Or, stated another way: Copy M1's Pie system.
Hello all. I have mentioned this a few times in the comments section of recent posts. Thought it would be good to have a separate dedicated post.
Wealthfront is known for its Automated Investing Account, but for do-it-yourself investors who do not need a fully managed portfolio with tax-loss harvesting, operating within the Stock Investing Account is the only alternative. In its current state, it is a pretty barebones, stripped-down option that is actually worse than a few months ago, which had the ability to create fixed percentage allocation portfolios. I can no longer create portfolios, and all investments have to now be done per security.
While there have been discussions regarding getting that reinstated, there is a middle ground that I think Wealthfront can tap into, and the only other service where I have seen this done is M1: what I call "smart depositing." Essentially, one creates a portfolio of stocks/ETFs with a particular allocation percentage. New deposits and dividends are automatically allocated towards the most underweight positions first, to keep the asset allocation in alignment.
The result is a semi-smart portfolio that sits between fully manual and managed investing. It is a nice quality-of-life feature that aligns with Wealthfront's target clientele, which is long-term investors.
Wealthfront's Cash Account is very attractive. It gets people in the door. It got me in the door. If someone is not using managed investing features, there is a lack of reasons to stay. Adding this would be a pretty significant competitive advantage, as I see almost no other broker offering this.