asset management services is expected to be provided by the acquisition. Empower Retirement is located in the state of Colorado. If you want to get a better handle on your finances and don’t mind sharing your data, a It’s a no-brainer to have a personal capital account. It is easy to set up and requires minimal maintenance, making it an ideal choice for anyone looking to take control of their finances. It might be easier for you to achieve your financial goals if you have access to all of your financial accounts in one place. It will be easier to track your progress as well as take advantage of any opportunities that can help you reach your goals if you have all of your financial information in one place. It will prevent you from having to log in and out of accounts frequently. I log into Personal Capital every day because it helps me track everything I need to know about my money, including investment performance, cash flows, budgets, and early retirement trajectory. I can easily see how much of my money is sitting in high-interest accounts so I can make informed decisions about where to put my money. When it comes to the Personal Capital Wealth Management division, due to the high fees that they charge, you might want to do your homework to see if it makes sense for you. It’s worth talking to a financial advisor if you’re considering using Personal Capital Wealth Management. If you’re interested in learning more about what funds I recommend, check out my Millennial Money Portfolio post. Thanks for reading our personal capital review, and if you’re interested, check out our full review of other personal finance software (free and paid) that might suit your personal situation.
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