Robo-advisers have been on a roll. By year-end they are expected to amass $53 billion under management, up more than 3x from $16 billion last year. While these numbers are dwarfed by the $20 trillion wealth-management market, robo-adviser growth has garnered much attention.
In an effort to capture more of that growth, Personal Capital is lowering its minimum investment from $100,000 to $25,000. The San Francisco-based company expects the lower threshold will help tap into its 850,000 users who track their investments with its free online platform. About half of these users are eligible to meet the new $25,000 investment minimum.
Lowering the minimum will also help Personal Capital compete with Wealthfront which requires a minimum of $500, and Betterment which does not have a minimum investment requirement.
The New York Times recently reported stats from three robo-advisers:
| Company | Min. Investment Req’d | Users | AUM | Average AUM/ User |
| Personal Capital | $25,000 | 6,000 | $1.6 billion | $260,000 |
| Wealthfront | $500 | 37,400 | $2.6 billion | $70,000 |
| Betterment | $1 | 118,000 | $3 billion | $25,000 |
Personal Capital most recently presented to a crowd of developers at FinDEVr 2015 in San Francisco. The company launched One Click Investment Proposals at FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose.
Betterment last demoed its multiple goals feature at FinovateFall 2011, and before changing its name in 2010, Wealthfront launched as KaChing at FinovateSpring 2009.