Retirement Advisor: Convenience Vs. Commitment (Podcast)

Summary

• Fortune dubs Schwab’s new advisory offering, consisting of robo-allocation and unlimited access to a CFP, as a Netflix-style subscription model. It’s low-priced and attracting assets.
• I conceptualize it more as a salad-bar model: it’s assumed diners will eventually get full, and the food is a bigger draw than talking about the same boring financial stuff.
• But the way you measure the experience is from the time you leave the restaurant or embark on your retirement.
• Might a single, choice meal, or a single advisor who knew your situation intimately, have been better than the salad bar?

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Fortune dubs Schwab’s new advisory offering, consisting of robo-allocation and unlimited access to a CFP, as a Netflix-style subscription model. It’s low-priced and attracting assets, but is it the right approach?

This podcast (5:27) suggests that what is primarily at issue in the choice between a low-cost subscription service and higher-cost, more customized advice is a consumer choice between convenience and commitment.