# Astor: full text of every article

# Introducing Text to Trade

Source: https://www.astor.app/blog/introducing-text-to-trade
Published: 2026-10-19
Updated: 2026-10-19
By: Bruno Koba, Astor (Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor)

Starting today, Max members can build a trading strategy with AI in Astor and execute it in their own Robinhood agentic account. Astor is a personal investing agent: you describe an idea in a sentence, Astor proposes a basket of companies sized against what you already own, and nothing is bought until you approve each trade.

An idea like "data centers will need a lot more electricity" is easy to have and hard to turn into something you own. You have to decide which companies count, how much of each to buy, and how it fits with what you already hold. We built Text to Trade to help with that part, while every decision stays with you.

> **In one minute**
> - Astor's Text to Trade turns an idea you describe in a sentence into a proposed basket of companies, with the reason each one made the cut.
> - Astor sizes the basket against what you already own and the budget you set.
> - You approve every trade, and the order executes in your own Robinhood agentic account. Nothing is bought until you say yes.
> - The agent can only use the money you set aside, and Astor can't trade or move money in your other connected accounts.
> - Theme strategies can lose money and the AI can be wrong.

## How does Text to Trade work in Astor?

1. **You describe the idea** in a sentence, the way you'd say it to a friend.
2. **Astor asks a few questions to sharpen it**, because a loose theme needs edges before it can become a list of companies.
3. **Astor proposes a basket** and explains why each company made the cut over the alternatives, so you can push back on a specific pick rather than the whole basket.
4. **Astor sizes it** against what you already own and the budget you set, because a strategy that doubles up on something you already hold is a bigger bet than it looks.
5. **You approve every trade.** Each order waits for your yes, then executes in your Robinhood agentic account.

Say, hypothetically, you think nuclear power will matter more as data centers grow, and you want to set aside $1,000 for it (an illustrative number, not a suggestion). Astor would propose a handful of companies and say why each one is there. Then you'd review each trade and decide.

## What is a Robinhood agentic account?

It's a separate account at Robinhood that an AI agent can trade in. Robinhood launched agentic trading in May 2026 as a beta that started with stocks. You open a dedicated account, apart from the rest of your Robinhood portfolio, and choose how much to put in it. A connected agent only has access to the money you deposit there.

Robinhood's own pages add a few details:

- You need a primary individual investing account at Robinhood in good standing before you can open an agentic account.
- Outside agents connect through Robinhood's Trading MCP server, and Robinhood prompts you to open the agentic account when you authorize one.
- A connected agent can see your other Robinhood accounts but can only place trades in the agentic account.
- Robinhood sends a push notification whenever an agent makes a trade, and you can disconnect the agent at any time.

Robinhood also says plainly that it doesn't control, supervise, monitor, recommend or audit the agents that connect to these accounts, so it's worth knowing who is behind yours.

## Why does every trade wait for your yes?

Because we don't make decisions for anyone. Robinhood lets agents be set up to trade without asking each time, and we chose not to build Astor that way. Astor does the research and proposes the trades, and nothing is bought until you approve each one. In your other connected accounts, at Robinhood or anywhere else, Astor can see your holdings but can't trade or move money.

Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser and owes its clients a fiduciary duty. The AI is the tool we use to do the work, and it can be wrong, so keeping you in the loop on every trade is the honest way to use it.

## What are the risks?

There are real ones, and I'd rather you hear them from us.

- **A theme strategy can lose money.** Companies built around one idea tend to move together, so when the idea falls out of favor, most of the basket can fall at once. That's concentration risk. We don't show backtests or projected returns, because nobody knows how a theme will do.
- **The AI can be wrong.** It can misread what you meant or rely on out-of-date information. Astor shows its reasoning and sources so you can check them before you approve.
- **You could lose what you put in.** Robinhood's disclosures for agentic trading include the possible loss of your entire investment, so only set aside an amount you could live with seeing fall a long way.

## Who is Text to Trade for?

It's for people who have investing ideas and want help making them specific without handing over the decision. It works only through a Robinhood agentic account, and like the rest of Astor it's iPhone-only and US-only. If you don't use Robinhood, everything else in Astor still works with the accounts you connect.

For more, see [how Astor works](https://www.astor.app/#how-it-works).

## Frequently asked questions

### Does Astor trade on its own?

No. Astor proposes trades and explains them, and each one waits for your approval. Once you approve, the order executes in your own Robinhood agentic account, using only the money you set aside there.

### Which plan includes Text to Trade?

Text to Trade is part of Astor Max ($29 a month, or $19 a month billed yearly). See [pricing](https://www.astor.app/#pricing).

### Do I need a Robinhood account to use Text to Trade?

Yes. Text to Trade works only through a Robinhood agentic account, and Robinhood requires a primary individual investing account in good standing before you can open one.

### Can I lose money with an AI trading strategy?

Yes. Theme strategies can lose money and the AI can be wrong. Robinhood's disclosures for agentic trading include the possible loss of your entire investment.

## Sources

- [Robinhood Newsroom: Robinhood is now open to agents](https://robinhood.com/us/en/newsroom/robinhood-is-now-open-to-agents/), May 27, 2026, accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Robinhood: Agentic Trading](https://robinhood.com/us/en/agentic-trading/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Robinhood Support: Onboarding an external agent](https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/agentic-trading-overview/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Robinhood Support: Robinhood Agents overview](https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/robinhood-agents-overview/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Gaus, Inc. (CRD 338424)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/338424), accessed Oct 12, 2026

## Important information

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Astor provides non-discretionary advice: you make every investment decision. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Astor uses AI, which can make mistakes. This article is general information, not individualized investment, tax or legal advice. See our [disclosures](https://www.astor.app/legal).

---

# Astor vs. Origin: which AI financial advisor fits you?

Source: https://www.astor.app/blog/astor-vs-origin
Published: 2026-10-18
Updated: 2026-10-20
By: Astor team, Astor (Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor)

Pick Origin if you want one app for your whole financial life, and pick Astor if you mainly invest and want an agent watching what you own. Astor is a personal investing agent on iPhone and in iMessage that connects to the accounts you already have, follows every position, and texts you when something matters, while you make every decision.

Origin is an all-in-one money app. It combines budgeting, spending, net worth, forecasting, investing and estate planning tools with an AI Advisor that looks across all of it. Both products come from SEC-registered investment advisers, so the real difference is scope. Everything below is as of October 2026.

> **In one minute**
> - Origin covers your whole financial life (budgeting, spending, net worth, forecasting, investing and a basic will) with an AI Advisor that runs checks across all of it.
> - Astor focuses on your investments. It follows every position you own and the earnings dates, filings and headlines that touch them, and texts you when something crosses a line you care about.
> - Origin costs $99 a year, with a limited-time $1 first year for new users. Astor is free to start, and Pro is $19 a month or $10 a month billed yearly.
> - Both firms are SEC-registered investment advisers, and with both, you decide whether to act on the AI's advice.
> - Origin runs on iPhone, Android, the web and Mac. Astor is iPhone and iMessage only.

## What's the difference between Astor and Origin?

Origin is built to be the one place you manage money. You connect your bank, card, loan and investment accounts through Plaid, MX or Finicity, and Origin gives you a budget, a spending view, your net worth and a forecasting tool for big decisions like buying a home or retiring earlier. It also offers its own products, including automated investing, themed stock bundles, a cash account and a basic will, and you can invite a partner at no extra cost.

Origin's AI Advisor sits on top of that data. You can ask it questions in plain English, model "what if" scenarios and get personalized guidance. It also works proactively, running what Origin calls expert-built checks across spending, savings, investments, retirement, credit, protection, housing, education and estate planning. The results show up as a Financial Health Score and a prioritized list of Actions, each with the reasoning behind it. If you want a person, Origin also sells financial planning sessions with its own planners as a premium service.

Astor goes narrower and deeper. It's a [personal investing agent](https://www.astor.app/blog/what-is-a-personal-investing-agent) that connects to your brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts, learns what you own, and watches the market for what matters to your portfolio. When something crosses a line you care about, it texts you what happened, why it matters to you and what you could do. You can text it back in [iMessage](https://www.astor.app/blog/talk-to-astor-in-imessage), check [At a glance](https://www.astor.app/blog/at-a-glance) for two lines on what moved your money today, or set [scheduled alerts](https://www.astor.app/blog/scheduled-alerts) for things like a check-in after a company you own reports earnings.

Put simply, Origin looks across your whole financial picture, and Astor looks closely at what you own.

## How do Astor and Origin compare?

| | Astor | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Personal investing agent | All-in-one money app with an AI Advisor |
| Price (as of Oct 2026) | Free to start. Pro $19/month or $10/month billed yearly. Max $29/month or $19/month billed yearly | $99/year. Limited-time $1 first year for new users |
| Fee model | Flat subscription, never a percentage of your assets | Flat membership. Origin says it charges no management, platform or trading fees on its investment accounts |
| Works with accounts you already have | Yes, through Plaid (brokerage, retirement, crypto) | Yes, through Plaid, MX or Finicity (banks, cards, loans, investments) |
| Watches and alerts you | Follows each position and texts you when earnings, filings or headlines matter to you | Proactive Actions from checks across spending, savings, investments, credit and more |
| Budgeting and spending | No | Yes |
| Who places trades | You. Text to Trade orders execute in your own Robinhood agentic account after you approve each one | You act on AI Advisor's advice yourself. In an Origin automated investing account, Origin invests according to the strategy you pick |
| Regulation | Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor, SEC-registered investment adviser, CRD #338424 | Origin Investment Advisory LLC, SEC-registered investment adviser, CRD #305353 |
| Platforms | iPhone and iMessage | iPhone, Android, web and Mac |
| Best for | People who invest and want an agent watching what they own | People who want one app for their whole financial life |

## Which is cheaper?

Origin's annual plan is $99 a year, and as of October 2026 new users can get the first year for $1 as a limited-time offer. Paying yearly also gets you a 30% discount on Origin's premium services, like financial planning sessions and full estate plans. Origin says its investment accounts carry no management, platform or trading fees from Origin, though small regulatory fees and some custodian fees can apply.

Astor has a free plan with no card required, which includes one custom alert. Pro is $19 a month, or $10 a month billed yearly ($120 a year). Max is $29 a month, or $19 a month billed yearly ($228 a year). You can cancel either anytime.

So if you compare paid plans billed yearly, Origin's $99 is a little less than Astor Pro's $120, and it covers far more ground. Neither one charges a percentage of your assets for its advice. Our guide to [what an AI financial advisor costs](https://www.astor.app/blog/ai-financial-advisor-cost) goes deeper.

## Which one keeps a closer eye on your investments?

Origin's proactive checks are wide. They span spending, savings, investments, retirement, credit, protection, housing, education and estate planning, and they surface as Actions you can mark done, dismiss or add context to. That's useful if your question is whether your money is in good shape overall.

Astor's watching is narrow on purpose. It follows every position you own and the earnings dates, filings and headlines that touch them, plus themes you care about, like AI infrastructure or nuclear power. When something crosses a line you care about, it texts you right away, and it stays quiet when nothing matters. Every alert links to the reasoning and sources behind it, so you can check the work before you decide anything. More on how that works in [stock alerts for news on stocks you own](https://www.astor.app/blog/stock-alerts-for-news-on-stocks-you-own).

If what you want to know is whether your budget is on track and you're saving enough, Origin is built for that. If it's what just happened to a company you own and whether it matters to you, that's Astor's job.

## How are they regulated?

Both are backed by SEC-registered investment advisers, which you can confirm on the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site. Origin's advisory services are offered through Origin Investment Advisory LLC (CRD #305353), a subsidiary of Blend Financial, Inc., which does business as Origin. Astor is Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor (CRD #338424). As registered advisers, both owe their advisory clients a fiduciary duty, and Astor's recommendations are personalized investment advice.

They also describe the AI in similar terms. Origin says its AI Advisor's advice is non-discretionary, that you have to complete a suitability questionnaire before getting personalized advice, and that its recommendations can contain errors or "model hallucinations." Astor's AI can be wrong too, which is why it shows its sources and you make every call.

Registration isn't an endorsement from the SEC, and it doesn't mean either AI is right. Our guide to [which AI investing apps are SEC-registered](https://www.astor.app/blog/sec-registered-ai-investment-advisers) shows how to look any firm up yourself.

## When is Origin the better choice?

We'd point you to Origin if:

- You want budgeting, spending, net worth and investing in one app, rather than an investing tool on its own.
- You're planning a big life decision and want to forecast it, like buying a home or retiring earlier.
- You'd like the option of booking sessions with a human planner.
- You manage money with a partner and want shared access.
- You want an automated portfolio that Origin invests for you.
- You use Android, the web or a Mac. Astor is iPhone and iMessage only.

## Why Astor

Astor is the better fit if you already invest, your money is spread across a few places, and what you're missing is something that knows what you own and tells you when it matters. It connects to the brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts you already have at most major US institutions (Robinhood, Schwab and Coinbase, for example). It can see your holdings but can't move money, and you don't transfer anything to Astor.

From there it does the research and the watching. It texts you when an earnings report, a filing or a headline touches a position, explains why it matters to you, and suggests what you could do. You can ask follow-up questions about your actual holdings in the same thread. With Text to Trade, available on Max plans, you can describe an idea in a sentence, and Astor helps you build the strategy and size it against what you already own. You review and approve every trade, and the order executes in your own Robinhood agentic account.

Astor doesn't do budgeting, tax filing or estate planning, and it doesn't hold your money or run a managed portfolio. If you want budgeting, financial planning or an automated portfolio, Origin is the better tool. Nothing stops you from using both, either, with Origin for the household budget and Astor for the portfolio.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is Origin an SEC-registered investment adviser?

Yes. Origin's advisory services are offered through Origin Investment Advisory LLC, which the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site lists as SEC-registered under CRD #305353. Registration means the firm owes clients a fiduciary duty and files public disclosures. It doesn't mean the SEC endorses the firm or its AI.

### Is Astor an SEC-registered investment adviser?

Yes. Astor is Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor, an SEC-registered investment adviser with CRD #338424. Its recommendations are personalized investment advice, and it owes clients a fiduciary duty. You can look it up on adviserinfo.sec.gov.

### Does Astor do budgeting like Origin?

No. Astor focuses on investments and doesn't do budgeting, spending tracking, tax filing or estate planning. If you want those in one app, Origin is designed for it.

### Does Astor hold my money?

No. Astor connects to your existing accounts and can't move money in them. With Text to Trade, orders execute in your own Robinhood agentic account, only after you approve each trade, and the agent can only use the money you set aside for it. Origin, by contrast, offers its own investment and cash accounts if you choose to open them.

### Which is cheaper, Astor or Origin?

As of October 2026, Origin costs $99 a year, with a limited-time $1 first year for new users. Astor is free to start, and Pro costs $120 a year billed yearly or $19 a month. Neither charges a percentage of your assets for advice.

### Can I use Astor on Android?

Not yet. Astor is available on iPhone and in iMessage, in the US only. Origin has apps for iPhone, Android and Mac, plus a web app.

## Sources

- [Origin Support: How much does Origin cost?](https://support.useorigin.com/hc/en-us/articles/21022711456141-How-much-does-Origin-cost), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Origin: Home page and footer disclosures](https://useorigin.com/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Origin Support: What is the AI Advisor?](https://support.useorigin.com/hc/en-us/articles/39419419459085-What-is-the-AI-Advisor), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Origin Support: What are Actions in AI Advisor?](https://support.useorigin.com/hc/en-us/articles/48757446344589-What-are-Actions-in-AI-Advisor), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Origin Support: AI Advisor Disclaimers and Limitations](https://support.useorigin.com/hc/en-us/articles/20957761151757-AI-Advisor-Disclaimers-and-Limitations), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Origin Support: How do I connect my accounts?](https://support.useorigin.com/hc/en-us/articles/31307429148045-How-do-I-connect-my-accounts), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Origin Support: What options do I have for investing with Origin?](https://support.useorigin.com/hc/en-us/articles/31433897594125-What-options-do-I-have-for-investing-with-Origin), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Origin Support: You don't charge fees for investing, so what's the cost?](https://support.useorigin.com/hc/en-us/articles/19424918536333-You-don-t-charge-fees-for-investing-so-what-s-the-cost), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Origin Support: What type of topics can my Origin Planner help me with?](https://support.useorigin.com/hc/en-us/articles/21133275650189-What-type-of-topics-can-my-Origin-Planner-help-me-with), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Origin: Introducing the First SEC-Regulated AI Financial Advisor](https://useorigin.com/resources/blog/introducing-the-first-sec-regulated-ai-financial-advisor), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Origin Investment Advisory LLC (CRD #305353)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/305353), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Astor (CRD #338424)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/338424), accessed Oct 12, 2026

## Important information

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Astor provides non-discretionary advice: you make every investment decision. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Astor uses AI, which can make mistakes. This article is general information, not individualized investment, tax or legal advice. See our [disclosures](https://www.astor.app/legal).

## About comparisons

Information about other companies comes from their public websites and filings as of October 2026 and may have changed since; check each provider for current details. Comparisons and rankings reflect Astor’s opinion. Other companies’ names and trademarks belong to their owners, and no affiliation or endorsement is implied.

---

# Astor vs. Perplexity Finance: research tool or personal investing agent?

Source: https://www.astor.app/blog/astor-vs-perplexity-finance
Published: 2026-10-17
Updated: 2026-10-20
By: Astor team, Astor (Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor)

Perplexity Finance is a research tool, and a very good one: you ask about a company, a market or an earnings call and get a fast answer with its sources attached, and since March 2026 it can also read your brokerage holdings through Plaid. Astor is a personal investing agent: an SEC-registered investment adviser on iPhone and in iMessage that connects to the accounts you already have, follows every position you own, and texts you when something matters to your portfolio. If you want to dig into companies, Perplexity is hard to beat, and if you want something that watches what you own and tells you what it means for you, that's the job Astor is built for.

We make Astor, so this is our view. Every claim about Perplexity below comes from Perplexity's own pages, checked in October 2026.

> **In one minute**
> - Perplexity Finance covers market data, an earnings hub with a calendar and live summaries of earnings calls, a stock screener and watchlists, with answers that cite sources like SEC filings, FactSet and S&P Global.
> - Since March 2026, users in the US and Canada can link brokerage accounts to Perplexity through Plaid. Perplexity says the connection is read-only.
> - Perplexity says its finance data is for informational purposes and isn't investment advice. Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser that owes clients a fiduciary duty.
> - Perplexity alerts you on price targets, intraday moves and scheduled searches you set up. Astor follows every position you own and texts you when something crosses a line you care about.
> - In our view, Perplexity is the better pick for deep research and custom dashboards, and Astor is the better pick for an adviser that watches your actual portfolio.

## What is Perplexity Finance?

Perplexity Finance is the markets section of Perplexity, the AI answer engine. It has pages for US markets, crypto, earnings, a stock screener, watchlists, prediction markets and the trades disclosed by politicians, plus a page for your own portfolio. Its earnings hub includes a calendar and summarizes earnings calls while they're happening.

The research is the strong part. Perplexity says its finance answers draw on more than 40 tools that pull from SEC filings, FactSet, S&P Global, Nasdaq and other sources, and that you can hover over a cited figure to see where it came from. If you want to compare a company's margins over the last eight quarters or see what management said on its last call, Perplexity does that quickly and shows its work.

Perplexity also has Computer, an agent that builds things for you, like spreadsheets, dashboards and small apps. Perplexity says advanced Computer features are for Pro and Max subscribers, at $17 and $167 a month billed annually as of October 2026.

## Can Perplexity Finance see your brokerage account?

Yes. In March 2026 Perplexity let users in the US and Canada connect brokerage accounts through Plaid, and in April it added bank accounts, credit cards and loans. Perplexity says the Plaid integration provides read-only access. When account linking launched, it was available on desktop to all signed-in users in the US and Canada, with mobile and other countries to follow. Perplexity said standard (free) users could link a portfolio, use the basic Portfolio page and ask questions about their finances.

Once your accounts are linked, you can ask Perplexity about your holdings, or ask Computer to build something on top of them, like a net worth dashboard or a retirement readiness tracker. Perplexity says dashboards built in Computer can keep monitoring your finances in the background.

That narrows the gap between a research tool and a portfolio tool. What's left is who decides what to watch, and whether the answer comes with an adviser's duty.

## Does Perplexity Finance watch your stocks and alert you?

It alerts you on terms you set. Perplexity's price alerts fire when a stock hits a target price or moves past an intraday threshold you choose, then run a query for you and send an email or push notification. Its Tasks feature runs scheduled searches and daily summaries, and Computer can run scheduled tasks of its own. All of these are useful, and all of them depend on you deciding ahead of time what to watch and when.

Astor starts from your portfolio instead. It follows every position you own, along with the earnings dates, filings and headlines that touch them and the themes you care about, and texts you in iMessage when something crosses a line you care about. Each alert says what happened, why it matters to you and what you could do, and links to the reasoning and sources behind it. When nothing matters, it stays quiet, and you get a daily brief before the open and a recap after the close. There's more in [at a glance](https://www.astor.app/blog/at-a-glance) and [stock alerts for news on stocks you own](https://www.astor.app/blog/stock-alerts-for-news-on-stocks-you-own).

## Does Perplexity Finance give investment advice?

No, by its own description. The Perplexity Finance page says its data is provided for informational purposes only and isn't intended as financial or investment advice. That's an honest description of a research tool, and it means the call on what to do with your portfolio stays entirely with you.

Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424), so its recommendations are personalized investment advice and it owes clients a fiduciary duty. The SEC's Investor.gov describes that duty as being required to act in your best interest and not put the adviser's interests ahead of yours. It does the research and the watching, and you make every decision. Registration isn't an endorsement by the SEC, and you can check any adviser's record on the SEC's [Investment Adviser Public Disclosure](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov) site. We cover this in more depth in [SEC-registered AI investment advisers](https://www.astor.app/blog/sec-registered-ai-investment-advisers).

## Astor vs. Perplexity Finance at a glance

| | Astor | Perplexity Finance |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A personal investing agent | AI market research inside Perplexity |
| Price (October 2026) | Free to start. Pro $19/month ($10/month billed yearly). Max $29/month ($19/month billed yearly) | Free tier. Pro $17/month and Max $167/month, billed annually |
| Fee model | Flat subscription, never a percentage of your assets | Flat subscription |
| Sees your holdings | Yes, through Plaid | Yes, through Plaid in the US and Canada, read-only according to Perplexity |
| Watches your holdings and alerts you | Follows every position by default and texts you when something crosses a line you care about | Price alerts and scheduled tasks you set up, by email or push |
| Research | Live prices, news and filings about what you own, with sources | Broad market research, earnings hub and screener, with cited sources |
| Who places trades | You. Astor can't trade in your connected accounts, and Text to Trade executes only in your own Robinhood agentic account after you approve each trade | You, at your broker. Perplexity's portfolio connection is read-only |
| Regulation | SEC-registered investment adviser with a fiduciary duty | Says its finance data isn't investment advice |
| Platforms | iPhone and iMessage, US only | Web and apps, with account linking launched on desktop in the US and Canada |
| Best for | Investors who want something watching what they own | Researching companies and markets, and building custom tools |

## When Perplexity Finance is the better choice

If your main job is research, Perplexity is the better tool. Following earnings calls as they happen, screening for ideas and checking figures against their sources is what it does best, and much of it is free.

It's also the better choice if you want to build your own tools. Computer can turn your linked accounts into a custom dashboard, a spreadsheet model or a debt payoff plan. Astor gives you its own views of your portfolio, but it doesn't build custom spreadsheets or apps.

Perplexity covers more of your financial life, too. It links bank accounts, credit cards and loans alongside your brokerage, so it can help with spending and net worth. Astor doesn't do budgeting, tax filing or estate planning.

And there are practical reasons. Astor is iPhone and iMessage only, and US only. If you live in Canada, use Android, or want to work in a browser, Perplexity is available to you and Astor isn't.

## Why Astor is the better fit for your portfolio

In our view, judged on the criteria in the table, an agent that starts from your portfolio is the better fit for help with the investments you already own.

Astor knows your actual holdings across brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts, through connections to most major US institutions, including Robinhood, Schwab and Coinbase. It doesn't wait for you to set an alert. It texts you when something matters, explains it in terms of your portfolio, and answers follow-up questions in the same thread, using live prices, news and filings and linking to its sources. The AI can be wrong, which is why it shows its sources and you make the call.

Astor is also a registered investment adviser that owes clients a fiduciary duty. It never trades or moves money in your connected accounts, and it charges a flat subscription instead of a percentage of your assets. If you want to act on an idea, [Text to Trade](https://www.astor.app/blog/introducing-text-to-trade), available on Max plans, lets you describe it in a sentence, review a proposed basket with the reasons each company made the cut, and approve each trade before it executes in your own Robinhood agentic account.

The two work well side by side: Perplexity to research a company, Astor to watch the portfolio you already have. You can [see how Astor works](https://www.astor.app/#how-it-works) or read [what a personal investing agent is](https://www.astor.app/blog/what-is-a-personal-investing-agent).

## Frequently asked questions

### Is Perplexity Finance free?

Much of it is. Perplexity Finance's market pages are free to browse, and Perplexity said at launch that standard (free) users could link a portfolio and use the basic Portfolio page. Advanced Computer features are for Pro and Max subscribers, which cost $17 and $167 a month billed annually as of October 2026.

### Can Perplexity Finance see my brokerage account?

Yes, if you're in the US or Canada and you link it through Plaid. Perplexity says the connection is read-only, so it can see your holdings but can't trade or move money. You can then ask questions about your portfolio or have Computer build dashboards on top of it.

### Is Perplexity Finance a financial adviser?

Perplexity says its finance data is for informational purposes only and isn't intended as investment advice. Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser, so its recommendations are personalized investment advice and it owes clients a fiduciary duty.

### What's a good Perplexity Finance alternative for watching my portfolio?

If you want research, Perplexity is already one of the strongest options, in our view. If you want something that watches the portfolio you already have and gives you personalized advice, look at a personal investing agent like Astor, which connects to your accounts, texts you when something matters, and leaves every decision to you. Our guide to [AI investing apps that work with your brokerage](https://www.astor.app/blog/ai-investing-apps-that-work-with-your-brokerage) covers more options.

### Does Astor trade for me?

No. Astor can see the holdings in your connected accounts, but it can't move money or place trades in them. With Text to Trade, you approve every trade, the order executes in your own Robinhood agentic account, and the agent can only use the money you set aside for it.

