Personal Capital Review: 6 Months Free & $100 Visa Gift Card Promotions

Anyone can take advantage of Personal Capital’s robust financial tools (including retirement planning) and interest-earning Cash account, but you’ll need at least $100,000 in assets to access the company’s personalized Wealth Management service.

Launched in 2009, Personal Capital (personalcapital.com) provides a suite of free financial management tools, an interest-earning Cash account, and robo-advisor services with access to human financial advisors. But with all the portfolio management services out there, what makes Personal Capital stand out? And is it right for you? Keep reading to find out.

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Current Personal Capital Promotion(s)

Personal Capital Offer: 6 Months Free Wealth Management

Personal Capital currently has an offer where you can get 6 months of their Wealth Management service for free. You’ll also get:

• A free Dashboard with a full suite of financial tools
• An in-depth consultation with their fiduciary advisors
• A personalized plan that’s yours to keep for free

*Terms & Conditions

Free Advisory Offer: Offer ends October 31, 2022, Personal Capital Advisors Corporation is offering six months of free advisory services to individuals who enroll in our fee-based advisory services, become a client, and open an account and fund above $250,000 within 30 days of account opening. All cash, eligible securities, and/or margin debit balance transfers from external sources will be valued at the time those assets are received into your account. The six months free is not exclusive to this offer. Account holders must maintain the minimum qualifying account balance (minus any losses related to trading or market volatility, or margin debit balances) to remain eligible for this promotion. Personal Capital reserves the right to modify these terms and conditions or terminate this offer at any time. This offer is not transferable, not valid with internal transfers and may not be combined with other offers.

Personal Capital Offer: $100 Visa Gift Card

Personal Capital currently has an offer where you can get a $100 Visa gift card.

• Sign up for our free, easy-to-use financial tools – including our Retirement Planner
• Link your bank and investment accounts
• Receive your free financial analysis after talking with an expert
• Treat yourself with your FREE $100 Visa^® gift card

Personal Capital Cash Account

The Personal Capital Cash account earns 2.60% APY (2.70% APY for Personal Capital Advisory Clients).

• Aggregate FDIC insurance up to $1.5 million
• Easy to use on the web, or the mobile app
• No fees
• Simplify your family finance with a joint account
• For large withdrawals, wire up to $1M with no fees
• Set up direct deposit for your paychecks
• Link to your checking for monthly bills
• Unlimited number of monthly transfers
• Withdraw up to $100K per day
• No minimum balance

Personal Capital At-A-Glance

Account Minimum	Financial Tools: $0 Cash Account: $0 Wealth Management: $100,000
Fees	Financial Tools: None Cash Account: None Wealth Management: 0.49% – 0.89% AUM
Available Assets	ETFs, stocks, bonds, private equity
Access to Financial Advisors	Yes
Interest on Cash Account	2.60% – 2.70% APY
Customer Support	Phone, email

Personal Capital Pros & Cons

What Makes Personal Capital Unique?

Personal Capital provides three main services: financial tools, a Cash account, and Wealth Management. You can use the platform to manage your finances and earn interest on your deposits without having to pay a dime. If you have $100,000 in assets to manage, and you’re willing to pay the fees, you also have the option to unlock the company’s Wealth Management features.

Financial Tools

Personal Capital provides a 360-degree view of your finances. The dashboard displays all your accounts in one place, such as your various investments, as well as net worth, cash flow, and much more. Other free financial management tools include:

• Budgeting. Automatically organize your spending and savings by date and category and see if you’re going under or over your monthly spending target.
• Savings Planner. See how much you should save to reach your emergency fund, debt repayment, retirement, and other financial goals.
• Retirement Planner. Find out if you’re on track to retire by your target date. You can fiddle around with different scenarios to see what you can do to improve your chances of reaching your retirement goals.
• Investment Checkup. See how well your investments are performing and how they could do better, including ways to increase returns and lower risk.
• Fee Analyzer. Find hidden fees in your mutual funds, investing, and retirement accounts.
• Education Planner. Figure out how much you should be saving right now to cover future education costs.

There is no need to enroll in the company’s paid advisory service for any of the above tools. Simply link your financial accounts to the platform, and you’re good to go.

Personal Capital Cash

Cash account holders earn 2.60% to 2.70% APY, which is higher than most traditional checking and savings accounts, and there is no minimum balance requirement.

With a Cash account, you can wire up to $1 million without fees, set up direct deposit for your paychecks, and pay your bills by linking to your checking. You can make an unlimited number of monthly transfers and withdraw up to $100,000 daily.

The Cash program also offers up to an aggregate of $1.5 million in FDIC insurance coverage. That’s much higher than the standard $250,000 that most banks offer.

Personal Capital Wealth Management

If you sign up for Personal Capital Wealth Management, you have access to financial professionals who can answer any investment or retirement questions you have. They can help you set up a comprehensive financial plan, evaluate how well you’re meeting your goals, and give advice on what to do when your life circumstances change. As your financial situation and goals evolve, your financial advisor will be there to adjust your portfolio and guide you as needed.

