Recently, Advisor Perspectives published two articles based on the data found in The Robo Report regarding the performance of robo advisors compared to our normalized benchmark. We feel it is important to introduce our perspective on the data in our report and respond to the conclusions drawn in those articles.

The conventional wisdom around digital advice platforms – what are commonly referred to as “robo advisors” – is that they will commoditize the investment process, and push traditional, human advisors to justify the value they add – and, hence, justify their fees – with services other than investment management. So far, however, the performance results of those platforms have been unimpressive. What do those results bode for the future of digital advice?