Empower Review 2024 -

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Empower Personal Dashboard™

Insider’s Rating A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star 3.85/5

Account Minimum

$100,000

Fees

0.49% to 0.89%

Pros

Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Free financial and wealth management tools; fees top that of traditional brick-and mortar-firms
Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Investment selection includes stocks, ETFs, bonds, and private equities; portfolio management for employer-sponsored plans (e.g., 401(k)s or 403(b)s)
Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Socially responsible investment strategies and tax optimization strategies
Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. One-on-one financial advisor guidance

Cons

con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. High management fees
con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. Users need at least $100,000 to get started

Product Details

Promotion: None at this time.

Note: Empower is formerly known as Personal Capital. In February 2023, Personal Capital completed its rebranding as Empower.

Bottom line: Empower is best for hands-off investors with at least $100,000 to dedicate to stocks, ETFs, private equities, or bonds. The platform also offers free financial planning tools and one-on-one financial advisor guidance, but its fees are on the higher side.

Empower: Overall Rating

About Empower

Empower is a digital platform offering wealth management, free financial tools, cash management accounts, and more. Since the lowest amount you can get started with is $100,000, the platform is best for high-net-worth clients.

However, prospective users should consider other platforms if they're in search of lower minimum requirements and fees. Here are our picks for the best investment apps for beginners.

Empower is a great platform for robo-advice, wealth management, and private client services, but it falls short when it comes to fees. You'll pay a minimum of 0.89% per year to use its services if you have below $1 million in your account.

So if you're looking for low fees, user-friendly interfaces, and access to research and educational resources Insider's picks for the best robo-advisors offer a range of different investment platforms for all kinds of investors.

The mobile app is available on iOS and Android devices.

Empower Personal Dashboard™

Insider’s Rating A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star 3.85/5

Account Minimum

$100,000

Fees

0.49% to 0.89%

Pros

Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Free financial and wealth management tools; fees top that of traditional brick-and mortar-firms
Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Investment selection includes stocks, ETFs, bonds, and private equities; portfolio management for employer-sponsored plans (e.g., 401(k)s or 403(b)s)
Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Socially responsible investment strategies and tax optimization strategies
Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. One-on-one financial advisor guidance

Cons

con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. High management fees
con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. Users need at least $100,000 to get started

Product Details

Promotion: None at this time.

Empower vs. Merrill Guided Investing

Empower and Merrill Guided Investing both suit hands-off investors who don't want to manage the daily legwork of maintaining an investment portfolio. Both of Merrill Edge's accounts — Merrill Guided Investing Online and Merrill Guided Investing with an Advisor — are better options for those in search of lower minimum requirements.

Empower and Merrill Guided Investing offer similar fees, but Empower is the better choice for investors who want access to a wider selection of investment types. Empower's wealth management services and financial tools are also difficult to beat. Whereas Merrill Guided Investing offers the option of guidance from one advisor, two of Empower's tiers of service offer access to multiple dedicated advisors.

Empower vs. Vanguard Personal Advisor Services

When it comes to fees, you'll pay less in all aspects with the Vanguard Personal Advisor Services account. But Empower's wealth management services give you access to more investment types than Vanguard does.

Empower clients with lower balances pay higher fees, and customers with higher balances pay lower fees. The same applies to Vanguard's wealth management account. Therefore, the highest you'll pay is 0.30% per year, and the lowest you'll pay is 0.05%.

Ways to Invest With Empower

Digital wealth management

Like many automated investing platforms, Empower best suits investors who value a hands-off approach. The company separates its portfolio management offerings into three tiers:

Investment services: This level is best for those with $100,000 to $200,000 in assets. It offers unlimited access to financial planning and retirement guidance. Plus, you'll get a personalized portfolio of ETFs, copious digital planning tools, and support from human advisors.
Wealth management: The wealth management tier takes things up a notch. It gives you two financial advisors who offer ongoing guidance and support, and it supplements this with a personalized portfolio, and tax optimization strategies. Plus, you'll be able to take advantage of specialists in real estate, stocks, and more. In order to qualify, you'll need to have more than $200,000 but not more than $1 million.
Private client: Reserved for those with more than $1 million in investment assets, this tier offers private equity investments, specialist support for wealth and retirement planning, two financial advisors, and priority access to its Investment Committee and specialists. Note, though, that the private equity option is only available to those with $5 million or more invested.

As for investment types, the first tier only offers ETFs. Empower's wealth management tier offers ETFs and stocks, while its private client services focus on ETFs, stocks, bonds, and private equity investments.

