Name: Marcus Invest
Brand: Marcus Invest

Marcus Invest accounts transferring to Betterment

Goldman Sachs recently sold Marcus Invest accounts to Betterment. While users can opt out of the account transfer, there are plans to discontinue investing services through Marcus Invest in the near future. Accounts are expected to transfer to Betterment in summer 2024.

Read our Betterment review

Marcus Invest is a relatively new robo-advisor from the consumer banking division of Goldman Sachs. It uses proprietary Goldman Sachs ETFs and investment strategies to automate customers' investment portfolios. It is worth a look for anyone who not only wants to match benchmark returns, but beat them over time.

Ratings Methodology

Marcus Invest

Our Rating:

Rating image, 4.0 out of 5 stars.

4.0/5

Bottom Line

A solid robo-advisor with several unique investment strategies. The inclusion of automatic rebalancing and tax-smart management are welcome perks.

Fees:

0.25% advisory fee

Account Minimum:

$0

Alternatives to consider

We believe in comparing options before committing. Marcus Invest might be right for you -- or it might not. Here are two robo-advisors we recommend highly for you to compare side by side with Marcus Invest when deciding which robo-advisor is right for you:

Offer	Stash	M1 Finance
Rating	Rating Rating image, 4.0 out of 5 stars. 4.0/5 Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor.	Rating Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars. 4.5/5 Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor.
Commissions	Commissions None	Commissions No commission, trading, or management fees for self-directed accounts. Platform fee of $3 monthly.
Account Minimum	Account Minimum $0	Account Minimum $100 for individual account, $500 for retirement account
Learn More	Learn More for Stash On Stash's Secure Website. Read Full Review	Learn More for M1 Finance On M1 Finance's Secure Website. Read Full Review

M1 is not a robo-advisor and only offers self-directed brokerage services.

Full Marcus Invest review

This robo-advisor is a good fit for: Investors who want to put their investments on autopilot and who want to not only match, but beat the performance of benchmark index funds over time.

Pros

Three unique investment strategies to choose from
Automatic portfolio rebalancing
Tax-smart management
Ability to bundle Marcus savings account with investments in the same app
$0 investment minimum

Cons

No tax-loss harvesting
Fees are on the higher end
No access to live financial advisors

Top perks

Marcus Invest is a solid robo-advisor and has some strong characteristics that may make it worth considering:

Automatic rebalancing

Marcus Invest portfolios are monitored daily. And they are rebalanced regularly to ensure they continue to be aligned with clients' goals.

Three unique investment strategies to choose from

After analyzing clients' risk tolerance and goals, Marcus Invest will recommend a risk level (conservative, growth, etc.). Then, investors can customize their portfolio by choosing one of three options:

Core: Standard index fund investing (the typical robo-advisor approach).
Impact: Socially-responsible exchange traded funds (ETFs) that track market benchmarks.
Smart Beta: Smart Beta ETFs are Goldman Sachs proprietary ETFs. They seek to deliver index-beating performance over time, not to just match benchmarks like the S&P 500. To be clear, this is one of the more unique features of the Marcus Invest platform. Few robo-advisors offer clients portfolio options that are designed to beat the benchmark indexes over time.

Lots of portfolio options

Marcus Invest doesn't just limit its risk assessments to standard categories (conservative, moderate, aggressive). Instead, there are 50 different possible portfolios based on clients' assessed risk level.

Tax-smart management

When investors cash out a portion of their account, Marcus will seek to sell portions of the portfolio with the lowest amount of taxable gains. This can help customers save significantly on their tax bills.

High-rated mobile app

The Marcus mobile app serves as the mobile home for Marcus Invest. It also allows users to access Marcus' high-yield savings accounts and lending platforms in the same place. The Marcus app has a rating of 4.9 stars out of 5 on the App Store and 4.4 out of 5 stars on Android.

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What could be improved

Of course, there's no such thing as a perfect robo-advisor for everyone, and Marcus Invest is no exception. Here are some of the things that might prompt you to look elsewhere:

Relatively high fees

Marcus Invest charges a 0.25% advisory fee for assets under management. This is slightly higher (although still competitive) than average for robo-advisors. Plus, the ETFs Marcus Invest uses charge their own management fees. However, for investors in Marcus Invest's Smart Beta strategy, one unique feature is that the firm credits back the fees charged by Goldman Sachs ETFs in clients' portfolios.

Not enough account types

Marcus Invest offers individual and joint investment accounts. It also has the three most common IRA accounts: traditional, Roth, and SEP IRAs. On the other hand, Marcus doesn't offer:

SIMPLE IRAs
Individual 401(k)s
Trusts
UGMA/UTMA accounts
College savings accounts

No tax-loss harvesting

Marcus Invest offers tax efficient withdrawals. However, it doesn't actively employ tax-loss harvesting strategies in clients' accounts. Some of Marcus' competitors incorporate this feature to save their clients money every year on taxes. This is especially true for those with higher minimum balance requirements.

No human financial advisors

Marcus Invest does not offer any access to human financial advisors. Several of Marcus' competitors in the same pricing range offer access to a financial advisor.

How Marcus Invest works

Like most robo-advisors, Marcus Invest asks clients a series of questions. These include information about their age, goals, and other relevant characteristics. Marcus Invest then assesses its clients' risk tolerance and goals.

Using this information, the platform allocates capital into an appropriate portfolio of ETFs. Investment portfolios are monitored daily and are automatically rebalanced periodically in order to make sure they continue to be appropriate for each client's investment objectives.

Minimum investment

Marcus Invest has a $0 minimum initial investment requirement. This moves the robo-advisor closer in line with others we've seen that have a similarly nonexistent minimum initial investment to open an account. You need at least $5 to purchase an investment.

Services offered

Marcus Invest offers automated investment portfolios. By asking a series of questions to new clients, the robo-advisor assigns an appropriate risk level, and the client then chooses one of three investment strategies based on their personal preferences -- Core, Impact, or Smart Beta.

Unlike some robo-advisors, Marcus Invest doesn't offer investment or personal financial advice by human advisors.

Pricing and fees

Marcus Invest charges an annual advisory fee based on assets under management. Specifically, the fee is 0.25% based on the average daily value of assets in the account, charged at the end of each quarter.

For example, if the average daily value of your account for one quarter is $10,000, this would translate into a $250 annual fee, and one-fourth of this amount would be deducted at the end of the quarter.

In addition, since Marcus Invest portfolios are ETF-based, the underlying ETFs generally have small annual management fees. However, for any Goldman Sachs ETFs held in the portfolios, Marcus Invest applies a credit against the management fees to offset this.

Customer service and support

Marcus Invest offers phone-based customer support Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. EST. There is also an investing-specific email address for support inquiries customers can use.

This is pretty good, but isn't nearly the best in the business. Other robo-advisors provide live chat, 24/7 phone support, and other ways to get in touch beyond "banker's hours."

This robo-advisor is right for you if:

You want the potential to beat the benchmark indices over time, not to simply match them like most robo-advisors aim to do.
You want your investments, savings, and possibly even your personal loans in one place.
You have at least $1,000 to start investing.

Our brokerage rating methodology

At Motley Fool Money, brokerages are rated on a scale of one to five stars. We primarily focus on fees, available assets, and account types; however, we also take into account features like research, education, tax-loss harvesting, and highly rated mobile apps. Our highest-rated brokerages generally include low fees, a diverse range of assets and account types, and useful platform features.

See our full methodology here: Ratings Methodology

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Marcus Invest Review: Better(ment) Days Ahead