## Sources

- [Perplexity: Perplexity Finance](https://www.perplexity.ai/finance), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Perplexity blog: Computer is now your personal CFO (April 9, 2026)](https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/blog/plaid-integration-provides-full-view-of-personal-finances), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Perplexity changelog: Computer for Pro subscribers, Computer for Slack (March 13, 2026)](https://www.perplexity.ai/changelog/what-we-shipped---march-13-2026), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Perplexity changelog: Price alerts, Earnings hub, and Morningstar research](https://www.perplexity.ai/changelog/what-we-shipped-july-18th), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Perplexity Help Center: Delete scheduled tasks, Perplexity Tasks vs. Computer](https://www.perplexity.ai/help-center/en/articles/20260710-how-to-delete-scheduled-tasks-perplexity-tasks-vs-computer-scheduled-tasks), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Perplexity: Pro and Max plans](https://www.perplexity.ai/pro), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Investor.gov (SEC): Investment Advisers](https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/getting-started/working-investment-professional/investment-advisers), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Astor (CRD 338424)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/338424), accessed Oct 12, 2026

## Important information

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Astor provides non-discretionary advice: you make every investment decision. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Astor uses AI, which can make mistakes. This article is general information, not individualized investment, tax or legal advice. See our [disclosures](https://www.astor.app/legal).

## About comparisons

Information about other companies comes from their public websites and filings as of October 2026 and may have changed since; check each provider for current details. Comparisons and rankings reflect Astor’s opinion. Other companies’ names and trademarks belong to their owners, and no affiliation or endorsement is implied.

---

# Can ChatGPT analyze your portfolio? Astor vs. ChatGPT for investing

Source: https://www.astor.app/blog/astor-vs-chatgpt
Published: 2026-10-17
Updated: 2026-10-20
By: Astor team, Astor (Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor)

Yes. In the US, ChatGPT can now read your investment accounts through its Finances feature, which links them with Plaid and can walk you through your allocation and the daily moves in your stocks and ETFs. But OpenAI's own help center says ChatGPT isn't a fiduciary or a registered investment adviser, and it looks at your portfolio only when you ask or on a set schedule. Astor is a personal investing agent on iPhone and in iMessage: an SEC-registered investment adviser that connects to the accounts you already have, follows every position you own, and texts you when something matters to your portfolio, while you make every decision.

We make Astor, so this is our view, and every claim about ChatGPT below comes from OpenAI's own pages as of October 2026.

> **In one minute**
> - ChatGPT's Finances feature connects bank, card and investment accounts through Plaid. As of October 2026 it's available in the US on the Free, Go, Plus and Pro plans.
> - OpenAI says ChatGPT isn't a fiduciary or a registered investment adviser, and that it can't make trades or move money.
> - ChatGPT can run scheduled and monitoring tasks you create, at most once a day on the Free plan and up to hourly on eligible paid plans. Astor follows every position you own by default and texts you when something crosses a line you care about.
> - Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser, so its recommendations are personalized investment advice and it owes clients a fiduciary duty. It connects to your accounts and never moves your money.
> - In our view, ChatGPT is the better pick for learning and everyday money questions, and Astor is the better pick if you want something watching what you own and telling you what it means for you.

## Can ChatGPT see your brokerage account?

Yes, if you're in the US and you connect it. ChatGPT's Finances feature links your accounts through Plaid, and once they're connected ChatGPT can use your balances, transactions, investments and debts to answer questions. OpenAI lists reviewing your portfolio allocation and understanding the daily changes in your stock and ETF holdings among the things it helps with, and the Finances page can show a portfolio breakdown and a market update for your equity holdings. OpenAI also says ChatGPT can't move money, make trades or change your account settings.

There's a second route. Some brokerages publish their own plugins for ChatGPT. OpenAI's page for the Interactive Brokers plugin says you can ask about positions, balances and open orders, and have ChatGPT draft trade instructions that go to your Interactive Brokers account for you to review and approve. ChatGPT never sends those orders to the market itself.

If you don't connect anything, you can still paste your holdings into a chat. That's fine for a one-time look, but it's a snapshot, and it goes stale the next time you trade.

So the old answer, that ChatGPT can't see your portfolio, is out of date. What matters now is what it does when you're not asking, and who is responsible for the advice.

## Does ChatGPT watch your stocks and alert you?

It can, but you have to set it up. ChatGPT's scheduled tasks run once or on a repeating schedule, and its monitoring tasks check for changes and send you a notification when something relevant happens. OpenAI says tasks can use your Finances data, for example to send a portfolio update after the market closes, and connecting an account may add a weekly finances update on its own.

The limits matter if you want a watchdog. As of October 2026, Free and Go accounts can have three active tasks, Plus five and Pro 15. Free tasks run at most once a day, and eligible paid plans can run them hourly. Tasks that use your Finances data run on a schedule rather than in response to events, and you decide ahead of time what each one looks for.

Astor works the other way around. When you connect your accounts, it starts following every position you own, along with the earnings dates, filings and headlines that touch them and any themes you care about. When something crosses a line you care about, it texts you right away, and when nothing matters it stays quiet. You also get a daily brief before the open and a recap after the close, and you can still ask Astor to check something on your own schedule, like every morning or before a company reports. We wrote more about this in [stock alerts for news on stocks you own](https://www.astor.app/blog/stock-alerts-for-news-on-stocks-you-own) and [scheduled alerts](https://www.astor.app/blog/scheduled-alerts).

## Is ChatGPT a financial adviser?

No, and OpenAI is direct about it. Its Finances help article says ChatGPT isn't a fiduciary, registered investment adviser or broker-dealer, that its responses are for informational and planning purposes, and that you should consult a qualified professional before making decisions with investment consequences. OpenAI's Terms of Use say you shouldn't rely on its output as a substitute for professional advice, and its usage policies prohibit using its services for tailored advice that requires a license without a licensed professional involved.

That isn't a knock on ChatGPT, which is a general-purpose assistant, but it does change who is accountable for the answer. The SEC's Investor.gov explains that investment advisers are required to act in your best interest and not put their interests ahead of yours. That duty comes with being a registered adviser, and OpenAI says ChatGPT isn't one.

Astor is. Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424), so its recommendations are personalized investment advice and it owes clients a fiduciary duty. The AI is a tool the firm uses, and the adviser is the firm. Registration doesn't mean the SEC endorses Astor, and you can look up any adviser yourself on the SEC's [Investment Adviser Public Disclosure](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov) site. There's more on this in [SEC-registered AI investment advisers](https://www.astor.app/blog/sec-registered-ai-investment-advisers).

## Astor vs. ChatGPT at a glance

| | Astor | ChatGPT |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A personal investing agent | A general-purpose AI assistant with a Finances feature |
| Price (October 2026) | Free to start. Pro $19/month ($10/month billed yearly). Max $29/month ($19/month billed yearly) | Free. Go $8/month, Plus $20/month, Pro from $100/month |
| Fee model | Flat subscription, never a percentage of your assets | Flat subscription |
| Sees your holdings | Yes, through Plaid | Yes in the US, through Plaid (Finances) or a brokerage's own plugin |
| Watches your holdings and alerts you | Follows every position by default and texts you when something crosses a line you care about | Scheduled and monitoring tasks you create, up to daily on Free and hourly on paid plans |
| Where you talk to it | iMessage and the iPhone app | ChatGPT on the web, iOS and Android |
| Who places trades | You. Astor can't trade in your connected accounts, and Text to Trade executes only in your own Robinhood agentic account after you approve each trade | You. OpenAI says ChatGPT can't make trades, and broker plugins can draft orders for you to approve |
| Regulation | SEC-registered investment adviser with a fiduciary duty | OpenAI says ChatGPT isn't a fiduciary or a registered investment adviser |
| Platforms | iPhone and iMessage, US only | Web, iOS and Android, with Finances in the US only |
| Best for | Investors who want something watching what they own | Learning, writing, everyday money questions and budgeting |

## When ChatGPT is the better choice

If you're learning how investing works, like what a Roth IRA is, why bond prices fall when rates rise, or how to read a 10-K, ChatGPT is excellent, and you don't need to connect anything to get a good answer.

It's also the better tool for the rest of your money. ChatGPT's Finances feature covers spending, bills, subscriptions, net worth and your Experian credit score. Astor doesn't do budgeting, tax filing or estate planning, and it doesn't try to.

And there are practical reasons. Astor works only on iPhone and in iMessage, and only in the US. If you use Android, want a web app, or already pay for ChatGPT and only want a portfolio summary once a week, ChatGPT may be all you need.

## Why Astor is the better fit for your investments

In our view, judged on the criteria in the table, a tool built for one job, helping with the investments you already own, does that job better than a general assistant you have to configure.

Astor knows your actual holdings across brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts, through connections to most major US institutions, including Robinhood, Schwab and Coinbase. It watches them without being asked. When something matters, it texts you what happened, why it matters to you and what you could do, and you can reply in the same thread with a follow-up, the way you'd text a person. Every alert links to the reasoning and sources behind it, which matters because the AI can be wrong. You can read more about [talking to Astor in iMessage](https://www.astor.app/blog/talk-to-astor-in-imessage).

Astor is also a registered investment adviser that owes clients a fiduciary duty, which by OpenAI's own description ChatGPT isn't. It never trades or moves money in your connected accounts, and it never charges a percentage of your assets. If you want to act on an idea, [Text to Trade](https://www.astor.app/blog/introducing-text-to-trade), available on Max plans, lets you describe it in a sentence, review a proposed basket sized against what you already own, and approve each trade before it executes in your own Robinhood agentic account. You make every decision.

You don't have to choose only one. Using ChatGPT to learn and Astor to watch what you own is a reasonable setup. You can [see how Astor works](https://www.astor.app/#how-it-works) or read [what a personal investing agent is](https://www.astor.app/blog/what-is-a-personal-investing-agent).

## Frequently asked questions

### Can ChatGPT manage my portfolio?

No. OpenAI says ChatGPT can't make trades, move money or act as your investment adviser. With Finances or a brokerage plugin it can read your holdings and answer questions about them, and some broker plugins let it draft orders that you review and approve yourself. Astor doesn't manage portfolios either. It watches your holdings and gives you personalized advice, and you make every decision.

### Is it safe to connect my brokerage account to ChatGPT?

ChatGPT's Finances feature connects through Plaid, and OpenAI says ChatGPT can't move money, make trades or change account settings. If you disconnect, OpenAI says your synced account data is deleted from its systems within 30 days. The questions worth asking any app are in our [guide to connecting your brokerage account safely](https://www.astor.app/blog/is-it-safe-to-connect-your-brokerage-account).

### Does ChatGPT give investment advice?

OpenAI describes ChatGPT's finance answers as informational and for planning, and says ChatGPT isn't a fiduciary or a registered investment adviser. Its Terms of Use say not to rely on its output as a substitute for professional advice. Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser, so its recommendations are personalized investment advice.

### How much does Astor cost compared with ChatGPT?

Astor is free to start. Pro is $19 a month or $10 a month billed yearly, and Max is $29 a month or $19 a month billed yearly. ChatGPT's Finances feature is available on its Free plan, and its paid plans run from $8 a month for Go to $100 a month and up for Pro, as of October 2026. Both are flat subscriptions, and neither charges a percentage of your assets. See [Astor's pricing](https://www.astor.app/#pricing).

## Sources

- [OpenAI Help Center: Finances in ChatGPT](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001222-finances-in-chatgpt), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [OpenAI Help Center: Scheduled tasks in ChatGPT](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/10291617-scheduled-tasks-in-chatgpt), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [OpenAI: Terms of Use (effective January 1, 2026)](https://openai.com/policies/terms-of-use/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [OpenAI: Usage policies (effective October 29, 2025)](https://openai.com/policies/usage-policies/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [OpenAI: ChatGPT pricing](https://chatgpt.com/pricing/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [OpenAI: Interactive Brokers (IBKR) plugin for ChatGPT](https://openai.com/business/plugins/interactive-brokers/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Investor.gov (SEC): Investment Advisers](https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/getting-started/working-investment-professional/investment-advisers), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Astor (CRD 338424)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/338424), accessed Oct 12, 2026

## Important information

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Astor provides non-discretionary advice: you make every investment decision. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Astor uses AI, which can make mistakes. This article is general information, not individualized investment, tax or legal advice. See our [disclosures](https://www.astor.app/legal).

## About comparisons

Information about other companies comes from their public websites and filings as of October 2026 and may have changed since; check each provider for current details. Comparisons and rankings reflect Astor’s opinion. Other companies’ names and trademarks belong to their owners, and no affiliation or endorsement is implied.

---

# Astor vs. Betterment: which one fits how you invest?

Source: https://www.astor.app/blog/astor-vs-betterment
Published: 2026-10-16
Updated: 2026-10-20
By: Astor team, Astor (Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor)

Betterment fits you if you want a portfolio built and managed for you, and Astor fits you if you pick your own investments and want help keeping up with them. Betterment is a robo-advisor that runs goal-based ETF portfolios for $5 a month or 0.25% a year, while Astor is a personal investing agent that connects to the accounts you already have, watches what you own, and texts you what matters, and you make every decision.

Both are SEC-registered investment advisers, and both are built around an app. They do different jobs, though, and the price comparison only makes sense once that's clear. Betterment's details below come from its pricing page and its Form CRS as of October 2026.

> **In one minute**
> - Betterment builds and manages ETF portfolios with discretion, rebalances them and offers tax-loss harvesting. Its Digital plan costs $5 a month, or 0.25% a year once you have $24,000 or set up $200 a month in recurring deposits.
> - Betterment Premium adds advice from Betterment's financial consultants by phone, video, chat or email for 0.65% a year, with a $100,000 minimum.
> - Astor is a personal investing agent on iPhone and in iMessage. It connects to the accounts you already have, watches every position, and texts you when something matters. You make every decision.
> - Astor is free to start, and its paid plans are a flat $120 or $228 a year billed yearly, never a percentage of your assets.
> - Choose Betterment for a hands-off, goal-based portfolio. Choose Astor if you already invest on your own and want research and monitoring around what you own.

## How do Astor and Betterment work?

Betterment starts with your goals. You tell it about yourself and what you're investing for, and its software builds portfolios from that, mostly out of low-cost ETFs. For these managed portfolios you give Betterment discretionary authority, so it buys and sells when it decides to, in response to your deposits and withdrawals and to drift from your target mix. Its Form CRS says the software monitors your account on an ongoing basis without trying to time the market. You can also turn on a glide path that makes a goal's portfolio gradually more conservative as the date gets closer.

Betterment has more than managed portfolios. There's a self-directed investing account where you choose stocks and ETFs yourself, a Cash Reserve account and checking. Your managed accounts are held at Betterment's affiliated broker-dealer, Betterment Securities.

Astor doesn't hold or manage money. It connects through Plaid to the brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts you already have at most major US institutions, like Robinhood, Schwab and Coinbase. It learns what you own and watches the market for what matters to your portfolio. When an earnings report, a filing or a headline touches something you hold, it texts you what happened, why it matters to you, and what you could do. Whether you act on it is up to you. If the category is new to you, start with [what is a personal investing agent](https://www.astor.app/blog/what-is-a-personal-investing-agent).

## Astor vs. Betterment side by side

| | Astor | Betterment |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Personal investing agent | Robo-advisor, with an optional tier that adds human advice |
| Price (October 2026) | Free to start. Pro $19/month or $120/year. Max $29/month or $228/year | Digital: $5/month, or 0.25% a year at $24,000+ or with $200+/month in recurring deposits. Premium: 0.65% a year |
| Fee model | Flat subscription | Flat monthly fee on small balances, then a percentage of assets |
| Minimum | Nothing to deposit | No account minimum and a $10 minimum deposit. Premium needs $100,000 |
| Works with your existing brokerage | Yes, at most major US institutions | Managed accounts are held at Betterment Securities. You can sync outside accounts to your goals, though Betterment says its advice doesn't incorporate specific investments you hold elsewhere |
| Watches your holdings and alerts you | Every position you own, with a text when something matters | Software monitors managed portfolios and rebalances when they drift |
| Who places trades | You do. With Text to Trade, you approve each order and it executes in your own Robinhood agentic account | Betterment, in managed portfolios. You choose the trades in self-directed accounts |
| How it's regulated | SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD 338424) | SEC-registered investment adviser (Betterment LLC, CRD 149117) |
| Platforms | iPhone and iMessage | iPhone, Android and web |
| Best for | People who pick their own investments and want help keeping up | Hands-off, goal-based investing |

## Which one costs less?

Betterment's price changes with your balance and Astor's doesn't. On Betterment's Digital plan you pay $5 a month until you reach $24,000 or set up at least $200 a month in recurring deposits, and from then on you pay 0.25% a year. Premium is 0.65% a year on the first $1 million and requires $100,000. Here's the yearly fee at a few balances, assuming the balance stays the same all year and no recurring deposits on the smallest one.

| Balance | Betterment Digital | Betterment Premium | Astor Pro, billed yearly | Astor Max, billed yearly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | $60 | Not eligible | $120 | $228 |
| $50,000 | $125 | Not eligible | $120 | $228 |
| $100,000 | $250 | $650 | $120 | $228 |
| $250,000 | $625 | $1,625 | $120 | $228 |

At small balances Betterment Digital costs less than Astor Pro, and with $200 a month in recurring deposits it drops further, to $25 a year on $10,000. Past $48,000, its 0.25% is more than Astor Pro's $120. Betterment's fees don't include the expense ratios of the funds you hold, and Betterment Securities charges $75 for each investing account you transfer out to another firm. Astor's free plan costs nothing and includes one custom alert.

The fair way to read that table is that Betterment's fee buys a managed portfolio, and Astor's buys research and monitoring for decisions you make yourself. If you want your money managed, compare Betterment with other robo-advisors, not with Astor. We line up those options in [how much an AI financial advisor costs](https://www.astor.app/blog/ai-financial-advisor-cost).

## What about Betterment's self-directed investing?

This is where the two products come closest. Betterment's self-directed account lets you pick stocks and ETFs with no trading commissions, and Betterment waives its management fee on it. You decide what to buy, Betterment decides the timing and price of the trade, and it doesn't rebalance these accounts. In practice, it works like a commission-free stock account inside Betterment, next to your managed portfolio.

Astor isn't a brokerage. It sits on top of the brokerage and retirement accounts you already use and helps you decide what to do in them, with alerts, research and answers about your actual holdings. If you'd like everything at Betterment, its self-directed account is a simple way to hold a few stocks next to a managed portfolio. If your stocks are spread across Robinhood, Schwab or a retirement account somewhere else, Astor can watch them together.

## When is Betterment the better choice?

We think Betterment is the better fit in these cases.

- **You want a portfolio built around your goals and managed for you.** Betterment builds portfolios from the goals you give it, and Astor doesn't run a managed portfolio at all.
- **You want a glide path, automatic rebalancing and tax-loss harvesting.** Betterment handles these inside its accounts. Astor never trades for you, so it does none of them.
- **You want to talk to a person.** With $100,000 or more, Premium adds advice from Betterment's financial consultants by phone, video, live chat or email.
- **You're starting small.** There's no account minimum, the minimum deposit is $10, and the Digital plan starts at $5 a month.
- **You use Android or want a web app.** Betterment has both. Astor is iPhone and iMessage only.

## When is Astor the better fit?

Astor is for people who already invest on their own and want someone paying close attention to what they own. Here's where we think it's the better fit.

- **You don't want to move your money.** Astor works with the accounts you have, and it can see your holdings but can't move money. We explain the details in [is it safe to connect your brokerage account](https://www.astor.app/blog/is-it-safe-to-connect-your-brokerage-account).
- **You hold individual stocks and want to know when something touches them.** Astor follows every position you own, plus the earnings dates, filings and headlines that affect them, and stays quiet when nothing matters. More on that in [stock alerts for news on stocks you own](https://www.astor.app/blog/stock-alerts-for-news-on-stocks-you-own).
- **You want answers about your actual portfolio.** You can [text Astor in iMessage](https://www.astor.app/blog/talk-to-astor-in-imessage), ask what moved your money today, and follow up in the same thread. Every alert links to the reasoning and sources behind it.
- **You'd rather pay a flat price.** Astor costs the same whether you connect $20,000 or $2 million, and it's never a percentage of your assets.
- **You want help acting on your own ideas.** With [Text to Trade](https://www.astor.app/blog/introducing-text-to-trade), available on Max plans, you describe an idea in a sentence, Astor proposes a basket of companies sized against what you already own and the budget you set, and you approve every trade before it executes in your own Robinhood agentic account.

Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser, so its recommendations are personalized investment advice and it owes clients a fiduciary duty. The limits matter as much as the strengths. Astor is iPhone and iMessage only and US only, it doesn't hold your money or run a managed portfolio, and it doesn't do budgeting, tax filing or estate planning. The AI can be wrong, which is why it shows its sources and you make the call.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is Astor a robo-advisor like Betterment?

No. Betterment manages its portfolios with discretion, so it decides when to buy and sell inside them. Astor is a personal investing agent. It's an SEC-registered investment adviser that watches the accounts you already have and gives you personalized advice, and you make every decision. It never trades, rebalances or manages money for you, so if you want your portfolio run for you, a robo-advisor like Betterment is built for that.

### How much does Betterment cost?

As of October 2026, Betterment's Digital plan is $5 a month on smaller balances and 0.25% a year once you have $24,000 or set up $200 a month in recurring deposits. Premium is 0.65% a year on the first $1 million and needs $100,000. Balances over $1 million get lower rates on both plans, and fund expense ratios are separate.

### What does Betterment Premium include?

Premium adds advice from Betterment's financial consultants by phone, video, live chat or email. It costs 0.65% a year on the first $1 million, made up of the 0.25% Digital fee and an extra 0.40%, and requires at least $100,000 in eligible Betterment investments per household.

### Is Astor cheaper than Betterment?

It depends on your balance and on what you're paying for. Under $24,000 and without recurring deposits, Betterment Digital is $60 a year, less than Astor Pro's $120 billed yearly. Above $48,000, Betterment's 0.25% is more than Astor Pro's flat price. But Betterment's fee includes a managed portfolio, and Astor's doesn't.

### Is my data safe with Astor?

Astor can see the holdings in the accounts you connect, but it can't move money. Astor is SOC 2 Type II compliant, encrypts data in transit and at rest, and never sells your data. You can read more at [trust.astor.app](https://trust.astor.app).

## Sources

- [Betterment: Pricing](https://www.betterment.com/pricing), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Betterment LLC: Form CRS, July 31, 2026](https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/crs/crs_149117.pdf), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Betterment: Can I sync my external accounts to my goals?](https://www.betterment.com/help/connecting-external-accounts-to-goal), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Betterment LLC (CRD 149117)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/149117), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor (CRD 338424)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/338424), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Google Play: Betterment Invest & Save Money](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.betterment), accessed Oct 12, 2026

## Important information

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Astor provides non-discretionary advice: you make every investment decision. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Astor uses AI, which can make mistakes. This article is general information, not individualized investment, tax or legal advice. See our [disclosures](https://www.astor.app/legal).

## About comparisons

Information about other companies comes from their public websites and filings as of October 2026 and may have changed since; check each provider for current details. Comparisons and rankings reflect Astor’s opinion. Other companies’ names and trademarks belong to their owners, and no affiliation or endorsement is implied.

---

# Astor vs. Wealthfront: an AI investing agent or a robo-advisor?

Source: https://www.astor.app/blog/astor-vs-wealthfront
Published: 2026-10-16
Updated: 2026-10-20
By: Astor team, Astor (Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor)

Astor is a personal investing agent and Wealthfront is a robo-advisor, and the real difference between them is who makes the decisions. Wealthfront's software runs a diversified portfolio of index funds for you inside a Wealthfront account for 0.25% a year, while Astor connects to the accounts you already have, watches what you own, and texts you what matters so you can decide what to do.

So the useful question is whether you want a managed portfolio you rarely think about, or you pick your own investments and want help keeping up with them. Wealthfront's details below come from its own pricing page and SEC filings as of October 2026.

> **In one minute**
> - Wealthfront's Automated Investing Account is a discretionary, automated portfolio of index ETFs. It costs 0.25% of your balance a year and needs $500 to open.
> - Astor is a personal investing agent on iPhone and in iMessage. It connects to the brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts you already have and texts you when something touches what you own. You make every decision.
> - Astor is free to start, and its paid plans are a flat $120 or $228 a year billed yearly, never a percentage of your assets.
> - Wealthfront fits people who want a hands-off index portfolio with automatic rebalancing and tax-loss harvesting. Astor fits people who choose their own investments and want research and monitoring around them.
> - Both are SEC-registered investment advisers that have to act in your best interest.

## How is Astor different from Wealthfront?

Wealthfront's core product is the Automated Investing Account. In its Form CRS, Wealthfront describes it as a diversified, fully discretionary, automated and passive investment management service. You answer questions about your goals and risk tolerance, Wealthfront recommends a portfolio of low-cost index ETFs, and when you open the account you give Wealthfront full discretionary authority to trade it. Its software keeps the portfolio at its target allocation and, for certain accounts, harvests losses to try to lower your tax bill. You can adjust the recommended mix if you want to.

Wealthfront also offers a Stock Investing Account for buying individual stocks and ETFs yourself, a Treasury bond ladder, direct indexing on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100, a cash account and 529 college savings plans. Your investments are held at Wealthfront's affiliated broker-dealer, Wealthfront Brokerage.

Astor works the other way around, and you don't move money anywhere. Astor connects through Plaid to the accounts you already have at most major US institutions, like Robinhood, Schwab and Coinbase, so it can see your holdings but can't move money. It watches what you own and texts you what happened, why it matters to you and what you could do, and then you decide. We explain the category in [what is a personal investing agent](https://www.astor.app/blog/what-is-a-personal-investing-agent).

Put simply, Wealthfront makes the portfolio decisions inside its accounts, and Astor helps you make your own.

