When did Personal Capital become Empower?

Personal Capital completed its rebrand to Empower Personal Wealth in February 2023.

What changed when Personal Capital was acquired by Empower?

Personal Capital was largely unchanged when it was acquired by Empower. It was eventually rebranded to Empower Personal Wealth, but it still offers the same features as before.

Empower Review: The Motherboard for All Your Financial Accounts

Empower might be for you if: You're looking for financial planning and investment advice. Formerly known as Personal Capital, Empower is a wealth management platform that offers investment accounts, a budgeting app, and advisory services. Read our full Empower review to learn more about what it offers.

Ratings Methodology

Empower

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Our Rating:

Rating image, 3.5 out of 5 stars.

3.5/5

Bottom Line

Empower is a do-it-all app and web platform that tackles investing, budgeting, and retirement planning. The easy-to-use interface stands out, and the option to get investment advice is also a valuable benefit. But fees for the wealth management services are on the high side.

Fees:

0.89% advisory fee for assets up to $1 million. Private clients with higher assets can qualify for fees as low as 0.49%.

Account Minimum:

$100,000

Learn More for Empower

On Empower Secure Website.

Alternatives to Consider

We recommend comparing brokerage options to ensure the account you're selecting is the best fit for you. To make your search easier, here's a short list of our best trading platforms of 2024.

Broker	Best For	Commissions	Learn More
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.	Easy fractional investing in stocks and bonds.	$0 commissions, 1%-2% crypto markups	Learn More for Public On Public's Secure Website.
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.	Low mutual fund fees.	$0 per trade	Learn More for J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing On J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing's Secure Website.
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.	Long-Term Investors, Stocks and Options Traders	Commission-free; other fees apply	Learn More for ETRADE On ETRADE's Secure Website.

Full Empower review

Empower's self-directed investment accounts are fine, but they don't offer the kinds of features and research tools you get with the top trading platforms. The main reasons to use Empower are its personal finance tools and its financial advisory services. Keep in mind that while Empower is popular for wealth management, its fees are somewhat high, so you may want to compare options first.

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 user experience; however, we also take into account features like research, education, tax-loss harvesting, and customer service. 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

My investing experience

I've been investing for about eight years now, and while most of my money is in index funds, I also like to buy individual stocks from time to time. I consider low fees to be a must-have for any brokerage, because I don't want to pay more than necessary to invest. The trading platform is also important to me. I want it to be easy to invest, whether I'm doing it from my computer or my smartphone.

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Investment offerings

Empower offers a variety of investment and account options.

Investments

Here are the types of investments available with Empower:

Brokerage accounts

Here are Empower's brokerage account options:

Managed portfolio
Roth IRA
Traditional brokerage
Traditional IRA

TIP

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TIP

Other financial services

Empower also offers a high-yield cash account, Empower Personal Cash™. It offers an APY that's competitive with the best high-yield savings accounts.

Commissions and fees

Empower's fees depend on the type of brokerage account and the services you use. If you want to set up your own self-directed portfolio, you can do that with an Empower Investment Account, which charges the following trading fees:

Investment type/service	Commission/fee
Stocks and ETFs	$0 for the first 1,000 trades per calendar year, then $6.95 per trade
Options	$0.65 per contract
Mutual funds	$25 per buy and sell and $5 per exchange (thousands available for free)
Fixed income (bonds)	$20 per transaction for U.S. Treasury securities, corporate bonds, and agency bonds
CDs	No fee for new-issue CDs, a $20 transaction fee may apply for CDs purchased in the secondary market or sold prior to maturity

Data source: Empower.

With Empower's wealth management services, the fee amount depends on your investment assets. For primary and premium clients with up to $1 million in assets, Empower charges a 0.89% annual management fee.

If you have over $1 million in assets, you'll be in the private client tier. The fee amounts for Empower private clients are listed in the table below.

Assets	Annual management fee
First $3 million	0.79%
Next $2 million	0.69%
Next $5 million	0.59%
Over $10 million	0.49%

Data source: Empower.

Research and education

Empower is designed for financial planning and investment advice. As such, it doesn't have the same types of in-depth investment research tools you find at many of the top stock brokers.

But Empower does have lots of useful financial tools that most other brokers don't. These tools include:

A personal dashboard where you can see all your accounts in one place
A retirement planner to see if you're on track for retirement
A net worth calculator
A budget planner to track your spending and set savings goals
An investment check-up with Empower's free portfolio analyzer

Interface

Empower has a web platform and a mobile app. Both of them allow you to access your dashboard to get a big picture view of your finances, and you can also manage your investments through either one.

Empower may not be the best choice for active investors or those who need advanced trading tools. That's not what it's designed for, and there are other stock brokers with better charting tools and trading platforms. But for long-term investing where you primarily buy and hold, Empower's platform will be fine.

App

The Empower app is arguably its biggest selling point. It has excellent reviews, including 4.8 stars for the iOS version in the App Store and 4.2 stars for the Android version in Google Play. The app largely mirrors the web platform. In addition to your investment portfolio, it provides a personal dashboard where you can connect all your accounts and use a wealth of personal finance tools.

Customer service

Empower's customer service is a mixed bag. It doesn't have 24/7 support like some brokers offer, and there have been complaints online about a lack of assistance with technical issues.

The main customer service option with Empower is calling 1-855-756-4738. Phone support is available from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. MST Monday through Friday and from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. MST on Saturdays. You can also submit questions through your Empower account.

Security

Empower has high security standards. It uses multi-factor authentication and sends proactive security alerts if certain changes are made to your account, and it uses AES-256 data encryption. Investment accounts are protected by SIPC insurance. Empower Personal Cash™ accounts offer an aggregate of up to $5 million in FDIC insurance coverage.

About

Empower traces its roots back to 1891, when it started as Great-West Life Assurance Company in Canada. It began offering retirement plans for U.S. employers in 1940, and it eventually became the country's second-largest retirement plan provider in 2014.

Personal Capital launched in 2009, offering wealth management and financial advisory services. In 2020, Empower acquired Personal Capital.

Review sources

FAQs

Personal Capital completed its rebrand to Empower Personal Wealth in February 2023.
Personal Capital was largely unchanged when it was acquired by Empower. It was eventually rebranded to Empower Personal Wealth, but it still offers the same features as before.

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