Advisor Technology

Considering a switch from TD Ameritrade to Betterment for Advisors? Here's what you need to know. The custodial landscape is changing. We’ve compiled answers to the most common questions we get from RIAs who are considering making the switch to Betterment for Advisors. We've supported many RIAs considering moving their client accounts to Betterment for Advisors. Here are the most common questions we receive about making the transition. How do I know if making a move is worth it? How can small RIAs evaluate a custodian's service model? What does a transition to Betterment for Advisors look like? How does Betterment for Advisors support RIAs through a transition? What type of firm is a good fit for Betterment for Advisors? What is the experience like for my clients? How long has Betterment been around and what does the future look like? What's next for the Betterment for Advisors platform? How do I know if making a move is worth it? The decision to migrate your practice and client accounts to a new custodian can be challenging. Evaluating if, and when, a switch is worthwhile often comes down to assessing a potential partner’s technology and service. Betterment for Advisors’ custodial technology can make a big difference for small firms trying to scale efficiently. It can not only help you craft a better client experience, but it can free you up from routine, administrative tasks to focus on more high-value work. Getting a feel for technology is relatively simple—advisors can request a demo to see most platforms' features in action. A custodial partner's approach to service, though, can be more challenging to nail down. How can small RIAs evaluate a custodian's service model? When considering different service models, think about who your support team will be and how easy it is to reach them. The support channels available to you should be aligned with your preferred way of doing business—whether it's for typical day-to-day inquiries, urgent requests, or more strategic discussions about how to grow your practice. For many custodians, the definition of a "small RIA" seems to be getting bigger.* Our dedication to service for firms of all sizes sets us apart. We know that quality service makes all the difference for an independent advisor, regardless of their AUM or number of clients, so we intentionally built a support team that’s accessible for all. And because some questions are best addressed on the phone, you can reach a live person fast—our advisor servicing team aims to answer calls in under two minutes.** Betterment for Advisors also prioritizes offering comprehensive support for firms, beyond transactional questions. Every firm on the Betterment for Advisors platform will partner with a dedicated relationship manager who serves as their go-to resource for training, 1-1 consulting, practice management questions, transition support, and more. What does a transition to Betterment for Advisors look like? Our vertically integrated technology aims to make the repapering process as seamless as possible via intelligent automation. You'll also have an experienced team on your side to help make the move easy. For each transition, we start by discussing your firm's current set-up, including client service model, current custodian(s), portfolios used, and your existing tech stack. This helps us understand the key pieces of the transition and any pain points or limitations we can help address. From there, we'll work together to create an implementation plan that’s tailored to your firm. It will combine your unique situation with best practices gleaned from other transitions we’ve managed and tips about how to make the most of the Betterment for Advisors platform (so you can take full advantage of our billing tools, portfolio options, integrations, and more). The plan will also include an account migration strategy that considers your clients' current models and holdings (so they can benefit from features like our tax smart transition technology if needed). Once the plan is in place and you know exactly what to expect, we'll hit the ground running. How does Betterment for Advisors support RIAs through a transition? Betterment for Advisors is dedicated to providing hands-on support. Your relationship manager will work with you on the entire process and be your go-to liasion for our in-house team. Throughout the transition you’ll have regular check-ins to monitor progress and address any questions. White-glove transition support reduces the operational burden that typically comes with repapering, while reducing disruption to client service. Our team can help manage transitions for you from start to finish, from assistance in drafting client communications, to sending out client invites and ACATS requests on your behalf. Excellent support doesn't end with the transition. You will always have a dedicated relationship manager for practice management support and growth initiatives, as well as access to a fast, knowledgeable advisor support team for the day-to-day questions. What type of firm is a good fit for Betterment for Advisors? Betterment for Advisors works with independent RIAs of all sizes—especially those just breaking away or focused on scaling an already established practice. Because we have no AUM minimums, an efficient, scalable pricing model, and dedicated support for all firms, we are uniquely suited to partner with small-and-medium sized RIAs that are often overlooked by legacy custodians. What do all of our advisor partners have in common? They recognize the opportunity that automation can unlock for their business. Our cutting-edge technology helps planning-focused advisors create more operational efficiency, so they can cultivate stronger client relationships and take their businesses to the next level. The efficiencies unlocked with Betterment for Advisors' technology enable our advisors to serve significantly more clients than at legacy custodians. What is the experience like for my clients? Simple. An easy, paperless client