## Astor vs. Wealthfront at a glance

| | Astor | Wealthfront |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Personal investing agent | Robo-advisor running an automated, discretionary portfolio |
| Price (October 2026) | Free to start. Pro $19/month or $120/year. Max $29/month or $228/year | 0.25% a year on the Automated Investing Account, plus the ETFs' own expense ratios |
| Fee model | Flat subscription | Percentage of assets |
| Minimum | Nothing to deposit | $500 for the Automated Investing Account |
| Works with your existing brokerage | Yes, at most major US institutions | Its investing services run in accounts you open at Wealthfront. Its app lets you link outside accounts to see your net worth |
| Watches your holdings and alerts you | Every position you own, with a text when something matters | Monitors the portfolio to keep it at its target allocation |
| Who places trades | You do. With Text to Trade, you approve each order and it executes in your own Robinhood agentic account | Wealthfront, under the discretionary authority you grant |
| How it's regulated | SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD 338424) | SEC-registered investment adviser (Wealthfront Advisers LLC, CRD 148456) |
| Platforms | iPhone and iMessage | iPhone, Android and web |
| Best for | People who pick their own investments and want help keeping up | People who want a hands-off index portfolio |

## Which is cheaper, Astor or Wealthfront?

It depends on your balance, because Wealthfront charges a percentage and Astor charges a flat fee. Wealthfront's 0.25% works out to $2.50 a year for every $1,000 in the account, and its Form CRS gives the example of a $10,000 balance paying about $2.05 a month. Here is the yearly advisory fee at a few balances, assuming the balance stays the same all year.

| Balance | Wealthfront (0.25% a year) | Astor Pro, billed yearly | Astor Max, billed yearly |
|---|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | $25 | $120 | $228 |
| $50,000 | $125 | $120 | $228 |
| $100,000 | $250 | $120 | $228 |
| $250,000 | $625 | $120 | $228 |

The two fees are equal at $48,000. Below that, Wealthfront's fee is smaller than Astor Pro's yearly price, and above it, Wealthfront's is larger. Wealthfront's fee also doesn't include the expense ratios of the funds it buys, which you pay on top. Astor's free plan costs nothing and includes one custom alert, and you can compare the paid plans in the [pricing](https://www.astor.app/#pricing) section of our home page.

A lower number only matters if you're comparing the same thing, though, and these aren't the same thing. Wealthfront's fee pays for a managed portfolio, which means it picks the funds, places the trades, rebalances and harvests losses. Astor's fee pays for research and monitoring around investments you choose and trades you make. If you want someone else to run the portfolio, Astor doesn't do that at any price. We go through the wider set of fee models in [how much an AI financial advisor costs](https://www.astor.app/blog/ai-financial-advisor-cost).

## What does each one keep an eye on?

Wealthfront's Form CRS describes its monitoring in terms of keeping your portfolio at its target allocation. That's the right job for an index portfolio, where the point is to own a broad slice of the market and not react to each headline. In the Stock Investing Account, where you choose the stocks, Wealthfront says it gives automated advice when you take on too much or too little risk.

Astor watches at the level of each holding. It follows every position in every account you connect, along with the earnings dates, filings and headlines that touch them and the themes you care about. When something crosses a line you care about, it texts you right away, and it stays quiet when nothing matters. You can also ask it to check something on a schedule, like every morning or before a company you own reports, with [scheduled alerts](https://www.astor.app/blog/scheduled-alerts), and get a five-second read on your day with [At a glance](https://www.astor.app/blog/at-a-glance). Every alert links to the reasoning and sources behind it, because the AI can be wrong and you should be able to check its work.

## When is Wealthfront the better choice?

We think Wealthfront is the better fit in these cases.

- **You don't want to pick investments.** If your plan is to own a diversified mix of index funds and leave it alone, a managed portfolio does exactly that, and Astor doesn't run one.
- **You want automatic rebalancing and tax-loss harvesting.** Wealthfront does both inside its accounts. Astor never trades for you, so it does neither.
- **You want more of your money in one place.** Wealthfront also offers a cash account, a Treasury bond ladder, direct indexing (from $5,000) and 529 plans.
- **You're starting with a small balance and want it managed.** At $10,000, Wealthfront's advisory fee is about $25 a year.
- **You use Android or want a web app.** Wealthfront has both. Astor is iPhone and iMessage only.

## When is Astor the better fit?

Astor is built for people who already invest on their own and want someone paying close attention to what they own. Here's where we think it's the better fit.

- **Your money is already where you want it.** Astor works with the brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts you have. Nothing moves, and Astor can't move money or trade in those accounts. If that part makes you nervous, we wrote up [how connecting your brokerage account works](https://www.astor.app/blog/is-it-safe-to-connect-your-brokerage-account).
- **You own individual stocks and want to know when something touches them.** That's the core of what Astor does, across every account you connect rather than one account at one firm.
- **You want to ask questions about what you actually own.** You can [text Astor in iMessage](https://www.astor.app/blog/talk-to-astor-in-imessage) like a person and follow up in the same thread, and its answers use live prices, news and filings.
- **You'd rather pay a flat price.** Astor's paid plans cost the same whether you connect $20,000 or $2 million.
- **You want to act on your own ideas.** With [Text to Trade](https://www.astor.app/blog/introducing-text-to-trade), available on Max plans, you describe an idea in a sentence, Astor proposes a basket of companies sized against what you already own and the budget you set, and you approve every trade before it executes in your own Robinhood agentic account.

Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser, so its recommendations are personalized investment advice and it owes clients a fiduciary duty. It has real limits too. It's iPhone and iMessage only and US only, it doesn't hold your money or run a managed portfolio, and the AI can be wrong, which is why it shows its sources and leaves the call to you.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is Astor a robo-advisor?

No. A robo-advisor like Wealthfront manages a portfolio with discretion, which means it decides what to buy and sell inside the account. Astor is a personal investing agent and an SEC-registered investment adviser that gives personalized advice about the accounts you already have. You make every decision, and Astor never trades, rebalances or manages money for you.

### How much does Wealthfront cost?

As of October 2026, Wealthfront charges 0.25% a year for its Automated Investing Account, which needs $500 to open, and the ETFs in the portfolio have their own expense ratios on top. Its Stock Investing Account has no out-of-pocket advisory fee. Wealthfront says that fee is paid out of the interest margin it earns on the Cash Account those clients are required to keep.

### Can I use Astor and Wealthfront together?

Yes, since they do different jobs. You could keep a managed index portfolio as a hands-off core and a separate brokerage account for the stocks you pick yourself. Astor is built for the part you manage yourself.

### Does Astor move my money?

No. Astor can see your holdings but can't move money, and you don't transfer anything to Astor. The one place an order can be placed is Text to Trade, and only in your own Robinhood agentic account, with the money you set aside for it, after you approve each trade.

### Is Wealthfront a fiduciary?

Wealthfront Advisers LLC is registered with the SEC as an investment adviser, and its Form CRS says that when it acts as your adviser it has to act in your best interest and put your interests ahead of its own. Astor is also an SEC-registered investment adviser and owes clients a fiduciary duty. You can look up either firm on the SEC's [Investment Adviser Public Disclosure](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov) site.

## Sources

- [Wealthfront: Fees](https://www.wealthfront.com/pricing), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Wealthfront Advisers LLC and Wealthfront Brokerage LLC: Form CRS, July 23, 2026](https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/crs/crs_148456.pdf), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Wealthfront Advisers LLC (CRD 148456)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/148456), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor (CRD 338424)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/338424), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Google Play: Wealthfront: Save and Invest](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wealthfront), accessed Oct 12, 2026

## Important information

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Astor provides non-discretionary advice: you make every investment decision. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Astor uses AI, which can make mistakes. This article is general information, not individualized investment, tax or legal advice. See our [disclosures](https://www.astor.app/legal).

## About comparisons

Information about other companies comes from their public websites and filings as of October 2026 and may have changed since; check each provider for current details. Comparisons and rankings reflect Astor’s opinion. Other companies’ names and trademarks belong to their owners, and no affiliation or endorsement is implied.

---

# Which apps alert you when news affects the stocks you own?

Source: https://www.astor.app/blog/stock-alerts-for-news-on-stocks-you-own
Published: 2026-10-15
Updated: 2026-10-15
By: Astor team, Astor (Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor)

Several apps will alert you to news about stocks you hold. Schwab and Fidelity do it inside their own apps, and Seeking Alpha, Yahoo Finance and Perplexity can pull your holdings in from a linked broker. Astor is a personal investing agent that connects to all your accounts, watches the headlines, filings and earnings dates that touch each position, and texts you what happened and why it matters to you, staying quiet when nothing does.

The real difference is what each one knows about your portfolio, because an alert is only as useful as that picture.

> **In one minute**
> - Schwab offers news alerts for securities in your portfolio or on a watchlist, plus earnings and dividend alerts. Fidelity's alerts can cover stock moves, economic announcements and other news. Both work inside that firm's app.
> - Robinhood's standard alerts are mostly price-based. Gold members ($5 a month) also get Portfolio Digests, AI summaries of what's moving their Robinhood holdings.
> - Seeking Alpha Premium ($299 a year) can sync holdings from your US brokers and send real-time alerts on them. Yahoo Finance and Perplexity can also link brokerage accounts.
> - Most alerts tell you that something happened. Explaining what it means for your particular mix of holdings is the job a personal investing agent is built for.
> - Astor texts you when news, filings or earnings touch something you own, shows its reasoning and sources, and stays quiet otherwise. You make every decision.

## What should a portfolio news alert actually do?

In our view, three things separate a useful alert from noise.

1. **It knows what you actually own, across every account.** A watchlist you typed in goes stale, and an alert from one broker is built around that broker's accounts, not your 401(k) or your other brokerage.
2. **It says why the news matters to you.** A 4% drop in a stock means something different if it's 2% of your portfolio or 20%, and if three other things you own move with it.
3. **It's quiet the rest of the time.** If an app pings you about every headline on every holding, you'll start ignoring it, including the one alert that mattered.

## Can your brokerage app alert you about news?

Yes, with limits. Brokerage alerts are built around your positions at that firm.

**Schwab** documents the widest range of the three. Its guide to alerts lists price and volume alerts, dividend alerts, earnings-date and earnings-release alerts, and news alerts based on news stories or press releases for securities on a watchlist or in a portfolio. Alerts go by email or to a wireless device. Schwab also announced Charley, an AI assistant that answers questions about balances and positions, rolling out in phases to eligible US retail clients starting in October 2026.

**Fidelity** says its alerts can notify you about specific stock movements, economic announcements and other news, sent as push notifications in the Fidelity app, and price-trigger alerts can also come by text or email.

**Robinhood**'s built-in notifications are mostly about price. You can get alerts when a stock you hold moves 5% or 10%, set custom price or indicator alerts, and get email for significant moves. For news, Robinhood Gold members get Portfolio Digests, AI-generated summaries of the market backdrop, the holdings driving your returns, top movers and upcoming events like earnings. Digests are part of a rolling release and use information from your Robinhood account, excluding IRAs.

## What about Yahoo Finance, Google Finance and Seeking Alpha?

These sit outside your broker, so they can cover more of your portfolio if you tell them what you own.

**Yahoo Finance** lets you link a brokerage account or build a portfolio by hand, and its iOS app can push notifications for news, events and significant price changes for the symbols you follow. The free plan includes watchlists and alerts. Paid plans start at $95.40 a year (Bronze, unlimited custom price alerts), and Silver ($239.40 a year) adds alerts for new analyst ratings.

**Google Finance** shows news for your watchlist, and its AI "key moments" explain why a stock moved. Google's pages describe building a portfolio by telling it what you own or uploading screenshots or files, and don't mention linking a broker. You can also set up scheduled AI briefings that notify you through the Google app, though portfolios and these tasks are web-only for now.

**Seeking Alpha** goes furthest of these three on alerts tied to what you hold. Premium and PRO subscribers can link US brokerage accounts (through Plaid and SnapTrade), holdings update daily, and you're automatically subscribed to real-time alerts for them by email or push, plus a daily digest per portfolio. You can choose which portfolios and content types send alerts. Premium costs $299 a year.

## Can TradingView or Perplexity watch the news for you?

**TradingView** lets you save a news flow filtered by tickers or a watchlist and turn on an alert, so you're notified when a new story matches. Free accounts get one active news alert and paid plans can track up to 10 flows. It also publishes AI summaries of SEC filings minutes after they're released. Its portfolios are built from a CSV, manual entry or a watchlist. Paid plans start at $12.95 a month billed yearly.

**Perplexity** can connect brokerage accounts through Plaid with read-only access (on desktop, in the US and Canada). Scheduled Tasks in Perplexity Computer, which comes with Pro and Max, can monitor prices and news in the background as often as once an hour and notify you by push or email. It's flexible, but you write the instructions for what to watch. Our [Astor vs. Perplexity Finance](https://www.astor.app/blog/astor-vs-perplexity-finance) comparison goes deeper.

## How do they compare?

Facts as of October 2026, from each provider's official pages.

| | Knows your holdings | News alerts on your stocks | Explains why it matters to you | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schwab | Schwab accounts | News, earnings and dividend alerts for your portfolio or watchlists | Not described on its alerts page | Not stated on the alerts page |
| Fidelity | Fidelity accounts | Alerts on stock moves, economic announcements and other news | Not described on its alerts page | Not stated on the alerts page |
| Robinhood | Robinhood accounts | Price-move alerts; Portfolio Digests summarize news (Gold) | AI digests of your Robinhood holdings (Gold) | Gold is $5/month |
| Yahoo Finance | Linked brokerage or manual portfolio | Push alerts for news on symbols you follow | AI answers (Yahoo Scout) on quote pages and articles | Free; paid from $95.40/year |
| Google Finance | Typed in or uploaded | Watchlist news; scheduled AI briefings | AI "key moments" for a stock's move | Not stated |
| Seeking Alpha | Linked US brokers, updated daily | Real-time alerts on linked holdings, daily digest | Articles plus AI research tools like Virtual Analyst Reports | Premium $299/year |
| TradingView | CSV, manual or watchlist | Alerts on news flows by ticker or watchlist | AI summaries of filings | Free tier; paid from $12.95/month billed yearly |
| Perplexity | Linked via Plaid (desktop) | Scheduled tasks you set up | AI answers with sources | Free to link; tasks need Pro ($17/month billed yearly) or Max |
| Astor | Links to most major US brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts | Texts when news, filings or earnings touch a position | What happened, why it matters to you, what you could do, with sources | Free to start; Pro $19/month, Max $29/month |

## When is another app the better choice?

If nearly all your money is at Schwab or Fidelity, their own alerts already know your positions. If you trade actively and want charting and technical alerts, TradingView is built for that. If you want deep research and analyst articles on what you own, Seeking Alpha Premium is a strong pick. If you'd rather write your own monitoring instructions, Perplexity is flexible. And Astor is iPhone and iMessage only, and US only, so it won't work on Android or the web.

## Why Astor

Astor is a [personal investing agent](https://www.astor.app/blog/what-is-a-personal-investing-agent), and watching is most of what it does. It connects to the brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts you already have, so it knows what you actually own without you typing anything in. It follows every position plus the earnings dates, filings and headlines that touch them, and themes you care about. When something crosses a line you care about, it texts you right away with what happened, why it matters to your portfolio, and what you could do. When nothing matters, it stays quiet.

Every alert links to the reasoning and sources behind it, because the AI can be wrong and you make the call. You can reply in the same iMessage thread with a follow-up, and [scheduled alerts](https://www.astor.app/blog/scheduled-alerts) let you ask for a check on a schedule, like before a company you own reports. The free plan includes one custom alert. Astor (Gaus, Inc.) is an SEC-registered investment adviser, and it can't move your money.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is there an app that sends news alerts for all my brokerage accounts at once?

Yes, if it can link to each account. Seeking Alpha Premium can sync holdings from several US brokers and alert you on them, and Astor connects to most major US brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts. Alerts inside a brokerage app are built around that brokerage's accounts.

### Do Robinhood's alerts include news?

Robinhood's standard alerts are mostly price-based, such as a 5% or 10% move in a stock you hold. Robinhood Gold members get Portfolio Digests, which summarize the news and events affecting their Robinhood holdings.

### How do I avoid getting too many stock alerts?

Turn off alerts for stocks you don't care much about, use digests instead of real-time alerts where you can, and prefer tools that filter by relevance rather than sending every headline. Seeking Alpha, for example, lets you choose which portfolios and content types send alerts.

### Is it safe to link my brokerage account to a news app?

The safer setups use read-only connections through providers like Plaid, so the app can see holdings but can't move money. Astor connects through Plaid and can't move money in your accounts. Our guide on [connecting your brokerage account safely](https://www.astor.app/blog/is-it-safe-to-connect-your-brokerage-account) covers what to check.

## Sources

- [Charles Schwab: Setting Trading Alerts for Portfolio Monitoring](https://www.schwab.com/learn/story/set-trading-alerts-to-help-monitor-your-portfolio), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Charles Schwab Pressroom: Meet Charley, Schwab's New AI-Powered Assistant](https://pressroom.aboutschwab.com/press-releases/press-release/2026/Meet-Charley-Schwabs-New-AI-Powered-Assistant-Designed-to-Help-Clients-Get-Answers-and-Take-Action/default.aspx), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Fidelity: 4 ways to use alerts when investing](https://www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/active-investor/4-ways-to-use-alerts), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Robinhood Support: Price alerts](https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/price-alerts/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Robinhood Support: Cortex Digests](https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/cortex-digests/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Robinhood: Robinhood Gold](https://robinhood.com/us/en/gold/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Yahoo Help: Link a brokerage account in Yahoo Finance for Web](https://help.yahoo.com/kb/SLN28440.html), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Yahoo Help: Turn push notifications on or off in the Yahoo Finance app for iOS](https://help.yahoo.com/kb/SLN28269.html), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Yahoo Help: Yahoo Finance subscription plans](https://help.yahoo.com/kb/SLN36623.html), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Yahoo Finance: Select a plan](https://finance.yahoo.com/about/plans/select-plan/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Yahoo Inc.: Yahoo Sports and Yahoo Finance Introduce New AI Answer Experiences Powered by Yahoo Scout](https://www.yahooinc.com/press/yahoo-sports-and-yahoo-finance-introduce-new-ai-answer-experiences-powered-by-yahoo-scout), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Google Search Help: Use AI-powered Google Finance in Search](https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/16490185?hl=en), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Google: Our latest Google Finance upgrades, including a new app](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/google-finance-updates-june-2026/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Seeking Alpha Help: How Can I Link My Seeking Alpha Portfolio With My Broker?](https://help.seekingalpha.com/premium/how-can-i-link-my-seeking-alpha-portfolio-with-my-broker), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Seeking Alpha Help: How Safe Is My Portfolio on Seeking Alpha After Linking It to My Broker?](https://help.seekingalpha.com/premium/how-safe-is-my-portfolio-on-seeking-alpha-after-linking-it-to-my-broker), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Seeking Alpha Help: How Do I Manage My Email Alerts From Seeking Alpha?](https://help.seekingalpha.com/basic/how-do-i-manage-my-email-alerts), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Seeking Alpha Help: What is Seeking Alpha Premium?](https://help.seekingalpha.com/what-is-seeking-alpha-premium), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [TradingView: News alerts](https://www.tradingview.com/support/solutions/43000762838-news-alerts/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [TradingView: Instant AI-powered corporate news on TradingView](https://www.tradingview.com/blog/en/ai-powered-news-57454/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [TradingView: TradingView Portfolios: track your assets, know your trades](https://www.tradingview.com/support/solutions/43000760937-tradingview-portfolios-track-your-assets-know-your-trades/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [TradingView: Subscriptions, pricing and features](https://www.tradingview.com/pricing/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Perplexity: Computer is Now Your Personal CFO](https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/blog/plaid-integration-provides-full-view-of-personal-finances), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Perplexity: Perplexity Pricing](https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/pricing), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Perplexity Help Center: Scheduled Tasks in Computer](https://www.perplexity.ai/help-center/en/articles/11521526-perplexity-tasks), accessed Oct 12, 2026

## Important information

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Astor provides non-discretionary advice: you make every investment decision. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Astor uses AI, which can make mistakes. This article is general information, not individualized investment, tax or legal advice. See our [disclosures](https://www.astor.app/legal).

## About comparisons

Information about other companies comes from their public websites and filings as of October 2026 and may have changed since; check each provider for current details. Comparisons and rankings reflect Astor’s opinion. Other companies’ names and trademarks belong to their owners, and no affiliation or endorsement is implied.

---

# Is it safe to connect your brokerage account to an AI app?

Source: https://www.astor.app/blog/is-it-safe-to-connect-your-brokerage-account
Published: 2026-10-14
Updated: 2026-10-20
By: Astor team, Astor (Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor)

It can be, if the app uses a read-only connection through an established data network like Plaid, sends you to your broker's own login page when your broker supports it, and handles your data the way it says it does. A read-only connection lets an app see your holdings but not trade or move money, so the questions that matter most are about your password and what happens to your data afterward. Astor, a [personal investing agent](https://www.astor.app/blog/what-is-a-personal-investing-agent) and SEC-registered investment adviser, connects to your accounts through Plaid. It can see your holdings, and it can't move money.

Here's how these connections work, what read-only does and doesn't protect you from, and a short list of things to check before you link any account.

> **In one minute**
> - Most investing apps connect to your accounts through aggregators like Plaid. FINRA notes that security experts often consider API connections safer than screen scraping, where you hand over your login.
> - With OAuth, you log in on your broker's own website or app and approve what to share, instead of typing your password into the app.
> - Read-only access lets an app see holdings, balances and transactions. It can't place trades or move money through that connection.
> - Look for an independent SOC 2 Type II report, encryption in transit and at rest, a clear privacy policy, and registration with a regulator if the app gives you investment advice.
> - When you stop using an app, revoke its access. FINRA warns that deleting the app may not be enough.

## How does an app connect to your brokerage account?

Most apps don't build their own connection to every bank and broker. Instead, they use an aggregator, a company that connects to many financial institutions and passes your data to the apps you approve. Plaid is one of them.

FINRA, which oversees broker-dealers, describes two ways aggregators get your data. The first is an application programming interface (API), a prearranged agreement for the institution to send data to the aggregator. The second is screen scraping, where you give the aggregator your username and password and an automated program logs in as you to collect the data. FINRA says security experts often consider APIs the safer option.

Many API connections use OAuth, which lets you grant access without giving the app your password. With OAuth, you briefly leave the app, log in on your broker's own website or mobile app, approve what you want to share, and get sent back. Plaid requires the apps it serves to support OAuth for US institutions, notes that many of the largest US banks require it, and says OAuth can let you choose which accounts to share.

So whether you ever type your brokerage password into a third party depends on your broker. If you're asked for it, that's worth knowing before you continue.

## What can an app do with read-only access?

It can see. Plaid's investments product, for example, gives apps your holdings, the securities you own and your investment transactions. That's what lets an app tell you how much of your portfolio sits in one stock.

It can't act. A read-only connection doesn't let an app place trades or move money in that account. If an app ever asks for permission to trade or move money, that's a separate grant, and it's fair to ask why it needs it.

Read-only doesn't mean risk-free. Your holdings, balances and transaction history are a detailed map of your finances, and that map now lives with the app as well as your broker. That's why the rest of this guide is about how the app protects your data, how it uses it, and who holds it accountable.

## What does SOC 2 Type II mean, and does it matter?

SOC 2 is an examination, done by an independent CPA firm under standards set by the AICPA, of a company's controls relevant to security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality or privacy. The AICPA says customers usually need information about the design, operation and effectiveness of a company's controls to judge the risks of trusting it, and a SOC 2 report is how they get it. A Type II report means the auditor tested whether those controls actually worked over a period of time, rather than only looking at how they were designed on a single date.

It matters, with a caveat. SOC 2 Type II tells you a company has real security practices and that someone outside checked them. It isn't a guarantee that nothing will go wrong. Many companies publish a trust center where you can see their reports or request access.

Encryption is the other basic. Plaid says it protects personal information with AES-256 and TLS. Any app you connect should be able to say the same in plain words.

## Does it matter whether the app is regulated?

Yes, especially if the app gives you investment recommendations. FINRA warns that many data aggregators might operate under limited regulatory oversight and may not be subject to the same rules as registered financial institutions. Investor.gov explains that investment advisers generally must register with the SEC or with state securities authorities. The SEC, NASAA and FINRA have jointly warned investors that a lack of registration should prompt more investigation before you trust a platform.

Registration comes with specific duties. Investment advisers are required to act in your best interest, according to the SEC's Investor.gov. Under amendments to the SEC's Regulation S-P adopted in 2024, registered investment advisers must have an incident response program for unauthorized access to customer information, and, with limited exceptions, must notify affected customers as soon as practicable and no later than 30 days after becoming aware of a breach involving their sensitive information.

Registration isn't an endorsement, and plenty of useful apps don't need to register because they don't give advice. But if an app tells you what to do with your money, you can check whether it's registered on the SEC's [Investment Adviser Public Disclosure](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov) site in a couple of minutes. More on this in [SEC-registered AI investment advisers](https://www.astor.app/blog/sec-registered-ai-investment-advisers).

## Before you connect any app, check these

1. **Read-only access.** Confirm the connection can see your accounts but can't trade or move money in them.
2. **How you log in.** Prefer logging in on your broker's own page through OAuth. If the app asks for your brokerage password directly, find out who stores it and how.
3. **Which aggregator.** Find out whether the app uses an established network like Plaid, and whether it uses APIs or screen scraping.
4. **Independent security review.** Look for a SOC 2 Type II report or a public trust center.
5. **Encryption.** Your data should be encrypted in transit and at rest.
6. **Data use.** Read the privacy policy. FINRA suggests checking that the company collects only what it needs, whether it can sell your data, and how long it keeps it.
7. **Registration.** If the app gives investment advice, look it up on the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site.
8. **Breach plan.** FINRA suggests asking what happens if there's a breach and whether you'll be notified.
9. **How to leave.** Know how to disconnect and whether your data is deleted. FINRA warns that deleting the app may not end its access, and Plaid offers Plaid Portal to view and cut off connections you've made through it.

## How Astor handles your accounts

Astor connects to brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts at most major US institutions, such as Robinhood, Schwab and Coinbase, through Plaid. Astor can see your holdings through these connections, but it can't move money. You don't transfer anything to Astor, and your money stays where it is. ChatGPT and Perplexity also connect accounts through Plaid, and we compare them in [Astor vs. ChatGPT](https://www.astor.app/blog/astor-vs-chatgpt) and [Astor vs. Perplexity Finance](https://www.astor.app/blog/astor-vs-perplexity-finance).

Astor is SOC 2 Type II compliant (see [trust.astor.app](https://trust.astor.app)). Your data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and Astor never sells your data.

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424), so its recommendations are personalized investment advice and it owes clients a fiduciary duty. It does the research and the watching, and you make every decision.

