​Robo-advisors

​Algorithms that automatically manage an investment portfolio based on your financial situation and goals.

Pros:
Low fees and minimums
Ease of use
Automation of difficult tasks
Making investing accessible and hands-off

Cons:
Limited personalization
Lack of holistic financial planning
Potential or oversimplification and minimal human interaction

​Investing: Human or Robo-advisor?

Which of these investors might want to choose a human over a robo-advisor?

A. Marcus is just starting to invest a little from each of his paychecks, so he doesn't have a very large balance but he's ok with his investments having average returns.

B. Hera wants to invest her money and not have to think about making a lot of decisions week to week or month to month.

C. Deron is unsure where he wants to invest and nervous about losing money, so he'd like to learn more about his choices to build his confidence.

D. Kamilah is a big fan of efficiency and would prefer her investment process to be automatic to save her time and wants the lowest fees she can get.

Like robo-advising, micro-investing is a popular way to bring new investors into the market.

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The Basics of Micro-Investing

​Spare Change Investment Apps

Pros:

1. Low minimum deposit
2. Low fees
3. They're simple to use

Cons:

1. You may invest too little
2. Not designed for large investments
3. Limited account options

​The Basics of Micro-Investing

​On average, how many purchases would you say you make on a normal day?
Given that number of daily purchases and if your average round-up was $0.50, how much would you end up investing…

Per day:

Per month:

Per year:

Crypto-currency Investment

Cryptocurrency is digital money built on a blockchain, a shared ledger that anyone can view but no one can alter without network agreement. Instead of a bank verifying your transactions, a distributed P2P (peer-to-peer) network of computers, called nodes, confirms and records them.

Think of it as a giant spreadsheet that thousands of people keep in sync at once, with no bank middleman or hefty fees. When you send crypto:

Your wallet digitally signs the message

The network validates it

The transfer is permanently added to the blockchain

​Cryptocurrency

Pros:
High return potential
They operate outside central government and banks
Portfolio balance
Global and 24/7 access
Financial services for the unbanked
Transparency

Cons:
Prices can crash dramatically
Lots of risk and no intrinsic value
Scams and fraud
Complexity