onboarding workflow differentiates Betterment for Advisors from legacy custodians and helps advisors impress clients from day one. With digital client onboarding, advisors can collect household signatures from clients on all new accounts in one simple, paperless package. From there, clients need only approve ACATS requests to transfer their assets to Betterment for Advisors. Your clients will have access to Betterment for Advisors' intuitive goals-based portal, which is white-labeled for your firm. The platform is designed to be flexible for advisors, so you have the tools to manage tasks on behalf of your clients, but your clients will also have a variety of easy, self-directed tools within the portal. Tasks like updating their address or setting up an auto-deposit can be done with a few simple clicks. How long has Betterment been around and what does the future look like? Betterment launched in 2010 as a pioneer in the digital investing space. 13 years later, we are the largest independent digital advisor with over $38 billion in AUM. All client assets are protected with industry-standard insurance and rigorous account security. Like many financial services companies, we've achieved scale and sustained growth by diversifying across three complementary lines of business: direct-to-consumer, Betterment for Advisors, and Betterment at Work. Betterment for Advisors has been doing things differently from the very beginning. How? By building an RIA custodian from the ground up. Our status as an independent, vertically-integrated solution is vital. It has allowed us to create bleeding-edge automation and to own the user experience for advisors and investors from end to end. We remain committed to that independence. The desire to do things differently also underpins Betterment's pricing. Instead of the traditional custodial model, we charge a transparent platform fee based on client assets that scales as your firm grows on the platform. This model is intentional—it allows us to work with RIAs of any size and offer every firm the quality, sustained support they need for the long term. With recent consolidation in the RIA custody industry, advisors may feel their options are more limited today than in the past. We believe that there is a gap for small-and-medium sized RIAs when it comes to technology and service at legacy providers. And we're here to solve that. What's next for the Betterment for Advisors platform? Betterment for Advisors is the custodian of the future for planning-focused independent advisors. We have a culture of continuous iteration and are always looking to build tools that can make advisors’ lives easier—and help them deliver more value to clients. Your feedback matters to us. As we're building an all-in-one solution where advisors can run their whole practice, we'll keep adding products and features that enable advisors to build the business they've always envisioned. If you have input, questions, or something you'd like us to build, please let us know.

Schwabitrade or switch? Learn how switching to Betterment for Advisors could power your practice into the future. The choice to define your firm’s future “Schwabitrade” — many RIA owners have their own experience with the ongoing integration of Schwab and TD Ameritrade, and many have shared their experiences on how rocky it has been for their firms and their clients. We’re not here to show you how your firm will be impacted. You know this. We’re here to show you how Betterment serves advisors, regardless of size, with a modern custodial platform. You deserve this. So you can make the choice: Schwabitrade or switch? Our service and technology can simplify the switch At Betterment for Advisors, we know switching custodians is a big move, so we’ve made sure that not only is the process easy, but that your experience in your first 12 months helps set you up for long-term success. We’ve designed a three-pronged approach to help you make the switch: #1 A dedicated relationship manager You're more than just a number or a customer — you're our partner. The high standard of service we hold ourselves to means that we have no minimum AUM requirement and every firm gets a dedicated single point of contact, no matter their size. Your relationship manager is your guide, ensuring you are fully trained on how to best use all our tools and features throughout your first year. Your relationship manager’s goal is to get you utilizing our platform to its maximum capability for your practice and your clients. #2 Fully digital onboarding Our digital onboarding streamlines the repapering process for you and your clients. You can easily onboard individuals and households, and complete account set up paperlessly. They’ll get a single email to sign off on everything at once. #3 Tax-smart asset transitions Our tooling enables you to granularly control how assets are moved from your current custodian to Betterment for Advisors in a tax-efficient manner. You can leverage our paperless workflows to move assets over in kind. Easily move your client’s funds into your preferred portfolio model while optimizing their tax impact. Our people and technology empower 600+ RIAs and their clients each day Once you’ve made the switch to Betterment for Advisors, we’re dedicated to seeing your practice grow. We take pride in being the modern end-to-end custodian for the modern RIA, balancing human support with future-forward technology. As our partner, we give you the tools that help simplify and streamline your practice operations while building a successful book of business. Dedicated advisor support Regardless of your firm’s size, we provide dedicated support to answer all of your questions. Our support team members are platform experts, here to resolve any issues you may face and answer questions from the most mundane to the most technical. We’re more than just chat support. You can reach out via email or phone for any type of issue or question. Your relationship manager isn’t just for onboarding. They’re your long-term