If you use Text to Trade, available on Max plans, the trades happen in your own Robinhood agentic account, not in your other connected accounts. You set the amount the agent can use, you review and approve every trade, and nothing is bought until you say yes. In your other connected accounts, Astor still can't trade or move money. You can read more in [introducing Text to Trade](https://www.astor.app/blog/introducing-text-to-trade) or [see how Astor works](https://www.astor.app/#how-it-works).

## Frequently asked questions

### Is Plaid safe?

Plaid says it protects personal information with AES-256 and TLS encryption, it uses OAuth with institutions that support it so you log in on your bank or broker's own page, and it offers Plaid Portal for viewing and ending the connections you've made. No connection is risk-free, so it still matters which app you connect to and how that app handles your data.

### Can an app with read-only access sell my stocks?

No. A read-only connection lets an app see your holdings, balances and transactions, but not place trades or move money in that account. An app would need separate trading permission from you.

### Should I ever give an app my brokerage password?

Prefer apps that send you to your broker's own login page through OAuth, so the app never sees your password. FINRA lists cyber fraud, unauthorized transactions and identity theft among the risks of sharing financial data with aggregators, and notes that security experts often consider API connections safer than screen scraping. Some brokers don't support OAuth yet, so if you're asked for a password, find out who stores it and how.

### How do I disconnect an app from my brokerage account?

Remove the connection inside the app, and check whether your broker lists connected apps in its settings. If the app used Plaid, you can also see and end the connection in Plaid Portal. FINRA warns that deleting the app from your phone may not be enough to end its access.

### Can Astor trade or move money in my accounts?

Not in the accounts you connect. Astor connects through Plaid and can see your holdings, but it can't move money or trade in your connected accounts. The only place trades happen is your own Robinhood agentic account if you use Text to Trade, and only after you approve each one.

## Sources

- [FINRA: Know Before You Share, Be Mindful of Data Aggregation Risks (January 12, 2024)](https://www.finra.org/investors/insights/be-mindful-data-aggregation-risks), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Plaid Docs: OAuth guide](https://plaid.com/docs/link/oauth/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Plaid Docs: Investments](https://plaid.com/docs/investments/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Plaid: How we handle your data](https://plaid.com/how-we-handle-data/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Plaid: End User Privacy Policy](https://plaid.com/legal/#end-user-privacy-policy), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [AICPA & CIMA: System and Organization Controls, SOC suite of services](https://www.aicpa-cima.com/resources/landing/system-and-organization-controls-soc-suite-of-services), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [AICPA & CIMA: SOC 2 guide, Reporting on an Examination of Controls at a Service Organization](https://www.aicpa-cima.com/cpe-learning/publication/soc-2-reporting-on-an-examination-of-controls-at-a-service-organization-relevant-to-security-availability-processing-integrity-confidentiality-or-privacy), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC: SEC Adopts Rule Amendments to Regulation S-P (May 16, 2024)](https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024-58), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Investor.gov (SEC, NASAA and FINRA): Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Investment Fraud, Investor Alert](https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/general-resources/news-alerts/alerts-bulletins/investor-alerts/artificial-intelligence-fraud), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Investor.gov (SEC): Investment Advisers](https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/getting-started/working-investment-professional/investment-advisers), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Astor (CRD 338424)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/338424), accessed Oct 12, 2026

## Important information

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Astor provides non-discretionary advice: you make every investment decision. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Astor uses AI, which can make mistakes. This article is general information, not individualized investment, tax or legal advice. See our [disclosures](https://www.astor.app/legal).

## About comparisons

Information about other companies comes from their public websites and filings as of October 2026 and may have changed since; check each provider for current details. Comparisons and rankings reflect Astor’s opinion. Other companies’ names and trademarks belong to their owners, and no affiliation or endorsement is implied.

---

# Which AI investing apps work with the brokerage you already have?

Source: https://www.astor.app/blog/ai-investing-apps-that-work-with-your-brokerage
Published: 2026-10-14
Updated: 2026-10-20
By: Astor team, Astor (Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor)

Robo-advisors like Wealthfront and Betterment manage money you move into an account with them, AI built into a brokerage works with the accounts at that firm, and aggregator-based apps connect to the accounts you already have. Astor is in the last group: it's a personal investing agent from an SEC-registered investment adviser that connects to your existing brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts, watches what you own, and texts you when something matters, while your money stays where it is.

Which one fits depends on whether you want someone to manage the money or help with the accounts you already run yourself.

> **In one minute**
> - Wealthfront ($500 minimum, 0.25% a year) and Betterment ($5 a month or 0.25% a year, no minimum) manage money held in accounts with them. Both let you link outside accounts to see a bigger picture.
> - AI inside a brokerage, like Robinhood's Cortex, Schwab's Charley or Webull's Vega, is documented to work with that firm's accounts.
> - Aggregator-based apps, including Astor, Origin, Perplexity and ChatGPT's Finances feature, connect through services like Plaid, so you don't move anything.
> - Seeing your accounts isn't the same as advising on them. It's worth checking whether a registered investment adviser stands behind the recommendations.
> - Astor connects to most major US brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts, can't move money, and charges a flat subscription, never a percentage of your assets.

## Do robo-advisors work with the account you already have?

Not for managing it. A robo-advisor invests the money in an account you open and fund with it, and your existing accounts can be linked for context.

**Wealthfront**'s Automated Investing Account starts at $500 and charges a 0.25% annual advisory fee. You can link all your accounts in the app to see your net worth, and its planning tools, free for clients, use those links to project your net worth over time.

**Betterment** charges $5 a month for investing accounts, or 0.25% a year once your household balance reaches $24,000 or you set up $200 or more in monthly recurring deposits, with no minimum balance. Premium is 0.65% a year with a $100,000 minimum. You can sync external accounts to your goals, which Betterment says helps it give better advice, but its disclosure says its advisory services don't incorporate specific investments you hold elsewhere. Betterment's AI insights analyze the portfolio you're building, not your external accounts, and don't include recommendations.

That's the right setup if you want the investing done for you. The trade-off is that you move money, and moving a taxable account to a new manager can mean selling positions and owing tax on the gains.

## Which brokerages have their own AI, and what can it see?

Several big brokers now have an assistant, and each is documented to work with that firm's accounts.

- **Robinhood.** Cortex Assistant (with Gold, $5 a month) analyzes holdings across your Robinhood accounts, and Portfolio Digests use information from your Robinhood account. Robinhood Agents can view all your Robinhood accounts. Robinhood says Cortex Assistant isn't an investment adviser.
- **Schwab.** Charley, announced September 30, 2026, is rolling out in phases to eligible US retail clients and answers questions about balances, transactions and positions, grounded in Schwab's data.
- **Public.** Its AI Agents are wired to your Public portfolio and need your sign-off before running. Public says their outputs aren't investment recommendations or advice.
- **Webull.** Vega is a free built-in assistant for US customers, and Webull's connectors let you bring your Webull account into ChatGPT, Claude and Grok.

Some brokers do look outside their walls. Fidelity's Full View aggregates accounts held elsewhere at no extra charge, though it's a tracking tool, not an AI. SoFi Coach is an AI chat for SoFi Plus members that can connect accounts from more than 12,000 institutions, and SoFi says it doesn't provide investment advice or recommendations.

If nearly all your money sits at one broker, its own AI is the simplest option. If it's spread across a brokerage, a 401(k) and a crypto account, a single broker's assistant sees only part of the picture.

## Which AI apps read across all your accounts?

These connect through aggregators like Plaid, so your money stays where it is.

**Origin** connects brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts through partners including Plaid, MX and Mastercard, and says the connections are read-only by design. Its AI gives plain-language insights on allocation and risk alongside budgeting and planning, its advice is non-discretionary, and advisory services come through Origin Investment Advisory LLC, an SEC-registered adviser. It also offers its own investment accounts. As of October 2026 its homepage shows a limited-time price of $1 for the first year, against a listed $99.

**Perplexity** connects brokerage accounts through Plaid with read-only access, on desktop for signed-in users in the US and Canada. Basic portfolio features are free, and more advanced features are part of Pro and Max.

**ChatGPT** has a Finances feature for US users on its Free, Go, Plus and Pro plans that connects accounts through Plaid. OpenAI says ChatGPT can't move money, place trades or act as an investment adviser.

Budgeting apps also aggregate investments. Monarch connects to more than 13,000 institutions and has an AI Assistant ($99.99 a year or $14.99 a month), and Empower's dashboard is free.

## How do they compare?

Facts as of October 2026, from each provider's official pages.

| | Works with your existing accounts | Do you move money? | Registered adviser behind recommendations | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wealthfront | Links outside accounts for net worth and planning | Yes, for managed investing ($500 minimum) | Yes, Wealthfront Advisers LLC | 0.25%/year |
| Betterment | Syncs outside accounts to goals; advice doesn't cover specific outside holdings | Yes, for managed investing | Yes, Betterment LLC | $5/month or 0.25%/year |
| Robinhood Cortex | Robinhood accounts | Only to use it at Robinhood | No; Robinhood says Assistant isn't an investment adviser | Gold, $5/month |
| Schwab Charley | Schwab accounts | Only to use it at Schwab | Not stated | Not stated |
| Origin | Brokerage, retirement and crypto via Plaid, MX and Mastercard | No, though it also offers its own accounts | Yes, Origin Investment Advisory LLC | $1 first year (limited-time; listed at $99) |
| Perplexity | Brokerage accounts via Plaid, read-only | No | Not stated | Free; advanced features on Pro and Max |
| ChatGPT Finances | Accounts via Plaid (US); can't move money or trade | No | No; OpenAI says it can't act as an investment adviser | Free, Go, Plus and Pro plans |
| Astor | Links to most major US brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts | No | Yes, Gaus, Inc. (Astor) | Free to start; Pro $19/month, Max $29/month |

## When is a robo-advisor or your broker's AI the better choice?

If you want someone to pick and rebalance a portfolio for you, a robo-advisor like Wealthfront or Betterment is built for that, and Astor doesn't run a managed portfolio. If almost everything you own is at one broker, its built-in assistant is already there. If you want budgeting, net worth and financial planning in one app, Origin or Monarch covers more ground, since Astor doesn't do budgeting, tax filing or estate planning. And if you're on Android or the web, Astor is iPhone and iMessage only.

Our [robo-advisor vs. AI investing agent vs. financial adviser](https://www.astor.app/blog/robo-advisor-vs-ai-investing-agent-vs-financial-advisor) guide, plus [Astor vs. Wealthfront](https://www.astor.app/blog/astor-vs-wealthfront) and [Astor vs. Betterment](https://www.astor.app/blog/astor-vs-betterment), go deeper on these trade-offs.

## Why Astor

Astor is built for people who already invest on their own and want help with the accounts they have. It's a [personal investing agent](https://www.astor.app/blog/what-is-a-personal-investing-agent): it connects through Plaid to brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts at most major US institutions, like Robinhood, Schwab and Coinbase, and learns what you own across all of them. You don't transfer anything to Astor, and it can't move money.

From there it watches every position and the earnings dates, filings and headlines that touch them, and texts you what happened, why it matters to you, and what you could do. You can ask about your actual holdings in chat or in iMessage, and every alert links to the reasoning and sources behind it, because the AI can be wrong and you make the call. Astor is offered by Gaus, Inc., an SEC-registered investment adviser, so its recommendations are personalized advice and the firm owes you a fiduciary duty. It's free to start, and paid plans are a flat subscription, never a percentage of your assets.

## Frequently asked questions

### Can an AI investing app see my brokerage account without moving my money?

Yes. Apps that use read-only connections through providers like Plaid can see your holdings without being able to move money. Origin and Perplexity describe their connections as read-only, Astor can't move money in the accounts you connect, and OpenAI says ChatGPT's Finances feature can't move money or make trades.

### Do Wealthfront and Betterment advise on accounts I hold elsewhere?

Both let you link outside accounts to see your full picture. Betterment's disclosure says its advisory services don't incorporate specific investments you hold elsewhere, and their managed investing applies to money in accounts you hold with them.

### Is it safe to connect my brokerage account to an AI app?

Look for read-only access, a known connection provider, and a clear statement that the app can't move money or trade. Our guide on [whether it's safe to connect your brokerage account](https://www.astor.app/blog/is-it-safe-to-connect-your-brokerage-account) walks through what to check.

### Can Astor place trades in my accounts?

Not in your connected accounts, where Astor can see your holdings but can't trade or move money. The one exception is Text to Trade, available on Max plans, where you approve every trade and the order executes in your own Robinhood agentic account.

## Sources

- [Wealthfront: Wealthfront Fees](https://www.wealthfront.com/pricing), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Wealthfront: Serious investing made seriously easy](https://www.wealthfront.com/investing), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Wealthfront: Free Financial Planning Tools & Advice](https://www.wealthfront.com/planning), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Wealthfront: Full Disclosure](https://www.wealthfront.com/legal/disclosure), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Betterment: Betterment's Pricing](https://www.betterment.com/pricing), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Betterment: What are Betterment's fees?](https://www.betterment.com/help/fees), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Betterment: Can I sync my external accounts to my goals?](https://www.betterment.com/help/connecting-external-accounts-to-goal), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Betterment: Is there an AI feature that analyzes my portfolio?](https://www.betterment.com/help/is-there-an-ai-feature-that-analyzes-my-portfolio), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Robinhood: Robinhood Cortex Assistant Disclosure](https://cdn.robinhood.com/assets/robinhood/legal/cortex_assistant_disclosure.pdf), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Robinhood Support: Cortex Digests](https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/cortex-digests/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Robinhood Support: Robinhood Agents overview](https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/robinhood-agents-overview/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Charles Schwab Pressroom: Meet Charley, Schwab's New AI-Powered Assistant](https://pressroom.aboutschwab.com/press-releases/press-release/2026/Meet-Charley-Schwabs-New-AI-Powered-Assistant-Designed-to-Help-Clients-Get-Answers-and-Take-Action/default.aspx), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Public: AI Agents for Investing](https://public.com/ai-agents), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Webull: Webull Unveils Vega, the Next Evolution of Its AI-Powered Decision Partner](https://www.webull.com/news/13833094760489984), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Webull: Webull Launches ChatGPT, Claude & Grok Connectors, CLI, and Enhanced MCP](https://www.webull.com/news/15344695056475136), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Fidelity: New Full View](https://www.fidelity.com/go/monitoring-your-financial-portfolio), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SoFi: Introducing SoFi Coach](https://investors.sofi.com/news/news-details/2026/Introducing-SoFi-Coach-An-AI-Powered-Financial-Guide-to-Help-Members-Get-Their-Money-Right/default.aspx), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Origin: Origin Financial home page](https://useorigin.com/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Origin: Investment Tracking, High-Yield Cash Account & AI Insights](https://useorigin.com/products/investing), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Origin: Introducing the first AI financial advisor with full-context reasoning regulated by the SEC](https://useorigin.com/resources/blog/introducing-the-first-sec-regulated-ai-financial-advisor), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Origin: Is an AI financial advisor safe to use with my real bank account?](https://useorigin.com/resources/blog/is-an-ai-financial-advisor-safe-to-use-with-my-real-bank-account), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Perplexity: Computer is Now Your Personal CFO](https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/blog/plaid-integration-provides-full-view-of-personal-finances), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [OpenAI Help Center: Finances in ChatGPT](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001222-finances-in-chatgpt), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Monarch: Monarch Pricing](https://www.monarch.com/pricing), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Monarch: Easier Bank Connections, a Faster AI Assistant, and more](https://www.monarch.com/blog/september-product-update), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Empower: Financial Tools](https://www.empower.com/tools), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Wealthfront Advisers LLC (CRD 148456)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/148456), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Betterment (CRD 149117)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/149117), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Origin Investment Advisory LLC (CRD 305353)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/305353), accessed Oct 12, 2026

## Important information

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Astor provides non-discretionary advice: you make every investment decision. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Astor uses AI, which can make mistakes. This article is general information, not individualized investment, tax or legal advice. See our [disclosures](https://www.astor.app/legal).

## About comparisons

Information about other companies comes from their public websites and filings as of October 2026 and may have changed since; check each provider for current details. Comparisons and rankings reflect Astor’s opinion. Other companies’ names and trademarks belong to their owners, and no affiliation or endorsement is implied.

---

# How much does an AI financial advisor cost in 2026?

Source: https://www.astor.app/blog/ai-financial-advisor-cost
Published: 2026-10-13
Updated: 2026-10-20
By: Astor team, Astor (Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor)

An AI financial advisor costs anywhere from $0 to a few thousand dollars a year in 2026, and the fee model matters more than the sticker price. Astor, a personal investing agent, is free to start and costs $120 or $228 a year on its paid plans billed yearly, robo-advisors like Wealthfront and Betterment charge about 0.25% of the money they manage, and AI-assisted planning services run from $99 a year (Origin) to $3,950 a year and up (Range).

Those prices buy different things. Some services manage your money, some advise you on money you manage yourself, and some add human planners. Below are the three fee models, published prices from each company's own pages as of October 2026, and a worked example at $50,000 and $250,000. Astor makes one of the products here, so we've stuck to published prices and plain arithmetic.

> **In one minute**
> - The three fee models are a flat subscription (Astor, Origin, Range), a percentage of assets (Wealthfront, Betterment, Fidelity Go, Robinhood Strategies), and free with a brokerage, where the provider earns money another way (Schwab Intelligent Portfolios).
> - A 0.25% fee is $2.50 a year for every $1,000, so it's $125 on $50,000 and $625 on $250,000. A flat fee stays the same as your balance grows.
> - Astor costs $0, $120 or $228 a year billed yearly, never a percentage of your assets. It advises on the accounts you already have and doesn't manage money.
> - Human financial advisors most often charge a percentage of assets, with a median around 1% for a $1 million client, and flat-fee advisors had a median of $4,500 a year in 2024, according to Kitces Research.
> - Compare like with like. A managed portfolio, advice on money you manage yourself, and a human planner are different jobs at different prices.

## What are the ways AI financial advisors charge?

### A flat subscription

You pay the same amount whatever your balance.

- **Astor** is a personal investing agent on iPhone and in iMessage. It's free to start with no card. Pro is $19 a month, or $10 a month billed yearly ($120 a year). Max is $29 a month, or $19 a month billed yearly ($228 a year). It connects to your existing accounts, watches what you own and texts you what matters, and you make every decision.
- **Origin** lists its membership at $99 a year, and when we checked, its homepage was offering the first year for $1 as a limited-time promotion. It covers budgeting, spending, investment tracking and an AI financial advisor, and its Form CRS says you can buy sessions with its financial advisors separately. We compare it with Astor in [Astor vs. Origin](https://www.astor.app/blog/astor-vs-origin).
- **Range** has three flat tiers with no percentage of assets. Premium is $3,950 a year and includes investment management and access to a team of CFP professionals and CFA charterholders. Platinum is $5,950 and adds tax planning, CPAs and estate documents. Titanium is $12,500 and adds tax filing. Range notes that brokerage, fund and other third-party fees may apply.

### A percentage of assets

You pay a slice of the balance the service manages, so the dollar amount grows as your balance does.

- **Wealthfront** charges 0.25% a year for its Automated Investing Account, with a $500 minimum.
- **Betterment** charges $5 a month on its Digital plan, switching to 0.25% a year once you have $24,000 or set up $200 a month in recurring deposits. Premium, which adds advice from Betterment's financial consultants, is 0.65% a year with a $100,000 minimum.
- **Fidelity Go** charges nothing under $25,000 and 0.35% a year from $25,000.
- **Robinhood Strategies** charges 0.25% a year with a $50 minimum. Robinhood Gold members ($5 a month) pay the fee on only the first $100,000.

These fees pay for a managed portfolio, where the service picks the funds, trades and rebalances. The funds' own expense ratios are separate from these fees.

### Free with the brokerage

Some services charge no advisory fee and earn money elsewhere. Schwab Intelligent Portfolios charges no advisory fee and needs $5,000 to start, and Schwab says that's possible partly because of the revenue Schwab Bank earns on the cash the portfolios hold, which it calls an indirect cost. Wealthfront's Stock Investing Account has no out-of-pocket advisory fee either, and Wealthfront says the fee is paid out of the interest margin it earns on the Cash Account those clients keep. Both companies disclose this clearly, and it's a legitimate way to price. It just means free is paid for somewhere, and it's worth knowing where.

## What would you pay on $50,000 or $250,000?

Here is the yearly fee at two balances. It's fee arithmetic only, assuming the balance stays the same for the year and yearly billing where it's offered. It leaves out fund expense ratios, trading costs and taxes, and it says nothing about investment results.

| Service | Fee model | On $50,000 | On $250,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Astor Free | Flat | $0 | $0 |
| Astor Pro, billed yearly | Flat | $120 | $120 |
| Astor Max, billed yearly | Flat | $228 | $228 |
| Origin, after any first-year offer | Flat | $99 | $99 |
| Range Premium | Flat | $3,950 | $3,950 |
| Schwab Intelligent Portfolios | No advisory fee | $0 | $0 |
| Wealthfront Automated Investing | 0.25% | $125 | $625 |
| Betterment Digital | 0.25% at this size | $125 | $625 |
| Robinhood Strategies | 0.25% | $125 | $625, or $310 with Gold ($250 fee plus $60 for Gold) |
| Fidelity Go | 0.35% | $175 | $875 |
| Betterment Premium | 0.65% | Not eligible (needs $100,000) | $1,625 |
| Human advisor charging 1% | Percentage of assets | $500 | $2,500 |
| Flat-fee advisor at the 2024 median | Flat | $4,500 | $4,500 |

A few things stand out. At $50,000, most of the software options land between $99 and $228 a year. At $250,000, the percentage fees are five times what they were at $50,000, because the balance is five times larger (Robinhood's Gold cap is the exception), while the flat fees haven't moved. And the services that put a person in the loop, like Range, Betterment Premium or a traditional advisor, cost more, which is what you'd expect when you're paying for someone's time. Many advisors who charge a percentage also have minimums, so the 1% row is an illustration and not an offer you'd necessarily get at $50,000.

## What are you actually paying for?

This is the part a price table can't show. The fees above cover three different jobs.

A robo-advisor's fee pays for a managed portfolio. It picks diversified funds, trades for you under discretion you grant, rebalances and, for many, harvests tax losses. If that's what you want, compare robo-advisors with each other on fees, minimums and features.

A planning service or human advisor pays for a broader view. Range's tiers add tax planning and estate documents, and a traditional advisor's fee usually covers more than investing. Kitces Research found that advisors attribute about 41% of an asset-based fee, on average, to financial planning and other services rather than investment management.

Astor's fee pays for research and watching around investments you choose yourself. It follows every position in the accounts you connect, plus the earnings dates, filings and headlines that touch them, and texts you what happened, why it matters to you and what you could do. It doesn't run a managed portfolio, trade for you or rebalance anything, and it doesn't do budgeting, tax filing or estate planning. So if you want your money managed, Astor isn't a cheaper version of that. It's a different service.

## Which fee model fits you?

**If you want your money managed and you're starting small**, a percentage-based robo-advisor is hard to beat on cost. At $10,000, 0.25% is $25 a year, and Fidelity Go charges nothing under $25,000.

**If you invest on your own across a few accounts**, a flat subscription usually makes more sense, because what you need doesn't grow with your balance. That's the case Astor is built for. See [Astor vs. Wealthfront](https://www.astor.app/blog/astor-vs-wealthfront) and [Astor vs. Betterment](https://www.astor.app/blog/astor-vs-betterment) for how it compares with those two on more than price.

**If your finances are complicated**, with equity compensation, a business, an estate or retirement income to plan, a human advisor or a hybrid is often the right call. Whether a percentage fee or a flat fee works out cheaper depends on your balance, and the table above shows how to run the math. Our guide to [robo-advisors, AI investing agents and financial advisors](https://www.astor.app/blog/robo-advisor-vs-ai-investing-agent-vs-financial-advisor) goes through who each one suits.

Whatever you choose, read how the company gets paid. SEC-registered advisers that serve individual investors have to publish a Form CRS that explains their fees and conflicts in plain language, and you can find it on [adviserinfo.sec.gov](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov).

## Why Astor charges a flat fee

We charge a flat subscription because the work Astor does for you doesn't grow with your balance. Watching twenty positions takes the same effort whether they add up to $20,000 or $2 million, so the price is the same too, and our revenue doesn't depend on how much money you have or where you keep it.

You can start without paying. The free plan needs no card and includes one custom alert, so you can see whether Astor is useful before you spend anything. Pro adds custom deep-dive reports, more scheduled alerts and much higher chat limits, and Max adds Text to Trade. Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser, so its recommendations are personalized investment advice and it owes clients a fiduciary duty. The AI can be wrong, which is why it shows its sources and you make every decision.

## Frequently asked questions

### How much does Astor cost?

Astor is free to start, with no card required. Pro is $19 a month or $10 a month billed yearly ($120 a year), and Max is $29 a month or $19 a month billed yearly ($228 a year). It's a flat subscription, never a percentage of your assets. See [pricing](https://www.astor.app/#pricing).

### Is there a free AI financial advisor?

A few services have a free option. Astor's free plan needs no card and includes one custom alert. Among robo-advisors, Schwab Intelligent Portfolios charges no advisory fee with a $5,000 minimum, and Fidelity Go charges no advisory fee under $25,000. Free services can still have costs, like fund expenses, and some earn revenue in other ways that they disclose.

### Is a 0.25% fee a lot?

It's $2.50 a year for every $1,000, so $125 on $50,000 and $625 on $250,000. That's low next to the roughly 1% median a human advisor charges a $1 million client, according to Kitces Research. Whether it's a lot depends on what it buys, which for a robo-advisor is a managed portfolio.

### Do robo-advisor fees include fund expenses?

No. Wealthfront and Betterment both say the expense ratios of the funds in your portfolio are separate from, and in addition to, their advisory fee. Check each fund's expense ratio to see your full cost.

### How much does a human financial advisor cost?

Kitces Research puts the median asset-based fee at about 1% for a $1 million client, or $10,000 a year, with lower rates on larger portfolios. Advisors who bill by the hour charge about $300 an hour on average, and flat-fee advisors had a median of $4,500 a year in 2024. Many advisors who charge a percentage also set an asset minimum.

