After bagging Google, Wealthfront hires a Facebook web-traffic pied piper to manage mega-prospects knocking at the door
With 'bigger' deals than Google in the works, Alison Rosenthal hits the ground running -- fast -- at the online RIA
Stephen Winks
Wealthfront has yet to distinguish itself in advisory services. Its RIAs did a masterful job (beating the indices by 400 bps) but RIAs are no longer part of the Wealthfront offering. The economic viability of the Wealthfront business model is in question. It only retained 25 bp of the100 bp RIA fee which was less than $200,000 in aggregate. You can’t run a business with the aspirations of Wealthfront on $200k. How do they make payroll with scores of employees? The very capable RIAs are no longer part of the Wealthfront value proposition and the new CIO is far from demonstrating a comparable track record. Wealthfront needs to beef up its technical competency and deliver on its promise to consumers and venture capital investors alike. Every thing looks good in principle, but in practice does it actually work? The free market is looking for leadership in advisory services—yet just being in the game does not assure commercial viability or professional standing.
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Related Moves
Wealthfront's unlikely tapping of Sheila Bair and Tom Curry signals likely push to gain a bank charter, analysts say
The Redwood City robo-advisor's addition of two renowned former chief banking regulators brings legitimacy and guidance that could lead to a margin-fattening bank charter and help solve the robo-advisor's problem of high client acquisition costs.
December 31, 2020 at 4:37 AM
Wealthfront cedes to four years of investors clamoring for crypto by taking on expensive third-party vendor that Betterment rules out
The Redwood City, Calif., robo-advisor turned a hard 'no' into a soft 'yes' by dealing with Grayscale and its 200 basis-point-plus fees, which its robo rival in NYC -- also without a crypto path -- finds ludicrous.
August 14, 2021 at 2:20 AM
Oisín's Bits: Wealthfront drops old mission statement, declares war on institutions and emphasizes banking future • Seeking Utah charter, Edward Jones may become largest bank in US by branch count • After Advent chief leaves, Black Diamond head steps up
Andy Rachleff cans the old 'democratizing' mission statement at his robo; The 14,200 one-man Ed Jones branches may become branch banks; Steve Leivent consolidates power at SS&C.
July 3, 2020 at 1:12 AM
Broadridge CEO Tim Gokey gets Google Cloud's head of platform in his corner as he sets sights on wealth management cloud thunderclapper
Amit Zavery takes a Broadridge board seat as the New York firm--its shares skyrocketing in recent years--adds a wirehouse and makes wealth management a third pillar of growth
July 9, 2019 at 11:33 PM
Wealthfront
Portfolio Management System
Top Executive: Andy Rachleff
