How does Betterment work?

Betterment helps you manage your money through cash management, guided investing, and retirement planning. We are a fiduciary, which means we act in your best interest. We'll ask a bit about you when you sign up. We'll also gather information when you connect your outside accounts. Then, we'll help you set financial goals and set you up with investment portfolios for each goal. For your long-term financial needs (like retirement, next year's vacation, or a down payment), our investment strategy utilizes low-cost ETFs (exchange-traded funds) and an adjustable risk profile based on your goal type and how long you plan to invest. For your daily saving and spending, you can use our cash management products that include Checking (which is offered by nbkc bank, Member FDIC) and Cash Reserve, a high-yield cash account.

Will I have access to real humans?

Customer support team members are available five days per week to answer questions about your account. If you want in-depth financial advice, you can talk to a licensed advisor by phone for an additional cost. Our Premium plan provides you with unlimited access and costs an additional 0.40% on your invested balances (with a minimum investing account balance requirement of $100,000 across eligible balances).

Is my money safe at Betterment?

Betterment Securities is a Member of SIPC, which protects securities of its members up to $500K (including $250K for claims for cash). Explanatory brochure available upon request or at www.sipc.org. Accounts are subject to market risks and changes. These risks are inherent in investing are tradeoffs you make to pursue investment returns. Eligible cash is FDIC-insured up to $8 million (joint) and $4 million (individual) in FDIC insurance once funds are deposited into our program banks, subject to certain conditions. Funds deposited into Checking are FDIC-insured up to $250,000 for individual accounts and up to $500K per depositor for joint accounts, provided by nbkc bank, Member FDIC. Explore further details about FDIC insurance.

Who are the experts behind the scenes?

Our team of investing experts make decisions about our portfolio strategies and fund selection with the help of an external committee of economists, PhDs, and industry experts. More than just a portfolio management team, our experts work to develop improvements to our Tax Smart technology, our cash analysis tools, and other advanced strategies.

Build your wealth in the background

Investing and saving shouldn’t take over your life. Let our automation and tax-saving tech do the work for you.

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Cash Reserve offered by Betterment LLC and requires a Betterment Securities brokerage account. Betterment is not a bank. FDIC insurance provided by Program Banks, subject to certain conditions. Learn more.

Invest the way you want.

Choose from thousands of stocks and ETFs with Betterment by your side.

See tax impact before you sell
Trade fractional shares
Pay no commission or management fees

Start investing Learn more

Betterment waives its wrap fee on assets in self-directed investing accounts.

INVEST Investing should always be this easy.

We manage your money for you—putting our technology behind every dollar you invest—so you can focus on living your life.

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Ongoing optimization
Invest across global markets and asset classes to better build wealth through market cycles. Investors in our Core portfolio earned 10% annual returns on average. (Since launch date)
Save more in taxes
We use tax-loss harvesting to help turn market dips into tax savings. In fact, nearly 70% of customers using tax-loss harvesting covered their taxable advisory fees through estimated tax savings.
Build wealth without the busywork
Choose one of our expert-built portfolios with all the trading, rebalancing, reinvesting, and tax management done for you.

Save Boost your savings with a high-yield cash account.

Don’t let traditional savings accounts keep your money from growing. Whether saving for an emergency fund or a big goal, our high-yield cash account is 10x the national average.

RETIRE Feel confident about retirement with an IRA.

Grow your retirement savings with a tax-advantaged traditional, Roth, or SEP IRA. Get tax benefits along with our automated technology and full suite of planning tools.

Tax benefits

We coordinate your retirement accounts for maximum tax efficiency, helping you save on taxes and grow your returns.
Retirement planning

We build you a personalized plan, recommend how much to save, and adjust as needed.
Learn more

See why 1M+ customers trust us to manage $70B+ of their money.

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"Excellent place to make your money work for you."

KATHRYN H.
"It's a good 'set-it-and-forget-it' investing tool for my family."

CASEY M.
"Saves the stress and hassle of managing retirement savings myself."

DAVID S.
"Because of the opportunity to invest in a better future - the climate change portfolio is great."

JULIA O.
"Portfolio options are clear, cost effective and well implemented."

CHRISTOPHER T.

Build your wealth in the background

Start with our most popular accounts.

INVEST Automated investing

SAVE High-yield cash

RETIRE IRAs

Invest the way you want.

INVEST Investing should always be this easy.

Ongoing optimization

Save more in taxes

Build wealth without the busywork

Save Boost your savings with a high-yield cash account.

No hidden fee(s)

$4 million FDIC insurance

Move money with ease

RETIRE Feel confident about retirement with an IRA.

Tax benefits

Retirement planning

See why 1M+ customers trust us to manage $70B+ of their money.

Still have questions?

Build wealth with confidence and ease.