## Sources

- [Wealthfront: Fees](https://www.wealthfront.com/pricing), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Wealthfront Advisers LLC and Wealthfront Brokerage LLC: Form CRS, July 23, 2026](https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/crs/crs_148456.pdf), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Betterment: Pricing](https://www.betterment.com/pricing), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Betterment LLC: Form CRS, July 31, 2026](https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/crs/crs_149117.pdf), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Origin: Home page and pricing](https://useorigin.com), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Origin Investment Advisory LLC: Form CRS](https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/crs/crs_305353.pdf), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Range: Pricing](https://www.range.com/pricing), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Range Advisory, LLC: Form CRS, September 2026](https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/crs/crs_321969.pdf), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Fidelity: Fidelity Go](https://www.fidelity.com/managed-accounts/fidelity-go/overview), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Robinhood: Robinhood Strategies](https://robinhood.com/us/en/strategies/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Robinhood: Robinhood Gold](https://robinhood.com/us/en/gold/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Charles Schwab: Schwab Intelligent Portfolios](https://www.schwab.com/intelligent-portfolios), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Kitces: How Financial Advisors Actually Charge For Their Services](https://www.kitces.com/blog/financial-advisors-charge-services-fee-structure-advisory-firm-profession-aum-pricing-insight/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Kitces: Improving The Scalability Of Advisory Firm Flat-Fee Models](https://www.kitces.com/blog/growth-scaling-flat-fee-model-value-of-advice-aum-fee-challenges-planning/), accessed Oct 12, 2026

## Important information

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Astor provides non-discretionary advice: you make every investment decision. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Astor uses AI, which can make mistakes. This article is general information, not individualized investment, tax or legal advice. See our [disclosures](https://www.astor.app/legal).

## About comparisons

Information about other companies comes from their public websites and filings as of October 2026 and may have changed since; check each provider for current details. Comparisons and rankings reflect Astor’s opinion. Other companies’ names and trademarks belong to their owners, and no affiliation or endorsement is implied.

---

# Which AI investing apps are SEC-registered investment advisers?

Source: https://www.astor.app/blog/sec-registered-ai-investment-advisers
Published: 2026-10-13
Updated: 2026-10-20
By: Astor team, Astor (Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor)

Of the AI investing apps we looked at, Astor, Origin, Range, Betterment and Wealthfront are offered through SEC-registered investment advisers, while Public and Robinhood are brokerages that label their AI assistants as information rather than advice, and ChatGPT and Perplexity aren't registered advisers. Astor, a personal investing agent on iPhone and in iMessage, is offered by Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor, an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424).

We make Astor, so we have a stake in this question. That's why every registration below links to the regulator's own record, so you can check it yourself in a few minutes. Everything is as of October 12, 2026.

> **In one minute**
> - An SEC-registered investment adviser owes its clients a fiduciary duty, which the SEC describes as a duty of care and a duty of loyalty.
> - Registration isn't an endorsement. The law bars advisers from implying the SEC approved them, and it says nothing about whether an AI is accurate.
> - What matters is who stands behind the AI's output. Some companies own a registered adviser but label their AI chat as information, not advice.
> - You can check any firm for free on the SEC's adviser database (adviserinfo.sec.gov) or FINRA's BrokerCheck.
> - AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity can be useful for research, but their providers say not to treat the output as investment advice.

## What does it mean to be an SEC-registered investment adviser?

An investment adviser is a firm or person paid to give advice about investing in securities like stocks, bonds and ETFs. Advisers generally have to register with the SEC or with state securities regulators. Once registered, a firm files public disclosures on Form ADV and gives retail clients a short relationship summary called Form CRS, which covers its services, fees, conflicts of interest and any disciplinary history.

The part that matters most to you is the fiduciary duty. The SEC says an adviser's fiduciary duty applies to the entire relationship with a client and is made up of a duty of care and a duty of loyalty. In plain terms, an adviser has to act in your best interest and can't put its own interests ahead of yours. That duty belongs to the firm, not the software. An AI can be how a registered adviser delivers its advice, but the adviser is the company.

## What doesn't SEC registration mean?

It doesn't mean the SEC approved the firm. The Investment Advisers Act makes it unlawful for a registered adviser to imply that the government has sponsored, recommended or approved it. The SEC's own adviser database opens with a warning that the SEC doesn't approve or endorse any firm.

It doesn't mean the AI is right. Registration is about who's accountable, not about how good a model is. In March 2024, the SEC charged two registered advisers, Delphia and Global Predictions, with making false and misleading statements about their use of AI, and the two firms agreed to pay $400,000 in combined penalties.

And it doesn't mean every feature is advice. A company can own a registered adviser while describing its AI chat as information only. That's common, and it's not a trick. It just means you should read how each firm labels the AI's output before you lean on it.

## How are brokers different from advisers?

A broker-dealer buys and sells securities for customers and may also make recommendations. Brokers register with the SEC and become FINRA members, and when they recommend something, they're required to act in your best interest under a rule called Regulation Best Interest. Brokers are typically paid per transaction, while advisers are typically paid for ongoing advice.

Many investing apps have both. Public, Robinhood, Betterment and Wealthfront each run a broker-dealer alongside a registered adviser, and which entity is behind a given feature changes what rules apply to it.

## Which AI investing apps are registered?

Registration status is from the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site and FINRA BrokerCheck, checked October 12, 2026. The last column is how each provider describes its AI, in its own disclosures.

| App | Company behind it | Registration | CRD | How the provider describes the AI's output |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Astor | Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor | SEC-registered investment adviser | 338424 | Personalized investment advice from a fiduciary. You make every decision |
| Origin | Origin Investment Advisory LLC | SEC-registered investment adviser | 305353 | Markets AI Advisor as SEC-regulated. Advice is non-discretionary and requires a suitability questionnaire first |
| Range | Range Advisory, LLC | SEC-registered investment adviser | 321969 | Its AI, Rai, supports a human advisory team. Range manages assets under a discretionary agreement |
| Betterment | Betterment LLC (adviser), Betterment Securities (broker-dealer) | Adviser and broker-dealer | 149117, 47788 | Custom portfolio AI insights don't include recommendations |
| Wealthfront | Wealthfront Advisers LLC (adviser), Wealthfront Brokerage LLC (broker-dealer) | Adviser and broker-dealer | 148456, 153407 | Automated investing run by software |
| Public | Open to the Public Investing, Inc. (broker-dealer), Public Advisors LLC (adviser) | Broker-dealer and affiliated adviser | 127818, 318234 | Agentic Brokerage outputs are informational and illustrative. Alpha isn't research or a recommendation |
| Robinhood | Robinhood Financial LLC (broker-dealer), Robinhood Asset Management (adviser for Robinhood Strategies) | Broker-dealer and affiliated adviser | 165998, 323736 | Cortex Assistant isn't an investment adviser. Robinhood Labs, behind Robinhood Agents, isn't a broker-dealer or adviser |
| Perplexity Finance | Perplexity | No SEC or FINRA registration found for Perplexity AI | None | Terms say not to rely on output for investment or financial advice |
| ChatGPT (Finances) | OpenAI | Not registered, per OpenAI | None | Not a fiduciary, registered investment adviser or broker-dealer. Finances can't make trades |

A few things stand out. Astor and Origin are both built around an AI that gives personalized advice with an SEC-registered adviser behind it, and both leave the decision with you. Range is registered too, but it's a full-service relationship with a human team that manages your portfolio. Betterment and Wealthfront are registered robo-advisors that manage portfolios for you. Public and Robinhood have affiliated registered advisers for some products, but the AI assistants in their apps, like Alpha, Public's Agents and Cortex Assistant, are labeled as information. ChatGPT and Perplexity are general AI tools that can see your accounts if you connect them, and their providers say not to treat what they say as investment advice.

## How do you check an AI investing app yourself?

It takes about five minutes.

1. **Find the legal name.** Look in the app's footer, disclosures or App Store listing for the company that provides advisory or brokerage services. Brand names and legal names often differ, like Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor, or Open to the Public Investing, Inc. for Public.
2. **Search the SEC's adviser database.** Go to adviserinfo.sec.gov and search the firm's name or CRD number. Look for an SEC registration with the status "Approved."
3. **Search BrokerCheck if it's a broker.** FINRA's BrokerCheck at brokercheck.finra.org lists broker-dealers and any disciplinary history.
4. **Read the Form CRS.** It's a short summary of the firm's services, fees, conflicts and disciplinary history, written for regular investors.
5. **Read the AI's disclosure.** Check whether the firm calls the AI's output advice or information, and whether the AI can trade without your approval.

If an app says it's "regulated" but you can't find the firm on either database, treat that as a reason to ask questions before connecting your accounts. Our guide on [connecting your brokerage account safely](https://www.astor.app/blog/is-it-safe-to-connect-your-brokerage-account) covers what else to check.

## Why Astor

Astor is a [personal investing agent](https://www.astor.app/blog/what-is-a-personal-investing-agent) offered by an SEC-registered investment adviser. It connects to the brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts you already have, follows every position you own, and texts you what happened, why it matters to you and what you could do. Because Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is a registered adviser, those recommendations are personalized investment advice and the firm owes you a fiduciary duty.

You make every decision. Astor can see your holdings but can't move money, and with Text to Trade, available on Max plans, you approve every trade and orders execute in your own Robinhood agentic account. The AI can be wrong, which is why every alert links to its reasoning and sources. It's a flat subscription, free to start, never a percentage of your assets.

Registration isn't the only thing to weigh. If you want budgeting in the same app, Origin may suit you better, and if you want your portfolio managed for you, a robo-advisor or Range is built for that.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is AI financial advice regulated?

Investment advice is regulated through the firm that gives it. If a registered investment adviser gives you personalized advice through an AI, that firm's fiduciary duty and SEC rules apply. General AI tools are a different case, and OpenAI and Perplexity both say their output isn't investment advice and shouldn't be relied on that way.

### Does SEC registration mean the SEC approved the app?

No. Registered advisers are legally barred from implying that the SEC sponsored, recommended or approved them, and the SEC says it doesn't endorse any firm. Registration means the firm files public disclosures, owes clients a fiduciary duty and falls under SEC oversight.

### Is ChatGPT a registered investment adviser?

No. OpenAI's help page for Finances in ChatGPT says ChatGPT isn't a fiduciary, registered investment adviser, broker-dealer, tax preparer or law firm, and that its responses are for informational and planning purposes. Finances also can't make trades or move money.

### Is Robinhood Cortex investment advice?

No. Robinhood's disclosure says Cortex Assistant isn't an investment adviser and doesn't provide investment advice or recommendations. It's offered to Gold members through Robinhood Financial LLC, a broker-dealer.

### How do I look up Astor's registration?

Search "Astor" or CRD 338424 on adviserinfo.sec.gov. The record lists the firm as Astor, also known as Gaus, Inc., registered with the SEC and based in San Francisco.

## Sources

- [Investor.gov: Investment Advisers](https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/getting-started/working-investment-professional/investment-advisers), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Investor.gov: Brokers](https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/getting-started/working-investment-professional/brokers), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Investor.gov: Form CRS relationship summary](https://www.investor.gov/CRS), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC: Commission Interpretation Regarding Standard of Conduct for Investment Advisers (Release IA-5248)](https://www.sec.gov/files/rules/interp/2019/ia-5248.pdf), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC: Press Release 2019-89, standards of conduct for investment professionals](https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2019-89), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Legal Information Institute: 15 U.S.C. 80b-8, Prohibited representations](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/80b-8), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC: Press Release 2024-36, SEC Charges Two Investment Advisers with Making False and Misleading Statements About Their Use of Artificial Intelligence](https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024-36), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Astor (CRD #338424)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/338424), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Origin Investment Advisory LLC (CRD #305353)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/305353), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Range Advisory, LLC (CRD #321969)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/321969), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Betterment (CRD #149117)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/149117), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [FINRA BrokerCheck: Betterment Securities (CRD #47788)](https://brokercheck.finra.org/firm/summary/47788), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Wealthfront Advisers LLC (CRD #148456)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/148456), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [FINRA BrokerCheck: Wealthfront Brokerage LLC (CRD #153407)](https://brokercheck.finra.org/firm/summary/153407), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [FINRA BrokerCheck: Open to the Public Investing, Inc. (CRD #127818)](https://brokercheck.finra.org/firm/summary/127818), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Public Advisors LLC (CRD #318234)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/318234), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [FINRA BrokerCheck: Robinhood Financial LLC (CRD #165998)](https://brokercheck.finra.org/firm/summary/165998), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Robinhood Asset Management (CRD #323736)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/323736), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Origin: Introducing the First SEC-Regulated AI Financial Advisor](https://useorigin.com/resources/blog/introducing-the-first-sec-regulated-ai-financial-advisor), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Range: Home page and disclosures](https://www.range.com/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Betterment Help: Is there an AI feature that analyzes my portfolio?](https://www.betterment.com/help/is-there-an-ai-feature-that-analyzes-my-portfolio), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Wealthfront: Pricing](https://www.wealthfront.com/pricing), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Public: AI Agents](https://public.com/ai-agents), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Public Help Center: What is Alpha?](https://help.public.com/en/articles/9354354-what-is-alpha), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Robinhood: Robinhood Cortex Assistant Disclosure](https://cdn.robinhood.com/assets/robinhood/legal/cortex_assistant_disclosure.pdf), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Robinhood Support: Robinhood Agents overview](https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/robinhood-agents-overview/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Robinhood Support: About Robinhood Strategies](https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/about-strategies/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Perplexity: Terms of Service](https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/legal/terms-of-service), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [OpenAI Help Center: Finances in ChatGPT](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001222-finances-in-chatgpt), accessed Oct 12, 2026

## Important information

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Astor provides non-discretionary advice: you make every investment decision. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Astor uses AI, which can make mistakes. This article is general information, not individualized investment, tax or legal advice. See our [disclosures](https://www.astor.app/legal).

## About comparisons

Information about other companies comes from their public websites and filings as of October 2026 and may have changed since; check each provider for current details. Comparisons and rankings reflect Astor’s opinion. Other companies’ names and trademarks belong to their owners, and no affiliation or endorsement is implied.

---

# Robo-advisor vs. AI investing agent vs. financial advisor: what’s the difference?

Source: https://www.astor.app/blog/robo-advisor-vs-ai-investing-agent-vs-financial-advisor
Published: 2026-10-12
Updated: 2026-10-20
By: Astor team, Astor (Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor)

A robo-advisor runs an automated portfolio for you, an AI investing agent like Astor watches the investments you already own and helps you decide what to do, and a financial advisor is a person who advises you across your whole financial life. The differences that matter most are who makes the decisions, how much of your life the help covers, and how you pay for it.

Astor makes one of these, a personal investing agent, so read this with that in mind. We've described all three the way their providers and independent research describe them, with prices as of October 2026.

> **In one minute**
> - A robo-advisor, like Wealthfront, Betterment, Schwab Intelligent Portfolios or Fidelity Go, builds and manages a diversified ETF portfolio with discretion. Their automated plans charge 0.35% of assets a year or less (Betterment charges a flat $5 a month on smaller balances), and fund expenses are separate.
> - An AI investing agent connects to the accounts you already have, watches what you own, and tells you what matters. With Astor, you make every decision, and the price is a flat subscription.
> - A financial advisor is a person who can look at investments, retirement, taxes, insurance and estate questions together. Most charge a percentage of assets, often around 1%, and others charge by the hour, per plan or a flat yearly fee.
> - All three can be registered investment advisers with a duty to act in your best interest.
> - You can combine them, for example a planner for the big picture and software for the day-to-day.

## What does a robo-advisor do?

A robo-advisor is software that manages a portfolio for you. You answer questions about your goals and how much risk you can take, it recommends a diversified mix of low-cost ETFs, and you give it discretionary authority to buy and sell inside the account. From then on it keeps the portfolio near its target mix, and many offer tax-loss harvesting in taxable accounts.

Prices for the automated tiers, as of October 2026:

- **Wealthfront** charges 0.25% a year, with a $500 minimum.
- **Betterment** charges $5 a month on smaller balances and 0.25% a year once you have $24,000 or set up $200 a month in recurring deposits.
- **Fidelity Go** charges nothing under $25,000 and 0.35% a year from $25,000, which also adds one-on-one coaching calls.
- **Schwab Intelligent Portfolios** charges no advisory fee and needs $5,000 to start. Schwab says it can do that partly because of the revenue Schwab Bank earns on the cash the portfolios hold.

Fund expense ratios are separate from these fees. The strengths are real. Robo-advisors cost little, and software sticks to the plan in a bad week. The trade-off is that they manage the money you move into their accounts, so the stocks you pick yourself somewhere else aren't part of the job.

## What does an AI investing agent do?

An AI investing agent, as we use the term, works with the accounts you already have. It doesn't hold your money or manage a portfolio, and it comes to you when something matters so you can decide what to do.

Astor is a personal investing agent on iPhone and in iMessage. It connects to brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts at most major US institutions, like Robinhood, Schwab and Coinbase, through Plaid. It follows every position you own, plus the earnings dates, filings and headlines that touch them, and texts you what happened, why it matters to you and what you could do. You can ask it anything about your actual holdings, set [scheduled alerts](https://www.astor.app/blog/scheduled-alerts), and, with [Text to Trade](https://www.astor.app/blog/introducing-text-to-trade) on Max plans, turn an idea into a proposed basket of companies that only executes in your own Robinhood agentic account after you approve each trade.

The limits are worth saying plainly. An agent doesn't build a financial plan, and Astor doesn't do budgeting, tax filing or estate planning. The AI can be wrong, which is why Astor shows the reasoning and sources behind every alert and you make the call. Not every AI investing tool is a registered adviser, either, so check before you rely on one. We compare a few in [SEC-registered AI investment advisers](https://www.astor.app/blog/sec-registered-ai-investment-advisers), and [what is a personal investing agent](https://www.astor.app/blog/what-is-a-personal-investing-agent) goes deeper on the category.

## What does a financial advisor do?

A good financial advisor is a person who gets to know your whole situation and stays with you over years. Many cover far more than investments, like retirement income, taxes, insurance, estate planning, equity compensation or selling a business, and they can coordinate those pieces with your accountant and attorney. For people with complex finances, or who simply want a dedicated person to call, that's hard to replace.

Advisors charge in a few ways, according to Kitces Research, which surveys financial advisors:

- **A percentage of assets.** This is the most common model. In Kitces's 2024 data, 92% of advisors used asset-based fees in some way and 86% of firms used them as their main way of charging. The median for an advisor who charges only an asset-based fee is about 1% for a client with $1 million, or $10,000 a year, and rates usually step down on larger portfolios. That fee typically pays for more than investing, since advisors attribute about 41% of it, on average, to planning and other services.
- **Hourly.** Advisors who bill by the hour charge about $300 an hour on average, and an average of $2,886 for most financial plans.
- **A flat yearly fee.** Subscription or retainer pricing had a median of $4,500 a year in 2024, up from $3,000 in 2022.

Many advisors who charge a percentage of assets also set a minimum. About two-thirds of those firms have one, roughly a third of them at $1 million or more, though most say they waive it at least occasionally. There are also hybrids between a robo-advisor and a person. Betterment Premium adds advice from its financial consultants for 0.65% a year with a $100,000 minimum, and Vanguard Personal Advisor Select pairs you with a dedicated CFP professional for up to 0.30% a year with a $500,000 minimum.

You'll see both spellings, "adviser" and "advisor." Adviser is the term in SEC rules, advisor is the everyday spelling, and here they mean the same thing.

## How do the three compare?

| | Robo-advisor | AI investing agent (Astor) | Financial advisor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who makes the decisions | The robo-advisor, under discretion you grant | You, with research and alerts from Astor | Depends on the agreement. Many manage with discretion, and some only advise |
| What it covers | A diversified portfolio inside its own accounts | Every holding in the accounts you connect | Your whole financial picture, often including taxes, retirement and estate |
| Typical cost (October 2026) | 0.35% of assets a year or less for automated tiers (Betterment: $5/month on small balances) | Free, or $120 to $228 a year billed yearly | Often about 1% of assets, about $300 an hour, or a $4,500 median yearly flat fee |
| Minimums | $0 to $5,000 for the examples above | Nothing to deposit | Common for asset-based firms, often $500,000 or more |
| Where your money is | In an account at the robo-advisor's broker | Stays in your own accounts | Usually at a third-party custodian |
| How you interact | An app and website | iPhone and iMessage | Meetings, calls and email with a person |
| Best for | Hands-off investors who want a diversified portfolio | People who pick their own investments and want help keeping up | People who want a dedicated person and comprehensive planning |

## Which one should you choose?

Start with how much you want to decide yourself, then with how complicated your finances are.

**Choose a robo-advisor** if you'd rather not pick investments and want a diversified portfolio that runs without you. It's the lowest-effort option, and at small balances one of the cheapest.

**Choose an AI investing agent** if you already invest on your own and want to stay in charge. It's built for people who hold individual stocks or ETFs across a few accounts and want to know when something touches them, without moving money or paying a percentage of their assets. You can see how Astor lines up against the robo-advisors in [Astor vs. Wealthfront](https://www.astor.app/blog/astor-vs-wealthfront) and [Astor vs. Betterment](https://www.astor.app/blog/astor-vs-betterment).

**Choose a financial advisor** if your situation has several moving parts, like equity compensation, a business, an inheritance, or planning how to draw down savings in retirement, or if you simply want a dedicated person who knows your whole picture. That kind of judgment and coordination is what a good advisor is for, and it's not something Astor does.

**Combine them** if that fits better. A flat-fee or hourly planner can build the plan, a robo-advisor can run a hands-off core, and an agent like Astor can watch the accounts you manage yourself.

## Why we built Astor as an agent

The way we saw it when we started Astor, people who invest on their own had two main kinds of help. A robo-advisor would run a portfolio for them, and a financial advisor would plan and invest alongside them, usually for a percentage of assets and often with a minimum. If you wanted to keep making your own picks, you were mostly doing the research and the watching yourself.

Astor is for that person. It watches everything you own across the accounts you connect and texts you what changed and why it matters, with the sources attached, for a flat subscription that doesn't grow with your balance. Because Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser, its recommendations are personalized investment advice and it owes clients a fiduciary duty. It never trades or rebalances for you. It does the research and the watching, and you make every decision.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is a robo-advisor a financial advisor?

Robo-advisors like Wealthfront and Betterment are registered with the SEC as investment advisers, so legally they're advisers. The difference is that software, not a person, builds and manages your portfolio, and the service usually covers that portfolio rather than your whole financial life.

### Is an AI investing agent a registered investment adviser?

Some are and some aren't, so check. Astor is. Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD 338424), and the AI is the tool the firm uses to do the work. You can look up any firm on the SEC's [Investment Adviser Public Disclosure](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov) site. Registration doesn't mean the SEC endorses a firm.

### How much does a financial advisor cost?

It depends on how they charge. Kitces Research puts the median asset-based fee at about 1% for a $1 million client, or $10,000 a year, with lower rates on larger portfolios. Hourly advisors average about $300 an hour, and flat-fee advisors had a median of $4,500 a year in 2024.

### Do I need a financial advisor if I use a robo-advisor or an AI agent?

Not necessarily, since they solve different problems. If you have complex questions about taxes, retirement income, estate planning or a business, a human advisor is the better fit for those, and you can use one alongside software.

### Are robo-advisors and AI investing agents fiduciaries?

Registered investment advisers owe their clients a fiduciary duty, which the SEC describes as a duty of care and a duty of loyalty. Wealthfront's and Betterment's Form CRS both say they have to act in your best interest when acting as your adviser. Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser and owes clients a fiduciary duty too.

## Sources

- [Kitces: How Financial Advisors Actually Charge For Their Services](https://www.kitces.com/blog/financial-advisors-charge-services-fee-structure-advisory-firm-profession-aum-pricing-insight/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Kitces: Improving The Scalability Of Advisory Firm Flat-Fee Models](https://www.kitces.com/blog/growth-scaling-flat-fee-model-value-of-advice-aum-fee-challenges-planning/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC: Commission Interpretation Regarding Standard of Conduct for Investment Advisers (2019)](https://www.sec.gov/files/rules/interp/2019/ia-5248.pdf), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Wealthfront: Fees](https://www.wealthfront.com/pricing), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Wealthfront Advisers LLC and Wealthfront Brokerage LLC: Form CRS, July 23, 2026](https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/crs/crs_148456.pdf), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Betterment: Pricing](https://www.betterment.com/pricing), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Betterment LLC: Form CRS, July 31, 2026](https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/crs/crs_149117.pdf), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Fidelity: Fidelity Go](https://www.fidelity.com/managed-accounts/fidelity-go/overview), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Charles Schwab: Schwab Intelligent Portfolios](https://www.schwab.com/intelligent-portfolios), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Vanguard: Personal Advisor](https://investor.vanguard.com/advice/personal-advisor), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor (CRD 338424)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/338424), accessed Oct 12, 2026

## Important information

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Astor provides non-discretionary advice: you make every investment decision. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Astor uses AI, which can make mistakes. This article is general information, not individualized investment, tax or legal advice. See our [disclosures](https://www.astor.app/legal).

## About comparisons

Information about other companies comes from their public websites and filings as of October 2026 and may have changed since; check each provider for current details. Comparisons and rankings reflect Astor’s opinion. Other companies’ names and trademarks belong to their owners, and no affiliation or endorsement is implied.

---

# What is a personal investing agent?

Source: https://www.astor.app/blog/what-is-a-personal-investing-agent
Published: 2026-10-12
Updated: 2026-10-20
By: Astor team, Astor (Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor)

A personal investing agent is AI software that connects to the investment accounts you already have, learns what you own, watches the market for what matters to those holdings, and tells you what happened, why it matters to you, and what you could do. It does the research and the watching, and you make every decision. Astor is a personal investing agent on iPhone and in iMessage, and the company behind it, Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor, is an SEC-registered investment adviser.

The word "agent" is the important part. A chatbot waits for your question, while an agent has a standing job, here keeping an eye on your portfolio, and does it on its own initiative within limits you set. "Personal" means everything it tells you starts from what you actually own.

> **In one minute**
> - A personal investing agent connects to your accounts, follows what you own, and tells you when something matters. You make every decision.
> - It differs from a robo-advisor, which the SEC describes as a program that creates and manages a portfolio for you.
> - It differs from a general AI chatbot, which answers when you ask, and from a brokerage's built-in assistant, which works inside one brokerage.
> - Look for registration as an investment adviser, read-only access, your approval for every decision, and sources shown for every claim.
> - The AI can be wrong, an agent doesn't replace tax or estate planning, and it doesn't hold or manage your money.

## What does a personal investing agent do?

It does four things.

