Empower Review

Empower Ratings at a Glance

Overview of Empower

Empower uses technology to empower its members to easily make educated financial decisions. Integration of your finances into a single 360° view lets you determine your financial goals and map out an intuitive strategy to meet them. 

Whether you’re here to start getting a handle on your finances or ready to start investing with a digital advisor, Empower has something to help you grow your wealth intelligently. 

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Empower has a variety of services offered beyond financial advising. Take a look at the array you can take advantage of when you sign on.

Wealth Management Services

• Using The Personal Strategy® philosophy, Empower deftly manages your wealth at 3 tiers. The optimal tier for your depends on the size of your portfolio. 

• Investors with $100,000 to $200,000 use the Investment Services tier. Here, you’ll receive expert direction from a team of financial advisors, who will help devise financial and retirement strategy. Empower will manage your portfolio, composed of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and provide on-request reviews of your asset allocation.

• If you have between $200,000 and 1 million in assets, you’re bumped up to the Wealth Management tier. 2 dedicated financial advisors along with sector-specific specialists (think real estate or retirement) will oversee your account. Your bespoke portfolio is personalized to your needs and subject to frequent reviews and ongoing monitoring. At this tier, your portfolio’s tax optimization is kicked into high gear with allocation to individual stock investments. 

• Once you reach at least 1 million in assets, you get the full treatment at the Private Client tier. Along with 2 dedicated advisors and specialists, the Private Capital Investment Committee is always available to you. Specialists will work with you to zero in on wealth and retirement planning. Your portfolio is fully-optimized, adding private equity investment options. 

Socially Responsible Investing

• Customize your portfolio and investment strategy to support socially responsible investing. This strategy focuses on ESG, or Environmental, Social and Governance, 3 factors that are considered when rating a company on how well it does on several markers for social responsibility. A portfolio designed around Socially Responsible Investing throws its weight behind companies who rank high for meeting ESG standard.

Cash Management

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Empower Personal Cash is a unique cash account that can work for you whether you’ll be keeping a high or low account balance. It’s main draw is its integration with the rest of your finances, adding to the holistic, evolving analysis of your changing financial picture.  

There’s no account minimum and no fees. If budgeting is a priority, you can link Empower Personal Cash to your checking account to pay and track monthly bills.

There are several features that make Empower Personal Cash a great account for high-net-worth individuals. For example, you can withdraw up to $100,000 per day or take advantage of free wire transfers up to $1 million. And you can keep track of all of your direct deposits and transactions with linked accounts like your Empower Investments and checking account balance. 

Financial Tools

Here’s a quick shot at the financial tools that make Empower unique.

Money Management Tools

• Net Worth: real time, precise view of how much money you have versus what you owe, always giving you a realistic view of your finances

• Savings Planner: calculates a target annual savings goal that will 70% guarantee you’ll meet your retirement income goals

• Budgeting: classify and track both what you’re spending your money on and what you’re saving. You can set a monthly budget and keep an eye on if you’re going over or under.

• Cash Flow: shows your monthly cash flow, making it easy to plan to meet your budget and savings targets

Long-Term Financial Planning

• Retirement Planner: analytics show your retirement savings to keep you on track to meet retirement goals along with calculating your projected retirement income

• Education Planner: set and monitor saving targets that aim to meet your projected educational expenses
  
• Investment Checkup: use this to analyze your portfolio against ideal target allocation, which is determined by your risk tolerance and financial goals

• Fee Analyzer: shine a light on hidden fees that may be siphoning money from your investment accounts

Exclusively for Empower Clients

Empower also features planning and saving tools you won’t find anywhere else. You’ll have access to apps to help you prepare and invest for your future.

• Financial Roadmap: designs a custom financial blueprint, acting as the most direct path to meeting your goals

• Personal Strategy: your custom-fit portfolio, focusing on diversification across asset classes aiming to fulfill your financial plans

• Smart Withdrawal: a great tool for retired people to keep your retirement income spending on track. You can stick to your budget, reduce tax obligations and continue to maximize your portfolio’s potential throughout your retirement. 

• Employer Plan Analysis: ensure that your retirement investments are in alignment with your financial goals and strategy. You can link your available retirement account options and Empower will calculate an appropriate allocation to meet your long-run financial goals.

Empower is free to use and their account minimums vary across its various sectors. If you’d like to utilize any of their financial advisory and investment management services, you have to meet a minimum asset requirement starting at $100,000. 

Here are the requirements for each tier:

Empower Personal Cash: no minimum balance requirement 

Investment services: $100,000 to $200,000 in assets

Wealth management: $200,000 to 1 million in assets

Private client: over $1 million in assets

Becoming a Empower member is completely free — anybody can utilize its Financial Tools and educational resources to their benefit. And Empower Personal Cash is mostly fee-free 

Empower offers a standard investment management fee structure. Depending on which service you use, you’ll pay a set percentage of your assets under management (AUM) annually. 

Investment services and wealth management: 1st $1 million: 0.89% of AUM

Private client:

1st $3 million: 0.79% of AUM

Next $2 million: 0.69% of AUM

Next $5 million: 0.59% of AUM

Over $10 million: 0.49% of AUM 

How to Open a Empower Account

Anybody can benefit from becoming a Empower member. Its free financial tools are incredibly useful for educating yourself on all things personal finance. 

Even if you’re not ready to set aside $100,000 for investment management, you can start your journey there using the money management tools. Signing up for Empower is easy — just click here to get started.

Once you’re a member, you can sign up for Empower Personal Cash or Wealth Management if you’d like. On your 1st consultory call, you’ll go over tax optimizing your portfolio, analyze your cash flow and budgeting and receive advice on your 401k along with going over Empower’s dedication to diversification. 

When signing up for Wealth Management services, you’ll complete a 4-step process, made easy by the easy to use Empower interface :

1. Link any financial account you’d like to include in the consideration of your finances. Connect your IRA, 401k, mortgage, loan, credit card and bank accounts.
2. Virtually meet your financial advisor to discuss your goals, life plans, retirement and investment strategy and goals.
3. Design a financial plan and investment strategy to meet your goals. 
4. Begin investing with tax-optimized strategies.

You can download the Empower app here. You can also find it in the Apple App Store or on Google Play.

The Personal Strategy® methodology relies on diversification, tax optimization, intuitive rebalancing and dynamic allocation as its main tenets. If sustainability and social responsibility are important factors in your asset selection, you can use Empower’s Socially Responsible Personal Strategy (SRI) to dial in your portfolio and invest in companies that fulfill ESG expectations.

Your Empower advisors will work to gain a deep understanding of your complete financial blueprint, using their findings to determine the best asset allocation strategy to achieve your goals. 

Whether you’ve got a few bucks or a few million in your bank account, Empower is a high-powered personal financial hub that can benefit anybody. Get a handle on your financial strategy using its free financial tools and educational financial insights. Or get digital with your portfolio with its world-class wealth management services to strategize, allocate and monitor your portfolio from the convenience of your smartphone.

Become a Empower member for free today to get a comprehensive analysis of your finances.

Frequently Asked Questions