Wealthfront vs. Vanguard Personal Advisor: 2024 Comparison

Wealthfront and Vanguard Personal Advisor have multiple differences. Perhaps the biggest: Wealthfront is a digital advisor, while Vanguard offers access to human advisors.

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Written by Kevin Voigt
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In the heated battle of robo-advisors vying to help you build a portfolio, Wealthfront and Vanguard Personal Advisor are among the top choices. Yet there are key differences — especially the minimum you need to open an account, the types of accounts supported and management fees.

Let's see how they stack up.

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Wealthfront is best for

  • Hands-off investors.

  • Taxable accounts.

  • Free financial tools, even if you don't have a Wealthfront account.

  • 529 college savings plan management.

  • Both DIY and automated investing.

Wealthfront at a glance

Reviewed: Oct. 2024

Period considered: Aug. - Oct. 2024

Account minimum

$500 for automated investment accounts; $1 for cash accounts and the stock investing account.

Account management fee

0.25% for automated investing. No management fee or commissions for the stock investing account.

Investment expense ratios

ETF expense ratios average 0.08%.

Account fees (annual, transfer, closing)

None.

Portfolio mix

Automated investment portfolios:

  • ETFs from 12 asset classes (portfolios generally consist of 6 to 8), including two cryptocurrency trusts (Bitcoin, Ethereum).

  • Clients can customize their Wealthfront portfolio by adding or deleting certain ETF holdings or building their entire portfolio from scratch.

  • Portfolios over $500,000 are eligible for smart beta.

  • No fractional shares with the automated portfolios, which means some cash may remain uninvested.

Bonds:

  • Automated Bond Portfolio offers a collection of Treasury bond and corporate bond ETFs with automatic rebalancing, dividend reinvestment and tax-loss harvesting.

  • Automated Bond Ladder is a portfolio made up of bonds that mature at different times. This allows an investor to lock in current yields.

Wealthfront stock investing account:

  • Offers access to curated collections of stocks, or over 1,500 stocks, ETFs or REITs that can be traded individually (including as fractional shares).

Socially responsible portfolio options

Automated investing clients can choose to invest in Wealthfront’s SRI portfolio or customize any other Wealthfront portfolio to include socially responsible options for no additional fee.

Accounts supported

  • Individual, joint and trust taxable investment accounts.

  • Roth, traditional, rollover and SEP IRAs.

  • 529 college savings plans.

  • High yield cash account (not charged management fee).

Note: Investing in individual stocks is only available through individual taxable accounts.

Tax strategy

  • Daily tax-loss harvesting free for all taxable accounts.

  • Stock level tax-loss harvesting (direct indexing) available at no cost for taxable accounts with $100,000 or more. Balances under $100,000 will hold a particular ETF, VTI.

  • TurboTax customers can easily import tax-loss harvesting data from Wealthfront.

Automatic rebalancing

Free on all accounts.

Human advisor option

None.

Savings account/cash management account

The Wealthfront Cash Account is a high-yield cash management account. It offers a competitive yield through Wealthfront partner banks and is covered up to $8 million in FDIC insurance.

Customer support options (rating includes how easy it is to find key details on the website)

Phone support Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific. All emails are responded to within one business day.

» Read our full Wealthfront review

Vanguard Personal Advisor is best for

  • Access to a team of financial advisors.

  • Comprehensive financial planning.

  • Larger account balances.

Vanguard Personal Advisor at a glance

Reviewed: Oct. 2024

Period considered: Aug. - Oct. 2024

Account minimum

$50,000.

Account management, planning or subscription fee

  • For an all-index investment option, Personal Advisor clients pay a net advisory fee of 0.30%.

  • Clients with an ESG or active/index investment options may pay an advisory fee ranging from 0.25% to 0.27% or 0.26% to 0.35%, respectively.

Other account fees

None.

Setup or onboarding fee

None.

Advisor access and credentials

  • Unlimited appointments over phone, email or video. Clients can also reach their advisors through Vanguard's mobile app.

  • Most advisors are certified financial planners.

  • Investors with account balances under $500,000 get a team of advisors; investors with balances of $500,000 or more get a dedicated advisor.

Financial planning services

Can advise and create a custom portfolio for a variety of situations, such as saving for retirement, college or a family vacation home.

Services include: Social Security optimization, dynamic spending, tax efficiency, long-term care and medical costs, high-level guidance on estate planning, charitable giving, Roth conversions and trust services.

Investment expense ratios on portfolios

Average expense ratio is 0.05%.

Portfolio construction

Vanguard Personal Advisor creates customizable portfolios on a client-by-client basis. It uses low-cost Vanguard index funds and ETFs, which are diversified with tight tracking. Vanguard Personal Advisor also offers three ESG funds (scored on environmental, social and governance factors for sustainable investing).

Brokerage options

Clients must move money to Vanguard but can keep outside investments if there are embedded gains or other reasons to do so.

Accounts supported

  • Individual and joint brokerage accounts.

  • Roth, traditional, rollover, SEP and SIMPLE IRAs.

  • Trusts.

  • Vanguard record-kept 401(k)s plans.

Personal Advisor will consider and provide guidance for other account types (e.g., 529s, UGMA, UTMA, non-Vanguard record-kept 401(k)s, and spousal accounts), but does not directly manage them.

Tax strategy

  • Assets are allocated strategically among taxable and tax-advantaged accounts to optimize for taxes.

  • Tax-loss harvesting

  • Tax-exempt municipal bonds.

  • Minimum tax cost basis method.

Customer support options (includes how easy it is to find key details on the website)

Customer support is available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time. Ability to schedule appointments with an advisor at any time.

» Read our full Vanguard Personal Advisor review

Curious about other options?

The number of online advisors continues to swell, as does the range of services. NerdWallet conducted an in-depth analysis of over 20 offerings this year. » Read about our picks for the best robo-advisors

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