1. **It connects to your accounts.** It links to your brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts through data networks like Plaid, so it sees your real holdings without your money moving anywhere.
2. **It learns what you own.** It knows your positions across every account and how they group into themes, like AI infrastructure or nuclear power.
3. **It watches for what matters to you.** It follows the earnings dates, filings and headlines that touch your holdings, and tells you when something crosses a line you care about. When nothing matters, it stays quiet.
4. **It explains and suggests.** It tells you what happened, why it matters to your portfolio, and what you could do, with the sources behind each claim. You can ask follow-up questions about your actual holdings.

Some agents can also help you act on an idea, as long as you approve each trade. What a personal investing agent doesn't do is decide for you.

## How is it different from a robo-advisor, a chatbot or a human adviser?

It overlaps with four things people already use.

### How is it different from a robo-advisor?

The SEC describes a robo-advisor as an automated advisory program that asks you about your goals, time horizon and risk tolerance, then creates and manages an investment portfolio for you. You open an account with the robo-advisor, and it manages the portfolio based on your answers. That's a good fit if you want to hand over the day-to-day decisions.

A personal investing agent is built for the opposite preference. Your money stays in the accounts you already have, you keep choosing your own investments, and the agent doesn't rebalance, trade or manage anything on its own. More in [robo-advisor vs. AI investing agent vs. financial advisor](https://www.astor.app/blog/robo-advisor-vs-ai-investing-agent-vs-financial-advisor), [Astor vs. Wealthfront](https://www.astor.app/blog/astor-vs-wealthfront) and [Astor vs. Betterment](https://www.astor.app/blog/astor-vs-betterment).

### How is it different from ChatGPT or another AI chatbot?

General chatbots have gotten closer. In the US, ChatGPT's Finances feature can connect your accounts through Plaid and review your allocation, and Perplexity lets users in the US and Canada link brokerage accounts through Plaid too. Both can send you updates, mostly through scheduled tasks and alerts you set up yourself.

Two differences remain. A chatbot is general-purpose, so watching your portfolio is something you configure rather than the thing it's for. And OpenAI says ChatGPT isn't a fiduciary or a registered investment adviser, while Perplexity says its finance data isn't investment advice. When a personal investing agent is offered by a registered investment adviser, its recommendations are personalized advice and the firm owes you a fiduciary duty. More in [Astor vs. ChatGPT](https://www.astor.app/blog/astor-vs-chatgpt) and [Astor vs. Perplexity Finance](https://www.astor.app/blog/astor-vs-perplexity-finance).

### How is it different from your brokerage's AI assistant?

Some brokerages now build an assistant into their app. Robinhood's Cortex, for example, is available to Robinhood Gold members ($5 a month) and can give portfolio insights, monitor market moves and news that may affect your portfolio, and prepare orders that you review and submit. Robinhood says Cortex can't give buy or sell recommendations and isn't an investment adviser.

A brokerage assistant lives inside that brokerage's app, so if you also have a 401(k) or crypto elsewhere, it sees only one piece of the picture. A personal investing agent sits across all of your accounts. More in [AI investing apps that work with your brokerage](https://www.astor.app/blog/ai-investing-apps-that-work-with-your-brokerage).

### How is it different from a human financial adviser?

A human investment adviser gives ongoing advice about buying, selling and holding investments, monitors how your investments line up with your goals, and often offers financial planning too, according to the SEC's Investor.gov. Registered advisers are required to act in your best interest. A good adviser brings judgment about your whole life, from taxes and estate planning to the hard choices where you want a person to talk to. A personal investing agent doesn't replace that.

What an agent offers is narrower. It follows every position you own and reaches you by text when something matters. Investor.gov notes that advisers' fees are typically based on the value of the assets in your account, while Astor charges a flat subscription. If you want a person, a human adviser is the right choice, and if you want to keep making your own decisions with something watching what you own, an agent fits. More on costs in [how much an AI financial advisor costs](https://www.astor.app/blog/ai-financial-advisor-cost).

### Personal investing agent vs. the alternatives

| | Personal investing agent | Robo-advisor | AI chatbot | Brokerage AI assistant | Human adviser |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main job | Watching and explaining what you own | Building and managing a portfolio for you | Answering questions on almost anything | Helping you use one brokerage's app | Ongoing advice, often with planning |
| Who makes decisions | You | The robo-advisor manages the portfolio | You | You | Depends on your agreement |
| Sees your holdings | All connected accounts | The account it manages | If you connect or paste them | That brokerage's accounts | What you share with them |
| Tells you when something matters | Yes, without being asked | Varies | Mostly through tasks or alerts you set up | Varies | Varies |
| Fiduciary duty | Only if the company is a registered adviser (Astor is) | Registered robo-advisors have one | ChatGPT doesn't, according to OpenAI | Cortex isn't an adviser, according to Robinhood | Registered advisers have one |
| Example | Astor | Wealthfront, Betterment | ChatGPT, Perplexity | Robinhood Cortex | An adviser you hire |

## What should you look for in a personal investing agent?

1. **Registration.** Check whether the company is a registered investment adviser on the SEC's [Investment Adviser Public Disclosure](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov) site. The SEC, NASAA and FINRA have warned that securities laws generally require investment firms to be registered, and that a lack of registration should prompt more investigation.
2. **Read-only access.** The agent should connect through an established network like Plaid and be able to see your accounts without moving money or trading in them. Here's [what to check before you connect](https://www.astor.app/blog/is-it-safe-to-connect-your-brokerage-account).
3. **Your approval for every decision.** Nothing should be bought or sold without your explicit yes, and any trading should be limited to money you've set aside for it.
4. **Sources shown.** Every alert and answer should link to the filings, prices and news behind it. The same regulators' alert warns that AI-generated information "can be faulty, or even completely made up," and suggests confirming the underlying sources before you act.
5. **Clear pricing.** Know whether you pay a flat subscription or a percentage of your assets, and what's included in each plan.
6. **Security.** Look for an independent SOC 2 Type II report, encryption in transit and at rest, and a clear statement on whether the company sells your data.

## What are the limits?

The AI can be wrong. It can misread a filing, weigh a headline badly or miss context, which is why a good agent shows its sources and leaves the decision to you.

It isn't a full financial plan. A personal investing agent focuses on your investments, so it won't handle budgeting, tax filing or estate planning.

It doesn't hold or manage your money. If you'd rather someone else make the decisions, a robo-advisor or a human adviser is the better fit.

And it's only as good as its data. Any agent, Astor included, can only see what your institution shares through the aggregator, and OpenAI's help center notes that some institutions share balances but not full holdings or transaction history.

## How Astor works as a personal investing agent

Astor connects to brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts at most major US institutions, such as Robinhood, Schwab and Coinbase, through Plaid. It can see your holdings, and it can't move money. You don't transfer anything to Astor.

[At a glance](https://www.astor.app/blog/at-a-glance) gives you a five-second check of your portfolio with the Astor Take, two lines on what moved your money today and why, plus a daily brief before the open and a recap after the close. Astor follows every position you own and texts you in [iMessage](https://www.astor.app/blog/talk-to-astor-in-imessage) when something crosses a line you care about, and [scheduled alerts](https://www.astor.app/blog/scheduled-alerts) let you ask for checks on your own schedule. Every alert links to the reasoning and sources behind it.

With [Text to Trade](https://www.astor.app/blog/introducing-text-to-trade), available on Max plans, you describe an idea and Astor proposes a basket sized against what you already own and the budget you set. You review and approve every trade, and the order executes in your own Robinhood agentic account.

Astor is free to start, works on iPhone and in iMessage, and is available in the US only. You can [see how it works](https://www.astor.app/#how-it-works).

## Frequently asked questions

### Is a personal investing agent the same as a robo-advisor?

No. A robo-advisor creates and manages a portfolio for you, usually in an account you open with it. A personal investing agent connects to the accounts you already have, watches what you own and tells you when something matters, and you make every decision.

### Does a personal investing agent trade for me?

It shouldn't trade without your approval. Astor can't trade or move money in the accounts you connect. With Astor's Text to Trade, you approve each trade, the order executes in your own Robinhood agentic account, and the agent can only use the money you set aside for it.

### Is a personal investing agent a fiduciary?

Only if the company behind it is a registered investment adviser. Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424), so its recommendations are personalized investment advice and it owes clients a fiduciary duty. You can check any firm on the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site, and registration doesn't mean the SEC endorses a firm.

### How much does a personal investing agent cost?

It varies by product. Astor is free to start, with Pro at $19 a month ($10 a month billed yearly) and Max at $29 a month ($19 a month billed yearly). It's a flat subscription, never a percentage of your assets.

## Sources

- [Investor.gov (SEC): Investor Bulletin, Robo-Advisers (February 23, 2017)](https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/general-resources/news-alerts/alerts-bulletins/investor-bulletins-45), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Investor.gov (SEC): Investment Advisers](https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/getting-started/working-investment-professional/investment-advisers), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Investor.gov (SEC, NASAA and FINRA): Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Investment Fraud, Investor Alert (January 25, 2024)](https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/general-resources/news-alerts/alerts-bulletins/investor-alerts/artificial-intelligence-fraud), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [OpenAI Help Center: Finances in ChatGPT](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001222-finances-in-chatgpt), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [OpenAI Help Center: Scheduled tasks in ChatGPT](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/10291617-scheduled-tasks-in-chatgpt), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Perplexity: Perplexity Finance](https://www.perplexity.ai/finance), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Perplexity changelog: Computer for Pro subscribers, Computer for Slack (March 13, 2026)](https://www.perplexity.ai/changelog/what-we-shipped---march-13-2026), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [Robinhood: Robinhood Cortex](https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/cortex/), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Astor (CRD 338424)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/338424), accessed Oct 12, 2026

## Important information

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Astor provides non-discretionary advice: you make every investment decision. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Astor uses AI, which can make mistakes. This article is general information, not individualized investment, tax or legal advice. See our [disclosures](https://www.astor.app/legal).

## About comparisons

Information about other companies comes from their public websites and filings as of October 2026 and may have changed since; check each provider for current details. Comparisons and rankings reflect Astor’s opinion. Other companies’ names and trademarks belong to their owners, and no affiliation or endorsement is implied.

---

# At a glance: what moved your money today

Source: https://www.astor.app/blog/at-a-glance
Published: 2026-09-24
Updated: 2026-10-12
By: Bruno Koba, Astor (Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor)

At a glance is the part of Astor that tells you why your portfolio is up or down today, in a check that takes about five seconds. Astor is a personal investing agent on iPhone and in iMessage, and At a glance pairs a daily chart of your portfolio with the Astor Take: two lines on what moved your money today and why.

We built it because the number is the easy part. Any account screen can tell you you're down 1.4% today (an illustrative figure). The reason takes more digging, because you'd have to work out which of your holdings did it and what news moved them. It's easy to skip that step, and a number with no reason behind it is a bad place to make decisions from.

> **In one minute**
> - At a glance is Astor's five-second portfolio check, with a daily chart and the Astor Take, two lines on what moved your money today and why.
> - It covers the accounts you connect across brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts at most major US institutions.
> - Astor also sends a daily brief before the market opens and a recap after it closes.
> - If two lines aren't enough, you can ask a follow-up about your actual holdings in the app or in iMessage.
> - It explains what already happened. It doesn't predict tomorrow, and you make every decision.

## What does At a glance show you?

The daily chart shows how your portfolio moved over the day, and the Astor Take explains that move in two lines of plain English.

Two lines is a deliberate limit. On most days the honest answer is short, like one holding that reported earnings or one sector that sold off on a headline. When it isn't short, you can ask Astor for the longer version.

Here's a hypothetical. Say you own a few chip companies, a bank and an index fund, and your portfolio is down 2% on a day the broader market barely moved (illustrative numbers). The Astor Take might say that most of the drop came from your chip holdings after a large chipmaker gave a weak outlook, and that the rest of your portfolio was close to flat. That tells you where to look, which a percentage on its own can't.

## Why is my portfolio down when the market is up?

Because your portfolio isn't the market. A market index is an average across many companies, and the headline you read about "the market" describes that average. If you hold a handful of stocks, or lean toward one sector, a single piece of news about one of your companies can move you much more than the index.

That gap between your number and the market headline is what At a glance is built for, because it starts from what you own. If you notice the same few names driving the Take day after day, that's worth knowing too, because it tells you how concentrated your money is.

## When do the daily brief and the recap arrive?

The brief comes before the open and the recap after the close. For reference, the regular trading session on the New York Stock Exchange runs from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. That gives you two moments to check in without watching the market in between.

You don't have to wait for them when something big happens. Astor follows every position you own and the earnings dates, filings and headlines that touch them, and when something crosses a line you care about, it texts you right away. It stays quiet when nothing matters. You can read more about that in [stock alerts for news on stocks you own](https://www.astor.app/blog/stock-alerts-for-news-on-stocks-you-own), or set up your own checks with [scheduled alerts](https://www.astor.app/blog/scheduled-alerts).

## Where does the information come from?

Your holdings come from connections to the accounts you already have, through Plaid, at most major US institutions like Robinhood, Schwab and Coinbase. Astor can see what you hold, but it can't move money, and you never transfer anything to Astor. If you want the details, we wrote about [whether it's safe to connect your brokerage account](https://www.astor.app/blog/is-it-safe-to-connect-your-brokerage-account).

The explanation comes from live prices, news and filings, matched against what you own. Because it's an AI, it can get the cause of a move wrong, especially on days when several things happen at once. When something in the Take looks off, ask Astor about it and check the sources yourself.

## What won't At a glance do?

It won't tell you what happens tomorrow. A two-line explanation of why something fell isn't a reason to sell it, and a good day isn't a reason to buy more. Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser, and it doesn't make decisions for anyone. It does the research and the watching, and you make every decision.

It also only works on iPhone and in iMessage, in the US. If you'd rather text than open an app, see [how to talk to Astor in iMessage](https://www.astor.app/blog/talk-to-astor-in-imessage). For the bigger picture, read [what a personal investing agent is](https://www.astor.app/blog/what-is-a-personal-investing-agent).

## Frequently asked questions

### Why is my portfolio down today?

Usually because of a few specific holdings rather than the market as a whole. A company you own may have reported earnings, changed its outlook or been caught in news about its sector. Astor's At a glance names what moved your money today and why in two lines, based on what you actually own.

### How is At a glance different from my brokerage's daily change?

Your brokerage shows how much your account moved. At a glance adds the reason, and it can cover every account you connect, not just one brokerage.

### Can I ask Astor what moved my portfolio by text?

Yes. You can text Astor in iMessage, ask about your portfolio and follow up in the same thread. The app is there when you want the full picture.

## Sources

- [NYSE: Holidays and trading hours](https://www.nyse.com/markets/hours-calendars), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Gaus, Inc. (CRD 338424)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/338424), accessed Oct 12, 2026

## Important information

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Astor provides non-discretionary advice: you make every investment decision. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Astor uses AI, which can make mistakes. This article is general information, not individualized investment, tax or legal advice. See our [disclosures](https://www.astor.app/legal).

---

# Talk to Astor in iMessage

Source: https://www.astor.app/blog/talk-to-astor-in-imessage
Published: 2026-09-17
Updated: 2026-10-12
By: Bruno Koba, Astor (Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor)

You can text Astor in iMessage the way you'd text a friend who follows the market closely. Astor is a personal investing agent and an SEC-registered investment adviser, and in iMessage you can ask about your portfolio, get alerts about what you own, and follow up in the same thread.

We put Astor in iMessage because I check my messages far more often than any finance app, and I suspect you do too. An investing app you have to remember to open is one more chore. Most of what you need from an agent fits in a text, like a note that a company you own just reported, with what that means for you. The app is still there when you want the full picture.

> **In one minute**
> - You can text Astor in iMessage like a person and ask about your actual portfolio. It answers using live prices, news and filings.
> - Astor texts you when something crosses a line you care about in a stock or theme you follow, and it stays quiet when nothing matters.
> - Each alert says what happened, why it matters to you and what you could do, and links to the reasoning and sources behind it.
> - Astor can see the holdings in your connected accounts, but it can't move money.
> - Astor works on iPhone and in iMessage only, and you make every decision.

## What can you ask Astor by text?

You can ask about anything you own. Because your accounts are connected, Astor already knows your holdings, so you don't have to paste them in or explain your situation every time you ask something. A few examples of texts you could send:

- "Why is my portfolio down today?"
- "Tell me how much of my money is in AI companies across all my accounts."
- "Summarize the last earnings report from the biggest company I own."
- "Check in on this one after it reports next week."

The last one becomes a [scheduled alert](https://www.astor.app/blog/scheduled-alerts), a check Astor runs on a schedule or when a condition is met.

## What does Astor text you without being asked?

Astor follows every position you own and the earnings dates, filings and headlines that touch them, plus the themes you care about. When something crosses a line you care about, it texts you right away. When nothing matters, it stays quiet, which we think is as important as the alerts themselves.

Here's a hypothetical. Say a company you own announces that its chief financial officer is leaving. Astor would text you what happened and why it matters for your position, given how much of it you hold, and what you could do about it, from doing nothing to reading the filing yourself. If you want to know more, you reply in the same thread and keep going, the way you would with a person.

Every alert links to the reasoning and sources behind it. That matters because the AI can be wrong, and you should be able to check its work before you act on anything. For more on how the watching works, read [stock alerts for news on stocks you own](https://www.astor.app/blog/stock-alerts-for-news-on-stocks-you-own).

## How is this different from texting a general chatbot?

A general chatbot like ChatGPT is very good at general questions, like what a price-to-earnings ratio means. Astor is built for a narrower job. It connects to your accounts, learns what you own, and texts you when something happens to your portfolio.

Astor is also an SEC-registered investment adviser, so its recommendations are personalized investment advice and it owes clients a fiduciary duty. The AI is the tool the firm uses to do the research and talk to you, not the adviser itself. We compared the two in detail in [Astor vs. ChatGPT](https://www.astor.app/blog/astor-vs-chatgpt).

## What can't you do in iMessage?

Astor can't move money in your connected accounts, by text or anywhere else. Those connections run through Plaid, and Astor can see what you hold but can't place trades or transfer anything in them, and you never send money to Astor. The one exception is [Text to Trade](https://www.astor.app/blog/introducing-text-to-trade), where you approve each trade and the order executes in your own Robinhood agentic account.

You also need an iPhone. Astor is iPhone and iMessage only, with no Android or web app, and it's available in the US only. Some things are easier to see than to read, so the app is there for the full picture, like [At a glance](https://www.astor.app/blog/at-a-glance), the five-second check of what moved your money today.

On privacy, Astor is SOC 2 Type II compliant, encrypts your data in transit and at rest, and never sells your data. If you're weighing whether to connect at all, we wrote about [whether it's safe to connect your brokerage account](https://www.astor.app/blog/is-it-safe-to-connect-your-brokerage-account).

## Frequently asked questions

### Can I text an AI about my stocks?

Yes. With Astor you can text a personal investing agent in iMessage about the stocks you actually own. It knows your holdings through your connected accounts and answers using live prices, news and filings. You can follow up in the same thread like any other conversation.

### Is Astor an AI financial advisor in iMessage?

The adviser is the firm. Astor (Gaus, Inc.) is an SEC-registered investment adviser that owes its clients a fiduciary duty, and the AI is the tool it uses to research and talk to you. SEC registration doesn't mean the SEC endorses Astor.

### Will Astor text me all day?

No. Astor texts you when something crosses a line you care about for a stock or theme you follow, and it stays quiet when nothing matters. You can also ask for checks on your own schedule with scheduled alerts.

### Is my data safe with Astor?

Astor is SOC 2 Type II compliant, encrypts data in transit and at rest, and never sells your data. Astor can see what you hold through your account connections, but it can't move money.

## Sources

- [Astor Trust Center](https://trust.astor.app), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Gaus, Inc. (CRD 338424)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/338424), accessed Oct 12, 2026

## Important information

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Astor provides non-discretionary advice: you make every investment decision. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Astor uses AI, which can make mistakes. This article is general information, not individualized investment, tax or legal advice. See our [disclosures](https://www.astor.app/legal).

---

# Scheduled alerts: never miss a move

Source: https://www.astor.app/blog/scheduled-alerts
Published: 2026-08-28
Updated: 2026-10-12
By: Bruno Koba, Astor (Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor)

Scheduled alerts let you ask Astor to check something for you on a schedule, or when a condition is met, and text you what it found. Astor is a personal investing agent on iPhone and in iMessage, and it already watches every position you own; scheduled alerts add the specific checks you care about, like a look at a company the day before it reports earnings.

A classic price alert starts from a ticker and a number. That's useful, but a price crossing a line rarely tells you what you actually want to know, which is whether something changed for a company you own and whether it matters for you. We built scheduled alerts around questions instead of thresholds.

> **In one minute**
> - Scheduled alerts let you ask Astor to check something every morning, weekly, before a company reports, or when a condition is met.
> - Astor can schedule its own follow-up, like a check-in after a company you own reports earnings.
> - Each alert is about your actual portfolio, and it links to the reasoning and sources behind it.
> - Scheduled alerts sit on top of Astor's regular watching, which follows every position you own and stays quiet when nothing matters.
> - The free plan includes one custom alert.

## What can you schedule?

You can schedule anything you'd otherwise have to remember to check. You set it up by asking Astor in plain English, the same way you'd ask it anything else. Here are a few hypothetical requests:

- "Every morning before the open, tell me if there's news on my five biggest positions."
- "Every Friday, recap what happened this week to the companies in my AI infrastructure theme."
- "The day before any company I own reports earnings, remind me what to watch for."
- "Text me if any single stock grows past 20% of my portfolio." (The 20% is illustrative.)

The first three run on a schedule, and the last one waits for a condition instead of a date.

## How is a scheduled alert different from a price alert?

A price alert tells you that a number was crossed. A scheduled alert is a question Astor answers at a set time or when a condition is met, using what you own along with live prices, news and filings.

Say a stock you own drops 8% in a morning (an illustrative number). A price alert tells you it moved. An alert from Astor tells you why it moved, how much of your portfolio that position is, and what you could do, which might well be nothing. If all you want is a ping at an exact price, a simple price alert may be all you need.

## How do earnings alerts work for stocks you own?

US public companies file a quarterly report with the SEC for each of the first three quarters of their fiscal year, plus an annual report after the fourth. So if you own 15 stocks (an illustrative number), that's roughly 60 reports a year.

Astor already follows the earnings dates of every position you own. On top of that, you can ask for a check before a company reports, so you know what to watch for going in. Astor can also schedule its own follow-up after a company you own reports, so you hear what changed without having to ask.

Here's a hypothetical. Say you own a software company that reports after the close on Thursday. You could ask Astor for a note that morning on what to watch for. After the results are out, Astor can set itself a check-in and text you what changed and whether it matters for your position.

## How do scheduled alerts fit with the rest of Astor?

Astor already follows every position you own and the headlines and filings that touch them, and it texts you right away when something crosses a line you care about. We cover that in [stock alerts for news on stocks you own](https://www.astor.app/blog/stock-alerts-for-news-on-stocks-you-own). Scheduled alerts are for the checks you want on your own terms. If you [talk to Astor in iMessage](https://www.astor.app/blog/talk-to-astor-in-imessage), alerts come to that same thread, so you can reply with a follow-up question right there. For a daily picture, [At a glance](https://www.astor.app/blog/at-a-glance) gives you two lines on what moved your money today, plus a brief before the open and a recap after the close.

## What are the limits?

"Never miss a move" is what we're aiming for, and it's not a guarantee. Astor can only check what it can see, which means the accounts you connect and public prices, news and filings. Markets can move faster than any text, and the AI can be wrong about why something happened, which is why every alert links to its reasoning and sources.

An alert is information, not an instruction. Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser, and it doesn't trade or decide for anyone. Astor can't trade or move money in your connected accounts, so an alert can't buy or sell anything. You make every decision.

Astor is iPhone and iMessage only, in the US.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is there an app that sends earnings alerts for stocks I own?

Yes. Astor follows the earnings dates of every position you own through its connections to your accounts. You can schedule a check before a company reports, and Astor can schedule its own follow-up after the results come out.

### How many custom alerts can I set on the free plan?

The free plan includes one custom alert, and you can compare paid plans on the [pricing](https://www.astor.app/#pricing) section of our home page.

### Will Astor text me every time a stock moves?

No. Astor texts you when something crosses a line you care about, and it stays quiet when nothing matters. Scheduled alerts add the checks you ask for, on the schedule or condition you set.

### Can an alert buy or sell a stock for me?

No. Alerts are information, and you make every decision. Astor can see the holdings in your connected accounts but can't move money or place trades in them.

## Sources

- [Investor.gov (SEC): Form 10-Q](https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/investing-basics/glossary/form-10-q), accessed Oct 12, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Gaus, Inc. (CRD 338424)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/338424), accessed Oct 12, 2026

## Important information

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Astor provides non-discretionary advice: you make every investment decision. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Astor uses AI, which can make mistakes. This article is general information, not individualized investment, tax or legal advice. See our [disclosures](https://www.astor.app/legal).

---

# How to create a financial plan: 10 steps that actually work

Source: https://www.astor.app/blog/how-to-create-a-financial-plan-10-steps-that-actually-work
Published: 2026-04-14
Updated: 2026-10-21
By: Astor team, Astor (Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor)

You create a financial plan by writing down where you stand, deciding what you're working toward, and then putting ten pieces in place in order, from a budget and an emergency fund to retirement accounts, investing and a yearly review. Astor is a personal investing agent that helps with the investing steps, because it connects to the accounts you already have, watches what you own and texts you when something matters, and you make every decision.

A plan doesn't need to be long or perfect. Most people already have the parts, like a paycheck, some savings and a 401(k) at work. What's usually missing is the order, and the order matters because each step protects the next one.

> **In one minute**
> - A financial plan is a short list of goals plus the steps, in order, that get you there. A first version fits on one page.
> - Build the base first. Know your numbers, keep a budget, hold an emergency fund and pay down high-interest debt.
> - For 2026, the IRS limits are $24,500 for a 401(k), $7,500 for an IRA, and $4,400 (self-only) or $8,750 (family) for an HSA.
> - Invest according to your time horizon and risk tolerance, diversify, and review the whole plan at least once a year.
> - Astor helps with the investing steps. It doesn't do budgeting, tax filing or estate planning.

## What is a financial plan?

A financial plan is a written record of where your money is now and what you want it to do, plus the decisions that connect the two. Without one, choices like paying off a card or investing get made by habit.

## Where are you starting, and where are you going?

### 1. Know where you stand

Start with two numbers. Your net worth is everything you own (bank balances, brokerage and retirement accounts, home equity) minus everything you owe. Your monthly cash flow is what comes in minus what goes out. Include subscriptions and irregular costs like car repairs, which is where overspending usually hides. Neither number is a grade. It's a baseline to measure progress against.