Wealth Management provides a customized Personal Strategy, which is a diversified, multi-asset portfolio of stocks and ETFs, created exclusively for you and your financial goals. It includes portfolio rebalancing, tax-loss harvesting, and smart weighting.

Smart weighting is a portfolio selection process that invests equally in all sectors, instead of mirroring an index like the S&P 500.

The company also offers socially responsible investing portfolios that feature companies with high ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) standards.

All portfolios are designed by a team of expert strategists. Key contributors include Harry Markowitz, who is famous for his modern portfolio theory, and leading behavioral economist Shlomo Benartzi. Portfolio construction takes into account the following:

Wealth Management clients also get a “Financial Roadmap” with prioritized actionable tasks to achieve all your financial goals. It takes your account and loan information to develop a to-do list and recommendations. As your situation changes, your Financial Roadmap will also change.

Another Wealth Management feature is Smart Withdrawal. This tool helps you spend your retirement savings optimally by staying on top of your budget, minimizing your taxes, and keeping your portfolio in tip-top shape long after you retire.

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Personal Capital Pricing & Fees

The Personal Capital Cash account comes with handy tools for tracking your finances and managing your money. It’s free to open and use.

If you want personalized investment management services, holistic wealth management, and access to financial advisors, opt for the Wealth Management service. It does, however, come with a cost, 0.49% to 0.89% of assets under management (AUM) to be exact:

AUM	FEE
First $1 million	0.89%
$1 to $3 million	0.79%
Next $2 million	0.69%
Next $5 million	0.59%
Over $10 million	0.49%

Wealth management, trade costs, and custody are all included. There are no additional trade commissions.

How Personal Capital Works

To register with Personal Capital, you need to provide your email address, choose a password, and submit your phone number and date of birth. The company requires you to schedule and complete a call with a financial advisor that will cover the platform’s service(s) that interest you.

After that, you can securely link your financial accounts to Personal Capital, such as bank, investment, debt, credit card, home mortgage accounts, and much more. Once that’s done, you can access the platform’s free financial tools and reports.

For Wealth Management members, you will proceed with the intake questionnaire which covers your financial situation and goals, as well as risk appetite. An advisor will review your current investments and your completed intake, then present you with a personal financial strategy.

Wealth Management is offered in three tiers:

TIER	FEATURES
Investment Services ($100k – $200k in assets)	Financial planning Personalized portfolio of ETFs Digital planning tools Human advisors
Wealth Management ($200k – $1 million in assets)	Customized portfolio with individual stocks & ETFs Tax optimization strategies Access to financial specialists 2 dedicated advisors
Private Client (over $1 million in assets)	Private equity investments ($5 mil in assets) Access to wealth & retirement specialists Priority access to Investment Committee & specialists

Financial advisors are available via phone, email, or video chat, Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm.

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Personal Capital Education

Daily Capital is the company’s educational blog. It includes hundreds of informative articles and guides on topics like personal finance, investing and market, financial planning, news, and much more. Beginners will appreciate actionable articles like “how to reduce taxable income,” while more sophisticated investors will enjoy Personal Capital’s white paper posts and research.

Customer Support & Security

Personal Capital offers customer support via phone and email, Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm PST. Virtual and in-person (California, Denver, Dallas, and Atlanta) meetings with a financial advisor are also available.

To keep your information safe, login data is encrypted and inaccessible to company employees. The platform utilizes two-factor authentication, bank-level firewalls, and 256-bit AES data encryption. Their website’s encryption is rated A+ by Qualys SSL Labs, which is a stronger rating than most big banks and major brokerages.

In addition, Personal Capital sends daily transaction emails so you can verify your activity, and accounts are protected by FDIC and SIPC insurance.

Personal Capital Disadvantages

As we mentioned at the start of this review, Personal Capital requires an account minimum of $100,000, which makes it inaccessible for most people. Other online financial advisors offer their services with much lower minimums, such as E*Trade ($500) and Betterment ($0).

Personal Capital also charges a high management fee of up to 0.89%. That’s much more than what other leading robo-advisors charge, including Betterment (up to 0.40%) and Wealthfront (0.25%).

Is Personal Capital A Good Fit For You?

Personal Capital Wealth Management is a good fit for affluent investors looking for comprehensive financial planning, qualified financial advisors, and a high standard of service. The large account minimum and high fees, unfortunately, puts the robo-advisor service out of reach for “regular” folks.

That said, if you’re interested in free, powerful financial tools or an interest-earning Cash account, Personal Capital is a solid option.

Lear more about Personal Capital…

If you don’t have $100k in assets to manage, check out Vanguard, Betterment, or Wealthfront. All three have low or zero minimum balance requirements. See the best robo-advisors here.

Personal Capital Advisors Corporation (“PCAC”) compensates MoneysMyLife for new leads. MoneysMyLife is not an investment client of PCAC.

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