partner every step of the way. “Advisors, especially small and mid-sized RIAs most affected by Schwabitrade, shouldn't sit back and accept lower-quality service. We’re here to provide you with a better option.” —Tom Moore, Senior Director, Betterment for Advisors Time-saving automation tools Our tools take care of critical-yet-time-intensive tasks so you can focus on your real value — planning, strategy, and client relations. We automate tax-optimization strategies for you including asset location and tax loss harvesting. Flexible billing gives you the freedom to use custom asset-based, fixed fee, or tiered billing plans and set the frequency your clients are charged. We collect the fees for you and pay them out automatically. Our Co-pilot dashboard aggregates urgent client needs all in one place, becoming your client command center, enabling you to streamline your high-priority work. Exceptional client experience Using our client-facing mobile app and web experience paired with our powerful advisor planning tools, your firm can provide one of the most delightful client experiences on the market. Empower your clients at home or on the go with our interactive portal, giving them convenient insights into their investments. Plus, you can sync held-away accounts so they see all of their savings and investments in one place. Better manage household accounts with a customizable account structure, using bucketing strategies to help clients work towards long-term goals. Engage with your clients on a deeper level with our portfolio analysis, retirement planning, and performance tracking tools. Build your seamless tech stack We integrate with other well-known tools giving you a better experience for you and your clients. And don’t worry, if you work with a tech provider we haven’t partnered with, your relationship manager will explore adding them to our integration options. Transparent pricing in a not-so-transparent world Schwab and other custodians may say their custody services are “free” but in the RIA space, it usually means that your client is the one paying for it. We charge a simple platform fee that allows us to improve our custody platform while providing exceptional support. This enables you to truly put your clients first and help them grow their wealth.

Tax-Aware Migration Strategies Betterment for Advisors allows advisors to specify trading migration strategies to easily transition their clients’ portfolios or investment allocations. Betterment for Advisors allows advisors to specify trading migration strategies to easily transition their clients’ portfolios or investment allocations. Advisors have three options when migrating a client to a different portfolio or changing their allocation -- each with its own tax-optimization strategy. Advisors can preview the tax-impact effects of their elections before submitting the change. Three options are available, each with its own approach to managing the transition. Minimize short-term capital gains and wash sales When this strategy is selected, the client’s goal will be migrated in a tax-optimized way. For taxable accounts, we’ll seek to sell tax lots that are at a loss or have experienced long-term capital gains, but will continue to hold, when possible, tax lots with short-term gains until they either become long-term gains or become losses. For tax-deferred accounts, we will migrate without regard to embedded capital gains. Regardless of account type, we will prioritize avoiding wash sales that could lead to permanently disallowed losses for securities held at Betterment. For this strategy, it is important to remember that the account may weather high drift in the short run, but Betterment’s algorithms will typically rebalance available losses or long-term gains as they arise, as long as the security sales involved will not cause any permanently disallowed losses. Drift goal to target portfolio For this migration strategy, the client’s goal will be gradually drifted to the target portfolio by buying underweight securities with inflows / deposits through dividend reinvestments, and selling overweight securities to fund withdrawals. No securities will be sold as a result of this change. This election will often result in high drift, especially if the portfolio or allocation change involves a significant change in composition of the portfolio’s holdings. When “Drift goal to target portfolio” is selected, an additional election must be made to choose whether or not to turn off automated rebalancing. This is necessary because Betterment’s standard rebalancing algorithms operate independently of the migration strategy election. Choosing to disable automated rebalancing for the goals will ensure that a rebalance will not be triggered due to high drift that can be caused by selecting “Drift goal to target portfolio.” If the advisor elects to leave rebalancing on, Betterment’s automated rebalancing algorithm may take the opportunity to rebalance the goal shortly after the portfolio or allocation change is complete. The rebalancing algorithm avoids sales that realize short-term capital gains or would result in permanently disallowed losses for securities held at Betterment. Rebalance with no tax-impact constraints For this migration strategy, the client’s goal will be rebalanced as soon as possible to the target portfolio. Betterment will perform this rebalance in a tax-optimized way to the extent possible, but we will not delay selling shares even if doing so could lead to a more optimal tax outcome. Choosing this option could lead to the realization of wash sales for securities that have been recently sold. After trading is complete on the change, the account will typically be 100% in balance with the target portfolio. After any of these changes are applied, the strategy election remains active until a subsequent change is made. For each of these migration strategy options, Betterment’s Tax-Impact Preview feature is available so that the advisor may see an estimation of the effects of the selection.