### 2. Set specific goals

"Save more" isn't a goal. "Save $15,000 for a down payment by December 2028" is, because it has a number, a date and a purpose, and you can divide it into a monthly amount. Write down at least one short-term goal (one to two years), one medium-term goal (three to seven years) and one long-term goal, usually retirement. Then rank them, so when two goals compete for the same dollar, you already know which wins.

## How do you build a base that holds?

### 3. Make a budget you'll keep

A budget is a decision about where each paycheck goes. One common rule of thumb is the 50/30/20 split, which puts about half of take-home pay toward needs, 30% toward wants and 20% toward savings and debt payments. Treat it as a starting point, since in an expensive city needs can take more than half. For irregular costs like annual premiums or travel, add up the yearly total, divide by 12 and set that aside each month.

Astor doesn't do budgeting. A spreadsheet or a budgeting app is the right tool for this step.

### 4. Build an emergency fund

FINRA notes that financial planners often recommend three to six months of living expenses, and that people with variable income may need more. The CFPB says the right amount depends on your situation and suggests sizing it from the unexpected expenses you've actually had. Both say a small fund beats none, and the CFPB calls automatic transfers one of the easiest ways to save consistently.

Keep this money in a savings account at a bank or credit union. FDIC insurance covers $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category. It doesn't cover stocks, mutual funds or crypto, which is one reason emergency money shouldn't sit in a brokerage account.

### 5. Pay down high-interest debt

Investor.gov's advice is to pay down the card with the highest rate first while making minimum payments on the rest, and to treat other debt at about 8% or above the same way. Its reasoning is that no investment strategy pays off as reliably, or with less risk, as clearing high-interest debt.

The CFPB describes two ways to order the payoff. The highest-interest-rate method targets the debt costing you the most, and the snowball method targets the smallest balance first so you see progress sooner. The first usually costs less in interest, and the second can be easier to stick with, so pick the one you'll keep doing.

## How should you save for retirement and invest?

### 6. Use tax-advantaged accounts in order

One common order is to contribute to your 401(k) at least up to the employer match, then fund an IRA, then raise your 401(k) contributions, and only then use a regular taxable brokerage account. If you have a high-deductible health plan, an HSA often fits in that list too. Here are the 2026 limits from the IRS.

| Account (2026) | Limit | Extra if older |
|---|---|---|
| 401(k) employee contributions | $24,500 | $8,000 at 50+, or $11,250 at ages 60 to 63 |
| IRA (traditional and Roth combined) | $7,500 | $1,100 at 50+ |
| HSA, self-only coverage | $4,400 | $1,000 at 55+ |
| HSA, family coverage | $8,750 | $1,000 at 55+ |

Roth and traditional accounts differ in when you pay tax. Roth contributions go in after tax and qualified withdrawals come out tax-free, while traditional contributions may be deductible now and are taxed later. In 2026, Roth IRA eligibility phases out between $153,000 and $168,000 of income for single filers and between $242,000 and $252,000 for married couples filing jointly. Which fits depends on your tax situation, and a tax professional can help. Check IRS.gov for 2027 limits once they're announced.

### 7. Invest by time horizon and risk tolerance

Investor.gov's guide to asset allocation says the right mix of stocks, bonds and cash depends mostly on how long until you need the money and how much loss you can tolerate. If a sharp drop would push you to sell, a more conservative mix may fit better than one that looks good on paper.

The same guide says to diversify both between asset categories and within them, and to check that your funds don't mostly own the same companies. It describes rebalancing either on a schedule, such as every six or 12 months, or when an allocation drifts past a set percentage. After that, the ongoing work is knowing what you own, including how concentrated you are and what's happening to the companies in your accounts.

## What keeps the plan safe and current?

### 8. Get the right insurance

Insurance protects every other step. Health insurance comes first. Disability coverage is easy to overlook, but your paycheck funds everything else in the plan, so check what your employer provides. Renters or homeowners insurance covers your belongings and liability, and term life insurance matters once someone depends on your income. Review coverage after a new job, a move, marriage or a child.

### 9. Pick tools that fit each step

No single app covers a whole plan, Astor included. A budgeting app or spreadsheet handles steps 3 and 4, your employer's plan site handles contributions, and for step 7 a [personal investing agent](https://www.astor.app/blog/what-is-a-personal-investing-agent) can keep watch over what you own between reviews. Add a tool only when a step keeps slipping.

### 10. Review once a year and after big changes

Once a year, compare your net worth with last year, check each goal, and confirm your budget and investment mix still fit. Revisit the plan right away after a new job, marriage, a child, a home purchase or an inheritance. Most years, the review is a small adjustment rather than a rebuild.

## When does working with a CFP professional make sense?

Plenty of people build a solid first plan on their own, especially with a salary, common debts and standard retirement accounts. A CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER professional is worth it when your situation has more moving parts, such as equity compensation, a business, an inheritance, a divorce, or tax and estate questions. It's also the right call if you'd rather have a person build the whole plan with you.

You can confirm a certification with the CFP Board's lookup tool and look up an adviser on the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site. Investor.gov notes that investment advisers are required to act in your best interest.

## Where does Astor fit in a financial plan?

Astor fits steps 7 and 10, the investing and the ongoing review. It's a personal investing agent on iPhone and in iMessage that connects through Plaid to brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts at most major US institutions, such as Robinhood, Schwab and Coinbase. It can see your holdings, it can't move money, and you don't transfer anything to Astor. More in [is it safe to connect your brokerage account](https://www.astor.app/blog/is-it-safe-to-connect-your-brokerage-account).

Astor follows every position you own and the earnings dates, filings and headlines that touch them, texts you when something crosses a line you care about, and stays quiet when nothing matters. With [scheduled alerts](https://www.astor.app/blog/scheduled-alerts), you can ask it to check something every morning, weekly, before a company reports, or when a condition is met, which helps between yearly reviews. The free plan includes one custom alert. Every alert links to the reasoning and sources behind it, and you make every decision.

Astor doesn't do budgeting, tax filing or estate planning, doesn't hold your money and doesn't run a managed portfolio. The AI can be wrong, which is why it shows its sources and leaves the call to you. Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Astor is free to start and available in the US only, and you can [see how it works](https://www.astor.app/#how-it-works).

## Frequently asked questions

### How long does it take to create a financial plan?

A first version, with your net worth, written goals, a budget, and a debt and savings plan, can come together in a weekend. It doesn't need to be complete to be useful, and you can add detail at each yearly review.

### Do I need a financial adviser to create a financial plan?

Not always. Many people with a salary, common debts and standard retirement accounts build a workable plan on their own. A CFP professional makes sense when your situation is more complex, or when you'd prefer a person to build the plan with you.

### How much should I keep in an emergency fund?

FINRA says financial planners often recommend three to six months of living expenses, and more if your income varies. The CFPB says the right amount depends on your situation. Keep it in an insured bank or credit union account, not invested.

### What's the difference between a budget and a financial plan?

A budget decides where each month's income goes. A financial plan is the bigger picture the budget serves, covering your goals, emergency fund, debt, retirement savings, investments, insurance and a regular review.

## Sources

- [IRS: 401(k) limit increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA limit increases to $7,500 (IR-2025-111, Nov. 13, 2025)](https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/401k-limit-increases-to-24500-for-2026-ira-limit-increases-to-7500), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Publication 969 (2025), Health Savings Accounts and Other Tax-Favored Health Plans](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p969), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [FINRA: Financial Foundations (emergency fund)](https://www.finra.org/investors/personal-finance/start-emergency-fund), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [CFPB: An essential guide to building an emergency fund](https://www.consumerfinance.gov/an-essential-guide-to-building-an-emergency-fund/), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [FDIC: Understanding Deposit Insurance](https://www.fdic.gov/resources/deposit-insurance/understanding-deposit-insurance), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [Investor.gov (SEC): Pay Off Credit Cards or Other High Interest Debt](https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/investing-basics/save-and-invest/pay-credit-cards-or-other-high-interest), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [CFPB: How to reduce your debt](https://www.consumerfinance.gov/archive/blog/how-reduce-your-debt/), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [Investor.gov (SEC): Beginners' Guide to Asset Allocation, Diversification, and Rebalancing](https://www.investor.gov/additional-resources/general-resources/publications-research/info-sheets/beginners-guide-asset), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [Investor.gov (SEC): Investment Advisers](https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/getting-started/working-investment-professional/investment-advisers), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [CFP Board: Verify a CFP Professional](https://www.cfp.net/verify-a-cfp-professional), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure: Astor (CRD 338424)](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/338424), accessed Oct 21, 2026

## Important information

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Astor provides non-discretionary advice: you make every investment decision. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Astor uses AI, which can make mistakes. This article is general information, not individualized investment, tax or legal advice. See our [disclosures](https://www.astor.app/legal).

## About comparisons

Information about other companies comes from their public websites and filings as of October 2026 and may have changed since; check each provider for current details. Comparisons and rankings reflect Astor’s opinion. Other companies’ names and trademarks belong to their owners, and no affiliation or endorsement is implied.

---

# What happens to unvested RSUs when you get laid off?

Source: https://www.astor.app/blog/rsus-when-laid-off
Published: 2026-04-13
Updated: 2026-10-21
By: Astor team, Astor (Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor)

When you get laid off, your unvested RSUs are usually forfeited on your last day, and the shares that already vested stay yours. Vesting depends on staying employed, so unless your grant agreement or a severance deal says otherwise, the unvested part ends with the job. This guide is from Astor, a [personal investing agent](https://www.astor.app/blog/what-is-a-personal-investing-agent) and SEC-registered investment adviser, and it covers what to check, what you can ask for, and how the taxes work. It isn't legal or tax advice, and your plan documents are the final word.

> **In one minute**
> - Vested RSUs are shares you already own. A layoff doesn't take them away.
> - Unvested RSUs are generally forfeited when employment ends, unless your plan or severance agreement accelerates them.
> - Severance is a matter of agreement between you and your employer, so you can ask for accelerated vesting before you sign. There's no guarantee you'll get it.
> - RSUs are taxed as wages when the shares are delivered, and employers often withhold federal tax at a flat 22%, which can fall short in a high-income year.
> - Your COBRA election window is 60 days, and stock options have their own exercise deadlines. Put both on your calendar first.

## What happens to vested and unvested RSUs when you're laid off?

Your RSUs split into two groups on your last day.

**Vested RSUs are yours.** Once RSUs vest and the company delivers the shares, they sit in your brokerage account like any stock you bought yourself. You paid income tax on them when they were delivered, and a layoff doesn't change that.

**Unvested RSUs are usually gone.** An RSU is a promise from your employer to give you shares later, once you meet a vesting condition. As FINRA puts it, vesting is contingent on you remaining with the company. When employment ends before a vest date, grant agreements typically cancel the unvested units. It doesn't matter whether the layoff was about performance or a broad cost cut.

The exceptions are written down. Some plans accelerate vesting when you're let go without cause, or after a change of control followed by a termination (often called "double trigger" acceleration). Some companies vest one more tranche as part of a severance package. Look for words like "acceleration", "termination without cause" and "change in control" in your grant agreement and the plan document, and check your equity platform for the exact number of units and vest dates.

## Can you ask for accelerated vesting in your severance?

Yes, you can ask. The Department of Labor says there's no federal requirement to pay severance and that it's a matter of agreement between employer and employee. That cuts both ways. Nothing obliges the company to accelerate your RSUs, and nothing stops you from asking.

Your leverage is before you sign. Severance agreements often ask you to release legal claims against the company in exchange for the payment, and once you sign and the agreement takes effect, the terms are set. If you're 40 or older, federal law gives you time to think it over. The EEOC says you must get at least 21 days to consider a waiver of age discrimination claims (45 days in a group layoff) and at least 7 days after signing to revoke it, and you must be advised in writing to talk to a lawyer.

A short, specific request works better than a general one. Something like "I have 400 RSUs scheduled to vest on March 15. Can the company vest those as part of my severance?" gives HR a concrete number to take to whoever decides. If the answer is no, you can still ask about other terms, like a longer severance period.

## What should you do in the first 30 days?

### Write down every grant

Log into your equity platform and list each grant, the units vested and unvested, and the next vest dates. Note where your vested shares are held and what they're worth today, and keep copies of your grant agreements and severance letter.

### Sort out health coverage

If your employer had 20 or more employees, you can usually keep your group health plan through COBRA. After a job loss, coverage generally lasts up to 18 months. You have 60 days to elect it, counted from when your coverage ends or your election notice arrives, whichever is later, and then 45 days to make the first payment. It isn't cheap, because you can be charged the full premium plus 2%. You can also shop for a Marketplace plan instead, and the Department of Labor notes you must pick one within 60 days of losing job-based coverage.

### Check any stock options separately

Stock options follow different rules from RSUs. Your plan sets how long you have to exercise vested options after you leave, and unexercised options expire after that. For incentive stock options there's also a tax rule. To keep ISO treatment, you generally must exercise within 3 months after your employment ends (1 year if you're disabled), according to IRS Publication 525. Read your option agreement for the exact date.

## Should you sell your vested shares after a layoff?

There's no single right answer, but it's worth deciding on purpose rather than by default.

FINRA's warning about company stock is that if the company falters, your investments can fall at the same moment you might be out of work. Being laid off means the second part has already happened. FINRA also notes that some experts suggest keeping no more than 10% of your investment assets in any single stock, while saying that number could be too high depending on your goals.

A few things to weigh:

- **How big the position is.** If your former employer is a large share of what you own, one company's news now drives a large share of your net worth.
- **Cash needs.** Severance and savings may need to cover a job search. Selling some shares can be part of that plan.
- **Taxes.** You already paid income tax on the value at vesting. Selling only creates tax on the change since then, short-term if you've held one year or less and long-term if longer. More on that in our [RSU tax guide](https://www.astor.app/blog/rsu-tax-strategies-for-tech-workers).
- **What you know.** If you still have material nonpublic information about the company, insider trading rules apply whether or not you still work there. Your company's trading policy may also say how long its restrictions follow you after you leave.

## How are RSUs and severance taxed?

**RSUs are wages.** The IRS treats stock-settled RSUs as income in the year the shares are transferred to you, at their fair market value, and they're reported on your W-2. They're also subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes. If your severance includes accelerated vesting, the accelerated shares are taxed the same way, in the year they're delivered.

**Withholding often falls short.** Employers often treat RSU income as supplemental wages, a category IRS Publication 15 says includes bonuses and severance pay, and can withhold federal income tax on it at a flat 22%. Above $1 million of supplemental wages in a year, the rate is 37%. In 2026, the 24% bracket starts at $105,700 of taxable income for single filers ($211,400 married filing jointly), so if you had a strong income year before the layoff, 22% may not cover what you owe. It's worth estimating your full-year tax now rather than in April.

**Severance pay is taxable income.** IRS Publication 525 says you must include severance in income, and it's subject to Social Security, Medicare and income tax withholding.

**Your cost basis is the vest-date value.** When you sell, compare the sale price with the value that was taxed at vesting, not with zero. Check that the basis on your Form 1099-B reflects this. If it doesn't, the Form 8949 instructions explain how to report the correct basis.

**Holding period sets the rate on any gain.** Shares held more than one year after vesting get long-term capital gains rates of 0%, 15% or 20%, depending on your income. Shares held a year or less are taxed at ordinary income rates.

If any of this applies to a large amount, a tax professional can model your year before you sell or sign.

## Why Astor

After a layoff, one stock can matter more to you than it should. Astor is a personal investing agent on iPhone and in iMessage. It connects through Plaid to the brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts you already have, so it can see how much of your portfolio sits in your former employer's stock, and it can't move money.

From there, it follows that position and everything else you own, including earnings dates, filings and headlines. When something crosses a line you care about, it texts you what happened, why it matters to your portfolio, and what you could do. You can set a [scheduled alert](https://www.astor.app/blog/scheduled-alerts), like a check-in before your former employer reports earnings, and ask follow-up questions in the same thread. Every alert links to its reasoning and sources, because the AI can be wrong.

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424), so its recommendations are personalized investment advice and it owes clients a fiduciary duty. It doesn't do tax filing, and it never trades in your connected accounts. It does the research and the watching, and you make every decision. [See how Astor works](https://www.astor.app/#how-it-works).

## Frequently asked questions

### What happens to unvested RSUs if I'm laid off?

They're usually forfeited on your last day of employment, because vesting depends on staying with the company. The exceptions are acceleration terms in your grant agreement or plan, and anything you negotiate into your severance agreement. Check your plan documents for the exact rule.

### Do I keep my vested RSUs if I'm laid off?

Yes. Vested RSUs that have been delivered are shares you own, and a layoff doesn't take them back. You already paid income tax on their value when they were delivered.

### Can I negotiate accelerated vesting in a layoff?

You can ask, and the time to ask is before you sign the severance agreement. The Department of Labor describes severance as a matter of agreement between employer and employee, so there's no guarantee. A specific request tied to a near vest date is the clearest ask.

### What happens to my stock options when I'm laid off?

Vested options usually have a post-termination exercise window set by your plan, and they expire if you don't exercise in time. For incentive stock options, you generally must exercise within 3 months of leaving to keep ISO tax treatment. Unvested options are typically forfeited, like unvested RSUs.

### Should I sell my company stock after a layoff?

It depends on how large the position is, what cash you need and your taxes. FINRA warns that holding a lot of company stock means your investments and your income can fall at the same time. If you know material nonpublic information, insider trading rules still apply after you leave.

## Sources

- [FINRA: Questions Employees Should Ask About Stock Awards (Oct 25, 2024)](https://www.finra.org/investors/insights/questions-employees-should-ask-stock-awards), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [FINRA: Love Your Company Stock? Here's What to Know (Aug 11, 2023)](https://www.finra.org/investors/insights/love-your-company-stock-what-to-know), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [U.S. Department of Labor: Severance Pay](https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/wages/severancepay), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [EEOC: Q&A, Understanding Waivers of Discrimination Claims in Employee Severance Agreements](https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/qa-understanding-waivers-discrimination-claims-employee-severance-agreements), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [U.S. Department of Labor: Continuation of Health Coverage (COBRA)](https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/health-plans/cobra), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [U.S. Department of Labor: FAQs on COBRA Continuation Health Coverage for Workers](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-activities/resource-center/faqs/cobra-continuation-health-coverage-workers), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Publication 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p525), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Information Letter 2024-0010 on taxation of restricted stock and RSUs (June 18, 2024)](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-wd/24-0010.pdf), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Publication 15 (2026), Employer's Tax Guide](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p15), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2026 (IR-2025-103)](https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-releases-tax-inflation-adjustments-for-tax-year-2026-including-amendments-from-the-one-big-beautiful-bill), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Topic No. 409, Capital Gains and Losses](https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc409), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Instructions for Form 8949](https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i8949), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [Investor.gov (SEC): Insider Trading](https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/investing-basics/glossary/insider-trading), accessed Oct 21, 2026

## Important information

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Astor provides non-discretionary advice: you make every investment decision. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Astor uses AI, which can make mistakes. This article is general information, not individualized investment, tax or legal advice. See our [disclosures](https://www.astor.app/legal).

## About comparisons

Information about other companies comes from their public websites and filings as of October 2026 and may have changed since; check each provider for current details. Comparisons and rankings reflect Astor’s opinion. Other companies’ names and trademarks belong to their owners, and no affiliation or endorsement is implied.

---

# Does time in the market beat timing the market?

Source: https://www.astor.app/blog/time-in-market-beats-timing-the-market
Published: 2026-03-25
Updated: 2026-10-21
By: Astor team, Astor (Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor)

Historically, yes. For long-term goals, staying invested through the ups and downs has worked out better than trying to sell before drops and buy back before recoveries, mostly because the market's best days have tended to arrive right next to its worst ones, and almost nobody catches them on purpose. Astor is a personal investing agent that watches what you own and texts you only when something actually touches it, which makes it easier to sit still through the noise while you make every decision.

None of this is a promise. It's what the record shows over specific periods, and the future can look different. But the reason behind it is mostly about how people react to scary markets.

> **In one minute**
> - "Time in the market beats timing the market" means staying invested through good and bad stretches instead of trying to sell before drops and buy back before rebounds.
> - In J.P. Morgan Asset Management's 2026 Guide to Retirement, $10,000 in the S&P 500 from January 2, 2006 to December 31, 2025 grew to $80,619 if fully invested and $35,866 if it missed the 10 best days. These are hypothetical index calculations, not results anyone earned, and they don't predict the future.
> - Six of those 10 best days came within two weeks of the 10 worst days, so selling after a bad day can mean missing the rebound.
> - Morningstar estimates the average dollar in US mutual funds and ETFs earned about 1.2 percentage points a year less than the funds themselves over the 10 years ended 2025, a gap explained by when and how much investors bought and sold.
> - Staying invested still means living through losses. It works best with a mix that fits your timeline and a plan for the urge to react.

## What does "time in the market beats timing the market" mean?

Market timing is moving money in and out of investments based on a guess about what prices will do next. You sell because you think a drop is coming, and you plan to buy back once things look better. Time in the market is the opposite habit. You pick a mix of investments you can live with, keep adding money on a schedule, and leave it alone through good and bad stretches.

The trouble with timing is that you have to be right twice. Getting out before a fall only helps if you also get back in before the recovery, and the second call is the harder one. Waiting for things to feel calm seems sensible, but by the time they do, prices have often already moved and you're buying back higher than you sold.

## What happens if you miss the best days in the market?

J.P. Morgan Asset Management publishes the clearest version of this every year in its Guide to Retirement. In the 2026 edition, it looked at a $10,000 investment in the S&P 500 Total Return Index from January 2, 2006 to December 31, 2025. Fully invested, it grew to $80,619. If it had missed just the 10 best days in those 20 years, it would have ended at $35,866, less than half as much. The more best days it missed, the worse it got.

J.P. Morgan describes these as hypothetical calculations on an index, gross of fees, with dividends reinvested. Nobody can invest directly in an index, real accounts pay costs, and a different window would give different numbers. Past performance doesn't predict future results.

The point isn't the exact figure. A small number of days did a large share of the work over two decades, and you only had them if you were invested. You don't miss them deliberately. You miss them by being out for a stretch, usually right after something frightening made you leave. Avoiding the worst days would have helped too, of course, but no one gets a calendar telling them which days those will be.

## Why are the best days so close to the worst ones?

Big moves bunch together. When markets are under stress, prices swing hard in both directions, often within days of each other. J.P. Morgan's chart shows that six of the 10 best days in its 20-year window came within two weeks of the 10 worst days. It also notes that the second-worst day of 2020, March 12, was immediately followed by the second-best day of that year.

So the moment you most want to get out is often right before a sharp rebound. If you sell into the fall and wait for clarity, the rebound can happen without you.

## Why do real investors fall behind their own funds?

Morningstar measures this in an annual study called Mind the Gap, which compares the return a fund reports with the return the average dollar invested in it actually earned, given when people put money in and took it out.

In the 2026 edition, published in August 2026, Morningstar estimates that the average dollar invested in US mutual funds and ETFs earned about 1.2 percentage points a year less than the funds' own aggregate return over the 10 years ended December 31, 2025. That gap was equivalent to around 12% of the funds' total return, and Morningstar attributes it to the timing and size of investors' purchases and sales.

Morningstar notes that some of the gap comes from good habits, like investing a bit of every paycheck, so it isn't proof that individual investors are foolish. Still, it found narrower gaps in simple, broad options like allocation funds, and its suggestions are plain. Hold off on ad-hoc trades made in response to recent events, put your contributions on a schedule, and hold fewer, more widely diversified funds.

## Is it ever reasonable to sell?

Yes. Time in the market doesn't mean never selling. It means not selling because of a headline or a hunch about next month.

The SEC's Investor.gov says the most common reason to change your mix is a change in your time horizon, since you'll usually want less in stocks as a goal gets closer. A change in your risk tolerance, your finances or the goal itself counts too. So does rebalancing, which means trimming what has grown past your target and adding to what has fallen behind.

It's also worth being honest about what staying invested costs. Investor.gov notes that large company stocks as a group have lost money on average about one out of every three years, and says a portfolio heavily weighted in stocks would be inappropriate for a short-term goal. Time in the market is a strategy for money that can afford to wait.

The useful test is where the decision comes from. Selling because your plan changed is a decision. Selling because the market fell and you're scared is a guess about timing.

## How do you stay invested when the news is scary?

Most of the work happens before the scary day.

1. **Pick a mix you can hold in a bad year.** If a bad year for stocks would push you to sell, you probably own more stocks than you can stomach, and it's better to find that out now. Investor.gov says the right mix depends mostly on your time horizon and how much risk you can tolerate.
2. **Put your contributions on a schedule.** Investing the same amount at regular intervals, called dollar-cost averaging, means you stop having to decide when to invest.
3. **Decide your rebalancing rule in advance.** Investor.gov describes rebalancing on a calendar (every six or twelve months, for example) or when an asset class drifts past a percentage you picked ahead of time. Either one turns a nervous judgment call into a routine.
4. **Look less often.** Watching your balance all day mostly gives you more chances to react. In our view, a short daily check is plenty for a long-term investor.
5. **Ask one question before you act.** Does this news change anything about what I own or why I own it? Usually the honest answer is no.

## How Astor helps with the urge to react

A lot of the pressure to time the market comes from headlines that have nothing to do with what you own.

Astor is a personal investing agent on iPhone and in iMessage. It connects to the brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts you already have at most major US institutions through Plaid, learns what you own, and follows every position along with the earnings dates, filings and headlines that touch them. When nothing matters to your portfolio, it stays quiet. When something crosses a line you care about, it texts you right away with what happened, why it matters to you, and what you could do, with the reasoning and sources behind it.

That changes what a bad news day looks like. Instead of reading every scary headline and wondering whether it applies to you, you hear about the ones that touch your holdings, with an explanation, and you decide whether anything needs doing. [At a glance](https://www.astor.app/blog/at-a-glance) adds a five-second daily check with two lines on what moved your money today and why, so a red number comes with a reason.

Astor doesn't trade, rebalance or move money in your connected accounts, and it doesn't run a managed portfolio. You make every decision, and since the AI can be wrong, it shows its sources. Astor is free to start and available in the US only. You can [see how it works](https://www.astor.app/#how-it-works), or read [how to actually review your investment portfolio](https://www.astor.app/blog/how-to-actually-review-your-investment-portfolio).

