[pbreit]

I really don't like being critical but I think this is just kind of silly (at least for US citizens). For example, first survey question: are you "Interested in experiencing dramatic short term losses for better returns?". "Interested"? Really? "Dramatic"? Is that just unfortunate word choice or is this thing just not legit?

First of all, Betterment and Wealthfront are good companies. If "startups" concern you, check out Schwab's robo-advisor service or, better, get a Vanguard LifeStrategy fund.

[peteretep]

    > get a Vanguard LifeStrategy fund

Struggle to think of many investment choices that this isn't the right answer to.

[nerfhammer]

Taxes. Vanguard's LifeStrategy and Target Retirement funds were not meant to be tax efficient.

[peteretep]

Isn't that a function of the wrapper, rather than the fund? Both investments I have in Vanguard are entirely tax free...

[pbreit]

Still probably the best investment option for 99% of the population.

[geno149]

I agree with you - that wording is unfortunate.

That being said, better to think of the risk profile questions in the demo as "dummy data". And it's pretty easy to change.

Go to Advisor -> Proposals -> Edit and update the questions. Here's a gif - http://i.imgur.com/DsZx51m.gif

What's even cooler, thought, is that this "dummy data" is loaded with fixtures. Meaning we can update it and next time you or I install wealthbot.io, no more poorly worded question! Another gif - http://i.imgur.com/1QATMeC.gif

Finally, a quick note on robo advisors. These are great services, wealthbot.io doesn't compete with them. That being said, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Be weary of Schwab's portfolio suggestions, as the CEO of Wealthfront mentions in this article - https://medium.com/@adamnash/broken-values-bottom-lines-3d55...

[pbreit]

That also makes me think this is a potential legal nightmare for RIAs using it. Those survey questions you see on other sites (and pretty much all the text on the page) has gone through a ridiculous amount of legal review before it goes live.

[vladko]

that would be true for any public-facing text, which relates to financial advice. a good CFA (RIA) knows what to ask and how to ask, it's not really that complicated.

[pbreit]

"that would be true for any public-facing text, which relates to financial advice"

When coming from an RIA or other regulated entity, yes.

[vladko]

you are reading slightly too much into it.

1. please realize that this is an open source project, so every single line of text or code can be changed to your liking. (not to mention that these are simply sample questions, and any end-user can edit them to be as complex or simple as they like). I can just as well ask your feeling about sky-diving and judge your risk tolerance based on that.

2. You have to understand the target audience. Today RIA's can pay lots of money to schwabs, fidelities, etc. Which have significant vendor lock-in and high up-front and maintenance costs, with open source RIA's have a choice they can build out a solution custom tailored to their needs using our platform. They are not locked into any specific security or cost basis. They can compete with robo-advisors without spending millions or hundreds of thousands on technology. (btw, wanna build anther robo advisor, run many firms as SaaS or build an app like Acorns? .. you can do that too).

3. Finally you can try a portfolio consisting of S&P 500 only, another Vanguard LifeStrategy only, and something more complex... just for shits and giggles see whether you can do better or not. (Wanna test a portfolio that is rebalanced vs non-rebalanced? You can do that.)

our platform is open-source alternative to costly closed-sourced solutions (this is not a new market, we are just giving users another choice)... like there are 100's of shopping carts out there, it's time for fintech to embrace some projects which cater to the masses, not only select few.

[pbreit]

RIAs would be nuts to use this as it has gone through virtually zero legal/regulatory review. I dislike legal as much as the next guy but when it comes to managing other people's money, the legal/regulatory environment is exceedingly strict. You can't just pick up some random software off GitHub and start using it.

[vladko]

definitely not.

but whenever you implement any financial software, you go through the same audits. whether you paid $1M for it or got it for free.

you do realize that most banks run on open source platforms (linux). and there are countless magento installations out there? to debate whether an open source alternative is viable to a closed-sourced model we'd have to travel back 20 years, when this debate was relevant.

and bashing free stuff, is like bashing free samples at the super market... feel free to move along.

cheers.

[pbreit]

Quite a bit different. There are very strict rules (in the US) about how RIAs, brokers, banks, etc can communicate with clients and prospective clients.

[orph]

example: Wealthfront doesn't allow you the control to avoid natural resources as an asset class.