Why are some online advice services higher- or lower-cost than WealthStep?

There is no fee for a public Basic WealthStep advice account. Advanced advice and investment management are either free (for 401k participants, since the plan sponsor/company pays) or paid through WealthStep Direct engagements which include investment management for non-retirement plan accounts. In such cases, WealthStep charges a fee that is reasonable relative to the value provided. As a consumer, it is important to seek value, since cheaper isn’t always better. Some alternative services are higher-cost and some are lower. Some of the higher-fee services may be over-charging. Some of the lower-cost services may be of reasonable quality for what they do,             but what they may provide less value. Some are simply investment services and don’t provide the basic planning, on-going education, social media smart-saver/investor reminders, the ability to get human financial planning for a project fee (for qualifying individuals), and don’t have the ability to upgrade to a full-service human advisory team relationship when assets grow and needs are more complex. Most on-line services are start-ups that offer low prices partly to grow their number of customers faster, without being profitable, and if they don’t grow their business sufficiently fast, they may go out of business or get acquired by another organization with conflicts-of-interest (this has already happened to some). WealthStep is a stable organization and is not a venture capital-funded start-up company, and therefore is not subject to those same risks. WealthStep applauds the efforts of all unbiased, conflict-free online advisory firms, who are helping to re-shape the investment services landscape by making investment advice more transparent and more affordable for smaller investors with low-complexity needs. This industry shift may be most disruptive to traditional “full-service” brokerage firms, few of which actually provide full-service financial planning, especially for smaller clients, many or all of which may have conflicts of interest and are often higher-cost and have hidden costs.