Many robo-advisors primarily offer one asset choice (such as ETFs or mutual funds), so Empower's investment selection tops the competition. It also uses Personal Strategy+ to manage employer-sponsored retirement plans such as 401(k)s and 403(b)s.

Compared to other digital advisors like Wealthfront and Fidelity Personalized Planning & Advice, Empower's fees are quite high. The upside to this, though, is that it still charges less than what most traditional advisor firms charge. While Empower charges 0.89%, traditional advisors usually charge 1%.

Investors can choose between two different portfolio strategies: The Personal Strategy and Socially Responsible Investing.

The Personal Strategy

With the Personal Strategy, Empower invests your money into a globally diversified portfolio of stocks and ETFs. It relies on both its technology and advisor oversight to build portfolios, and each includes portfolio rebalancing, tax optimization strategies like tax-loss harvesting, smart weighting, and advisor access.

Socially Responsible Investing

With this socially responsible investing portfolio, you can have the platform focus your portfolio on companies that have high environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) standards. Empower primarily focuses on US and international equities and with these portfolios.

Is Empower Trustworthy?

The Better Business Bureau typically gives companies ratings between A+ and F. However, the BBB gives Empower an A+ because Empower has failed to respond to one complaint.

The BBB considers several factors when reviewing companies. These include type of business, time in business, customer complaint history, advertising issues, and licensing and government actions. But since its ratings don't guarantee a company's reliability or performance, you should also do your due diligence before opening an account.

In late 2022, Empower faced a lawsuit that accused the company of using fraudulent sales practices. The plaintiffs claim that Empower neglected its fiduciary duties by manipulating investors to invest in Empower accounts when less expensive options were available elsewhere. An Empower representative said this was unfounded, and the lawsuit hasn't been settled yet.

Empower Personal Dashboard™

Insider’s Rating A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star 3.85/5

Account Minimum

$100,000

Fees

0.49% to 0.89%

Pros

Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Free financial and wealth management tools; fees top that of traditional brick-and mortar-firms
Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Investment selection includes stocks, ETFs, bonds, and private equities; portfolio management for employer-sponsored plans (e.g., 401(k)s or 403(b)s)
Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Socially responsible investment strategies and tax optimization strategies
Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. One-on-one financial advisor guidance

Cons

con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. High management fees
con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. Users need at least $100,000 to get started

Product Details

Promotion: None at this time.

Empower — Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Empower charges 0.49% to 0.89% management fee. The higher your account balance, the lower your fee will be.

Compared to other popular wealth management services, Empower's management fees are on the higher side. Those with $1 million or less will have to pay 0.89% per year. The management fees decrease as your account balance increases, but the lowest you'll pay per year is 0.49% (this fee is for users who hold over $10 million).

It's best to completely examine your financial situation and weigh Empower's benefits and drawbacks before opening an account.

Related terms

Robo-advisor: Also known as automated investing portfolios, these accounts rely on computer algorithms and/or expert oversight to build personalized, self-managing portfolios for hands-off investors.
ETFs: These funds usually contain a diversified mix of stocks, bonds, and commodities. You can invest in two types of ETFs: index-based ETFs and actively managed ETFs.
Fiduciary: Fiduciaries are individuals or organizations who are legally required to act in each client's best interests.
Asset-based fees: Flat fees are constant throughout the year (e.g., Ellevest offers monthly flat rates of $5 and $9), but asset-based fees take into account your balance. In other words, certain balances have different fees.

Why You Should Trust Us: How We Reviewed Empower

We examined Empower investing app using Personal Finance Insider's rating methodology for investing platforms to compare and examine account types, pricing, investment options, and overall customer experience when reviewing investing platforms. Platforms are given a rating between 0 to 5.

Investing platforms generally offer multiple assets, trading tools, fees, and other resources. Some investing platforms are better for more advanced investors or active investors, while others may better suit beginner investors and passive investors. Empower was evaluated with a focus on how it performed in each category.

Laura Grace Tarpley, CEPF

Personal Finance Reviews Editor

Rickie Houston

Senior Wealth-Building Reporter

Rickie Houston was a senior wealth-building reporter for Business Insider, tasked with covering brokerage products, investment apps, online advisor services, cryptocurrency exchanges, and other wealth-building financial products. Before Insider, Rickie worked as a personal finance writer at SmartAsset, focusing on retirement, investing, taxes, and banking topics. He's contributed to stories published in the Boston Globe, and his work has also been featured in Yahoo News. He graduated from Boston University, where he contributed as a staff writer and sports editor for Boston University News Service.