## Frequently asked questions

### Does time in the market really beat timing the market?

Historically, for long-term investors, staying invested has generally done better than moving in and out. In J.P. Morgan's 2026 Guide to Retirement, missing the 10 best S&P 500 days over the 20 years ended 2025 cut a hypothetical investment's ending value by more than half. That's history, not a guarantee.

### Should I stop investing during a downturn?

Selling or pausing during a downturn risks missing the rebound, because the best days have often come soon after the worst ones. If you'll need the money soon, that's a reason to hold less in stocks, decided ahead of time rather than in the middle of a drop.

### What is dollar-cost averaging?

It means investing the same amount at regular intervals, like every paycheck, regardless of what the market is doing. You end up buying more when prices are low and less when they're high. It doesn't prevent losses, but it removes the need to guess when to invest.

### Is time in the market guaranteed to work?

No. Stocks can lose money, sometimes for years, and Investor.gov notes that large company stocks as a group have lost money on average about one out of every three years. Staying invested has worked well historically for money that could wait out the bad stretches, which is why it fits long-term goals better than short-term ones.

## Sources

- [J.P. Morgan Asset Management: Guide to Retirement 2026, "Impact of being out of the market" (PDF, data as of December 31, 2025)](https://am.jpmorgan.com/content/dam/jpm-am-aem/global/en/insights/retirement-insights/guide-to-retirement-us.pdf), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [Morningstar: Mind the Gap 2026 (August 6, 2026, PDF)](https://www.morningstar.com/content/cs-assets/v3/assets/blt9415ea4cc4157833/blt852a4301adc2f5db/6a7373d51f7b5ae2da78e1e8/US_Mind_the_Gap_2026.pdf), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [Investor.gov (SEC): Beginners' Guide to Asset Allocation, Diversification, and Rebalancing](https://www.investor.gov/additional-resources/general-resources/publications-research/info-sheets/beginners-guide-asset), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [Investor.gov (SEC): Dollar Cost Averaging](https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/investing-basics/glossary/dollar-cost-averaging), accessed Oct 21, 2026

## Important information

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Astor provides non-discretionary advice: you make every investment decision. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Astor uses AI, which can make mistakes. This article is general information, not individualized investment, tax or legal advice. See our [disclosures](https://www.astor.app/legal).

## About comparisons

Information about other companies comes from their public websites and filings as of October 2026 and may have changed since; check each provider for current details. Comparisons and rankings reflect Astor’s opinion. Other companies’ names and trademarks belong to their owners, and no affiliation or endorsement is implied.

---

# Roth IRA vs. 401(k): which should you prioritize?

Source: https://www.astor.app/blog/roth-ira-vs-401k-which-should-you-prioritize
Published: 2026-03-15
Updated: 2026-10-21
By: Astor team, Astor (Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor)

If your employer offers a match, a common order is to put enough into your 401(k) to get the full match, then fund a Roth IRA, then go back to the 401(k) toward its limit. What comes after the match depends mostly on your tax rate now versus in retirement and on your plan's fees and fund choices, and a personal investing agent like Astor can show you what you hold across both accounts while every contribution decision stays yours.

The limits are separate and many people use both, so the real question is order. Below are the 2026 numbers from the IRS, the usual order and why people follow it, how taxes change the answer, and what SECURE 2.0 changed.

> **In one minute**
> - For 2026, you can put up to $24,500 into a 401(k) and $7,500 into IRAs, and the two limits are separate, according to the IRS.
> - A common order is the 401(k) up to the full match, then a Roth IRA, then more 401(k), then a taxable account. It's one approach, not a rule.
> - You can contribute the full Roth IRA amount for 2026 only if your modified adjusted gross income is under $153,000 (single) or $242,000 (married filing jointly), and the ability phases out completely at $168,000 and $252,000.
> - Starting in 2026, if your prior-year wages from your employer were over $150,000, the IRS says your 401(k) catch-up contributions must go in as Roth.
> - The IRS hadn't announced 2027 limits as of October 21, 2026.

## How do a Roth IRA and a 401(k) differ?

A 401(k) is a workplace plan your employer sets up. A traditional 401(k) takes contributions before income tax, and you pay tax when the money comes out. Some plans also offer a Roth 401(k) option, where you contribute after tax and qualified withdrawals are tax-free. A Roth IRA is an account you open yourself. You don't get a deduction for contributing, and qualified distributions are tax-free.

| | 401(k) | Roth IRA |
|---|---|---|
| Who sets it up | Your employer | You |
| Tax on contributions | Traditional: before tax. Roth option: after tax | After tax, no deduction |
| Tax on qualified withdrawals | Traditional: taxed. Roth: tax-free | Tax-free |
| 2026 limit | $24,500 of your own contributions | $7,500 across all your IRAs |
| 2026 catch-up | $8,000 at 50 or older, $11,250 at ages 60 to 63 | $1,100 at 50 or older |
| Income limit to contribute | None | Phases out at $153,000 to $168,000 (single), $242,000 to $252,000 (joint) |
| Employer match | Possible | No |
| Lifetime required distributions | Traditional: yes, generally from 73. Roth 401(k): no | No |

One more number matters if you contribute a lot. The IRS caps total additions to your 401(k), meaning your contributions plus your employer's, at $72,000 for 2026 or 100% of your pay if that's less, not counting catch-up contributions.

## In what order should you fund them?

Here's the order many people follow. Whether it fits you depends on your plan, your income and when you might need the money.

1. **Your 401(k), up to the full employer match.** A match is money your employer adds only when you contribute, so contributing less than the match means leaving part of your pay unclaimed. Check your plan's vesting schedule. The IRS says your own contributions are always 100% vested, but employer contributions can vest over time, for example all at once after three years or in steps through year six.
2. **A Roth IRA, up to $7,500, if you're eligible.** People pick this step for the Roth tax treatment, for investment choices beyond your plan's menu, and for flexibility. Under the IRS ordering rules, withdrawals of your regular Roth IRA contributions come out first and aren't taxed. Earnings are different, and they're tax-free only in a qualified distribution, which generally means at least five tax years have passed since your first Roth IRA contribution and you're 59½ or older.
3. **Back to the 401(k), up to $24,500.** Once the IRA is funded, more 401(k) contributions keep more of your savings in a tax-advantaged account.
4. **A taxable brokerage account, or after-tax 401(k) contributions if your plan allows them.** Beyond that, money goes into a regular account, or toward the $72,000 total cap in plans that allow after-tax contributions.

## Roth or traditional: how do taxes change the answer?

The core trade-off is paying tax now or later. With traditional contributions, you lower your taxable income this year and pay ordinary income tax on withdrawals in retirement. With Roth contributions, you pay tax now and qualified withdrawals are tax-free.

If you expect your tax rate in retirement to be higher than it is today, paying now with Roth contributions tends to look better. If you expect it to be lower, the traditional deduction tends to look better. People early in their careers often expect to earn more later, which is why Roth contributions are popular with them. People in their peak earning years often value the deduction more.

Nobody knows future tax rates, so some people split contributions between Roth and traditional, so they have both kinds of money to draw from later. This is general education, not tax advice, and a tax professional can look at your actual numbers.

## What did SECURE 2.0 change?

The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 changed several rules that matter for this decision.

- **Higher catch-up at ages 60 to 63.** In 2026, workers aged 60, 61, 62 and 63 can make catch-up contributions of up to $11,250 instead of the usual $8,000.
- **Roth catch-up for higher earners.** The IRS says that beginning in 2026, if your prior-year wages from the employer sponsoring your plan were over $150,000, your catch-up contributions must be Roth. The final regulations formally apply to contributions in tax years starting after December 31, 2026, and plans can apply a reasonable, good-faith reading of the law before then, so check how your plan handles 2026.
- **IRA catch-up indexed to inflation.** The IRA catch-up used to be fixed at $1,000. It's now adjusted for inflation and is $1,100 for 2026.
- **Roth employer contributions.** Plans may now let you choose to receive matching contributions as Roth. The IRS says these amounts are included in your income for the year they're allocated, and only fully vested contributions qualify. Plans aren't required to offer this.
- **No lifetime required distributions from Roth 401(k)s.** The IRS says you don't have to take required minimum distributions from designated Roth accounts in a 401(k) while you're alive, the same as with a Roth IRA. Traditional 401(k)s and IRAs generally require them starting at 73.

## When does the usual order change?

The common order assumes a few things about you, and when they don't hold, it often shifts.

- **No employer match.** Step 1 disappears. Many people then start with a Roth IRA, or with the 401(k) if its funds and fees are good.
- **Income above the Roth IRA limit.** You can't contribute directly. Some people make a nondeductible traditional IRA contribution and convert it to a Roth, often called a backdoor Roth. If you also have pre-tax money in traditional IRAs, part of the conversion can be taxable, and IRS Form 8606 is where that's worked out.
- **You might need the money before retirement.** Because regular Roth IRA contributions can come out without tax, some people favor the Roth IRA for flexibility.
- **A plan with high fees or a thin menu.** Some people stop at the match and put the rest into an IRA, where they have more choices.

## How Astor fits in

Astor is a personal investing agent on iPhone and in iMessage, and the company behind it, Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor, is an SEC-registered investment adviser. It connects through Plaid to brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts at most major US institutions, so it can see what you hold in your 401(k), your Roth IRA and any other accounts you connect. You can ask about your actual holdings, like how your mix compares across the two accounts, and with [scheduled alerts](https://www.astor.app/blog/scheduled-alerts) you can ask it to check something on a schedule, such as a look at your retirement accounts every December.

Astor doesn't hold your money, doesn't move it between accounts, and doesn't do tax filing. How much you contribute, and to which account, is your decision. The AI can be wrong, which is why it shows its sources. Astor is free to start, and you can [see how it works](https://www.astor.app/#how-it-works). If you hold several funds across accounts, our guide on [how often to rebalance your 401(k)](https://www.astor.app/blog/rebalance-your-401k) covers keeping the mix on target.

## Frequently asked questions

### Should I contribute to a Roth IRA or a 401(k) first?

A common order is the 401(k) up to the full employer match first, then a Roth IRA up to $7,500 for 2026, then back to the 401(k). If there's no match, many people start with the Roth IRA.

### Can I contribute to both a Roth IRA and a 401(k) in the same year?

Yes. The limits are separate. For 2026, you can contribute up to $24,500 to a 401(k) and up to $7,500 across your IRAs, plus catch-up amounts if you're 50 or older, as long as your income allows a Roth IRA contribution.

### What are the Roth IRA income limits for 2026?

The IRS says the phase-out range is $153,000 to $168,000 for single filers and heads of household, and $242,000 to $252,000 for married couples filing jointly. Below the range you can contribute the full amount, within it a reduced amount, and above it nothing directly.

### Is a Roth 401(k) better than a traditional 401(k)?

It depends on whether you expect a higher tax rate now or in retirement. Roth contributions are taxed now and qualified withdrawals are tax-free, while traditional contributions lower your taxable income now and are taxed later. Some people split between the two because future tax rates are unknown.

### What are the 401(k) and IRA limits for 2027?

As of October 21, 2026, the IRS hadn't announced 2027 limits. The 2026 limits are $24,500 for a 401(k) and $7,500 for IRAs.

## Sources

- [IRS: 401(k) limit increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA limit increases to $7,500 (IR-2025-111, Nov 13, 2025)](https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/401k-limit-increases-to-24500-for-2026-ira-limit-increases-to-7500), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Retirement topics, 401(k) and profit-sharing plan contribution limits](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-401k-and-profit-sharing-plan-contribution-limits), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Retirement topics, catch-up contributions](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-catch-up-contributions), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Treasury, IRS issue final regulations on new Roth catch-up rule, other SECURE 2.0 Act provisions (IR-2025-91, Sept 15, 2025)](https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/treasury-irs-issue-final-regulations-on-new-roth-catch-up-rule-other-secure-2point0-act-provisions), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Retirement topics, IRA contribution limits](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-ira-contribution-limits), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Roth IRAs](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/roth-iras), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Publication 590-B, Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p590b), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: 401(k) plans](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/401k-plans), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Retirement topics, vesting](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-vesting), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Retirement topics, required minimum distributions (RMDs)](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-required-minimum-distributions-rmds), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Notice 2024-2, miscellaneous changes under the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-24-02.pdf), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: About Form 8606, Nondeductible IRAs](https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-8606), accessed Oct 21, 2026

## Important information

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Astor provides non-discretionary advice: you make every investment decision. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Astor uses AI, which can make mistakes. This article is general information, not individualized investment, tax or legal advice. See our [disclosures](https://www.astor.app/legal).

## About comparisons

Information about other companies comes from their public websites and filings as of October 2026 and may have changed since; check each provider for current details. Comparisons and rankings reflect Astor’s opinion. Other companies’ names and trademarks belong to their owners, and no affiliation or endorsement is implied.

---

# How often should you rebalance your 401(k)?

Source: https://www.astor.app/blog/rebalance-your-401k
Published: 2026-02-22
Updated: 2026-10-21
By: Astor team, Astor (Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor)

For most people, rebalancing a 401(k) once a year is enough, and a common refinement is to rebalance sooner if your mix drifts 5 percentage points or more from its target. That's close to what Vanguard's research suggests, and it's the kind of check Astor, a personal investing agent, can run on a schedule across the accounts you connect, while every rebalancing decision stays yours.

Rebalancing isn't about squeezing out more return. It's about keeping the risk you carry close to the risk you chose. Below is what rebalancing means, the two ways to time it, how to do it inside a 401(k), and when it's worth looking outside your usual schedule.

> **In one minute**
> - Vanguard says that for many investors an annual rebalance is optimal, and it warns against rebalancing either too often or too rarely.
> - One common approach, from Vanguard research, is to check your mix once or twice a year and rebalance only if it's 5 percentage points or more off target.
> - Inside a 401(k), moving money between funds doesn't create a tax bill, because plan money is taxed when it comes out. In a taxable account, selling can.
> - If you hold a target-date fund, the fund's managers handle rebalancing inside the fund, according to the SEC's Investor.gov.
> - Rebalancing returns you to your target. Changing the target itself is a separate decision, usually driven by your timeline.

## What does rebalancing a 401(k) actually mean?

When you picked your 401(k) funds, you chose a mix, say 80% stock funds and 20% bond funds. That's your target allocation. Different investments grow at different rates, so the mix moves on its own. After a stretch where stocks outpace bonds, an 80/20 portfolio can quietly become 88/12, which means more of your retirement money is riding on stocks than you decided.

Rebalancing is bringing the mix back to that target. The SEC's investor education office describes it as making sure your portfolio doesn't lean too heavily on one asset category, so your risk goes back to a level you're comfortable with. In practice, it means trimming whatever has grown past its share and adding to whatever has fallen behind. Investor.gov notes this can feel uncomfortable, because you're cutting back on recent winners to add to recent laggards.

It helps to separate rebalancing from reallocating. Rebalancing returns you to the target you already have. Reallocating changes the target, for example moving from 80/20 to 70/30 as retirement gets closer. Investor.gov says a change in your time horizon is the most common reason to change your allocation, along with changes in your risk tolerance, finances or goals.

## Should you rebalance on a calendar or when your mix drifts?

Investor.gov describes two approaches. With a calendar approach, you rebalance at a regular interval, and it says many experts suggest every six or twelve months. With a threshold approach, you rebalance only when an asset class moves more than a percentage you picked in advance. Either way, it says rebalancing tends to work best when you do it relatively infrequently.

Vanguard lands on the calendar side for most people. Its investor education page says that for many investors an annual rebalance is optimal, and that the key is picking a schedule that's easy to follow. A Vanguard research paper by Colleen Jaconetti, Yan Zilbering and Francis Kinniry combined the two ideas. It concluded that checking annually or semiannually and rebalancing when an asset class is 5% or more off target is likely to strike a reasonable balance between controlling risk and keeping costs down for most investors. The same research found there's no single best frequency or threshold, so treat 5 points as a common rule of thumb, not a law.

| | Calendar | Threshold | Calendar plus threshold |
|---|---|---|---|
| When you act | On a set date | When your mix drifts past a band you chose | On a set date, only if the mix is past the band |
| Example | Every January | Stocks more than 5 points off target | Check every January, act only if 5 or more points off |
| Upside | Easy to remember | You act only when drift is meaningful | Few trades, and drift stays limited |
| Downside | You may trade when little has changed | You have to check often | Drift can build between checks |

## How do you rebalance inside a 401(k)?

Investor.gov lists three basic ways to rebalance, and all three work inside a 401(k).

1. **Exchange between funds.** On your plan's website, move part of the fund that has grown past its share into the fund that has fallen behind. Inside the plan, this doesn't trigger tax, because the IRS taxes 401(k) money, including earnings, when it's distributed (qualified Roth distributions are the exception).
2. **Redirect new contributions.** Change your contribution election so more of each paycheck goes to the underweight fund. Nothing gets sold, and the mix moves back gradually. This works best when the drift is small compared with what you contribute.
3. **Turn on automatic rebalancing, if your plan offers it.** Some plans let you pick a target mix and a rebalancing schedule. Your plan's website or summary plan description will say whether yours does. Keep in mind it only covers that one plan.

Before you trade, check whether your plan charges fees or limits how often you can move money between funds. Investor.gov suggests checking whether a rebalancing method will trigger transaction fees or tax consequences before you use it.

### What if you're in a target-date fund?

Investor.gov explains that the managers of a lifecycle, or target-date, fund make all the decisions about asset allocation, diversification and rebalancing, and the fund shifts toward a more conservative mix as its target date approaches. If your whole 401(k) sits in one target-date fund, there's nothing to rebalance inside it. If you hold a target-date fund alongside other funds, though, the combined mix is yours to watch, because the fund only rebalances itself.

## When should you check outside your usual schedule?

A yearly check covers most situations, but a few events are worth an extra look.

- **A big market move.** A sharp rise or fall can push your mix past your band faster than usual. Rebalancing after a drop means adding to what fell, which is sticking to your plan rather than predicting what happens next.
- **A life change.** A new job, marriage, a child or retirement getting closer can change how much risk makes sense. That's usually a question about your target, so it's a reallocation, not just a rebalance.
- **Money moving in or out.** Rolling an old 401(k) into a new plan or an IRA is a natural moment to land on your target. When you're taking money out, Vanguard suggests withdrawing from the asset classes that are overweight, and it applies the same idea to required minimum distributions, which the IRS says generally start at age 73.

## What about the money outside your 401(k)?

Plenty of people have more than one account, like a current 401(k), an old one from a previous job, an IRA and a brokerage account. Your plan's rebalancing tool only sees that plan, but the risk you actually carry is the mix across all of them.

One common approach is to set a target for everything together and do most of the adjusting inside tax-advantaged accounts like a 401(k) or IRA, where moving between funds doesn't create a tax bill. In a taxable brokerage account, selling an investment that has gained value can mean paying capital gains tax, so people there often lean on new money and dividends to rebalance instead. This is general education, not tax advice.

## How Astor helps you keep track

Astor is a personal investing agent on iPhone and in iMessage, and the company behind it, Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor, is an SEC-registered investment adviser. It connects through Plaid to brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts at most major US institutions, like Robinhood, Schwab and Coinbase, and learns what you own across all of them. That means you can ask it how your stock and bond mix looks across your 401(k), IRA and brokerage account together, and follow up in the same thread.

With [scheduled alerts](https://www.astor.app/blog/scheduled-alerts), you can ask Astor to check something on a schedule or when a condition is met. A hypothetical example would be "every January, tell me whether my stock share across all my accounts is more than 5 points off 80%." Astor texts you what it found, with the reasoning and sources behind it.

Astor can see your holdings, but it can't move money or trade in the accounts you connect, and it doesn't manage or rebalance anything. If you decide to rebalance, you do it in your plan or brokerage. The AI can be wrong, which is why it shows its sources and you make the call. Astor is free to start, and you can [see how it works](https://www.astor.app/#how-it-works).

## Frequently asked questions

### How often should I rebalance my 401(k)?

For most people, once a year is enough. Vanguard says an annual rebalance is optimal for many investors, and a common refinement is to rebalance sooner if your mix drifts 5 percentage points or more from its target. Pick a schedule you'll actually stick to.

### Is it bad to rebalance too often?

It isn't harmful in itself, but it usually adds trades without much benefit. Vanguard warns against rebalancing too frequently, and Investor.gov says rebalancing tends to work best when done relatively infrequently.

### Should I rebalance during a market drop?

If a drop has pushed your mix past your band, rebalancing means adding to the asset that fell to get back to your target. That's following the plan you already set, not a forecast. Whether to do it is your decision, and if the drop has changed how much risk you're comfortable with, that's a question about your target allocation.

### Do target-date funds rebalance automatically?

Yes. According to Investor.gov, the managers of a target-date fund handle asset allocation, diversification and rebalancing, and the fund gets more conservative as its target date approaches. If you hold other funds alongside it, you still need to watch the combined mix.

### Does rebalancing a 401(k) have tax consequences?

Moving money between funds inside a 401(k) doesn't create a tax bill, because the IRS taxes plan money when it's distributed, and qualified Roth distributions aren't taxed. Rebalancing in a taxable brokerage account is different, since selling can realize capital gains.

## Sources

- [Vanguard: Rebalancing your portfolio, how to rebalance](https://investor.vanguard.com/investor-resources-education/portfolio-management/rebalancing-your-portfolio), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [AAII Journal: Best Practices for Portfolio Rebalancing, by Colleen M. Jaconetti, Yan Zilbering and Francis M. Kinniry of Vanguard (May 2011)](https://www.aaii.com/journal/article/best-practices-for-portfolio-rebalancing), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [Investor.gov (SEC): Beginners' Guide to Asset Allocation, Diversification, and Rebalancing](https://www.investor.gov/sites/investorgov/files/2019-02/Beginners-Guide-to-Asset-Allocation.pdf), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: 401(k) plans](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/401k-plans), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Retirement topics, required minimum distributions (RMDs)](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-required-minimum-distributions-rmds), accessed Oct 21, 2026

## Important information

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Astor provides non-discretionary advice: you make every investment decision. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Astor uses AI, which can make mistakes. This article is general information, not individualized investment, tax or legal advice. See our [disclosures](https://www.astor.app/legal).

## About comparisons

Information about other companies comes from their public websites and filings as of October 2026 and may have changed since; check each provider for current details. Comparisons and rankings reflect Astor’s opinion. Other companies’ names and trademarks belong to their owners, and no affiliation or endorsement is implied.

---

# How are RSUs taxed? RSU tax strategies for tech workers in 2026

Source: https://www.astor.app/blog/rsu-tax-strategies-for-tech-workers
Published: 2026-01-15
Updated: 2026-10-21
By: Astor team, Astor (Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor)

RSUs are taxed twice. The value of the shares when they're delivered to you is taxed as wages, like salary, and any change in price after that is taxed as a capital gain or loss when you sell. This guide is from Astor, a [personal investing agent](https://www.astor.app/blog/what-is-a-personal-investing-agent) and SEC-registered investment adviser, and it explains how that works in 2026 and which planning moves are worth knowing.

The biggest surprise for most people is that 22% withholding can leave a high earner owing a lot in April. This is educational, not tax advice, so check your own numbers with a tax professional.

> **In one minute**
> - RSU income is wages. The fair market value of the shares when they're transferred to you goes on your W-2 and is subject to income tax, Social Security and Medicare.
> - Federal withholding on RSUs is often a flat 22% (37% above $1 million of supplemental wages). In 2026, the 32% bracket starts at $201,775 of taxable income for single filers, so high earners can come up short.
> - Holding shares after vesting doesn't change the tax at vesting. It only changes the rate on gains after that, with long-term rates applying after more than one year.
> - The main levers are pre-tax retirement and HSA contributions, harvesting losses, giving appreciated shares instead of cash, and timing other income.
> - Concentration is a risk that taxes don't solve. FINRA notes some experts suggest no more than 10% of investment assets in any single stock.

## How are RSUs taxed?

**When the shares are delivered.** An RSU is a promise from your employer to give you shares once you meet a vesting condition. The IRS says the fair market value of stock-settled RSUs is included in your income in the year the shares are transferred to you, and RSUs are wages subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes. That value becomes your cost basis in the shares.

**When you sell.** The difference between your sale price and that cost basis is a capital gain or loss. If you held the shares one year or less, any gain is short-term and taxed at ordinary income rates. If you held them more than one year, it's long-term.

Say 500 shares vest at $150. You have $75,000 of wage income, and your basis is $150 a share. Sell six months later at $180 and the $15,000 gain is short-term.

Check the cost basis on your Form 1099-B every year. If it doesn't reflect the value already taxed at vesting, you could pay tax twice on the same money, and the Form 8949 instructions explain how to report the correct basis.

## Why is 22% withholding often not enough?

Employers often treat RSU income as supplemental wages, the same category as bonuses, and IRS Publication 15 lets them withhold federal income tax on supplemental wages at a flat 22%. Once your supplemental wages pass $1 million in a calendar year, the excess is withheld at 37%.

Your actual rate depends on your total income. These are the 2026 federal brackets near the top.

| 2026 rate | Single, taxable income over | Married filing jointly, over |
|---|---|---|
| 24% | $105,700 | $211,400 |
| 32% | $201,775 | $403,550 |
| 35% | $256,225 | $512,450 |
| 37% | $640,600 | $768,700 |

Take a single filer with $230,000 of salary and $120,000 of RSUs vesting in 2026, using the $16,100 standard deduction and nothing else. Taxable income is about $333,900, and the RSU income lands in the 32% and 35% brackets. Federal income tax on that RSU slice comes to roughly $40,700, while 22% withholding covers $26,400. That's a gap of about $14,300 before state tax. Your numbers will differ.

There are three common ways to close the gap.

- **Ask for more withholding.** You can file a new Form W-4 with your employer to add extra withholding from each paycheck.
- **Make estimated payments.** For 2026, the federal due dates are April 15, June 15 and September 15, 2026, and January 15, 2027.
- **Set cash aside when shares vest.** Some people sell enough shares at each vest to cover the expected gap and hold the cash until tax time.

It also helps to know the safe harbor. Under IRS Publication 505, you generally avoid an underpayment penalty if what you paid during the year covers 90% of this year's tax or 100% of last year's, and that rises to 110% of last year's if your prior-year adjusted gross income was over $150,000. Withholding is treated as paid evenly through the year unless you choose otherwise, which is why extra withholding late in the year can still count.

## Should you sell RSUs when they vest or hold them?

Holding doesn't reduce the tax you owe at vesting, which is fixed the day the shares arrive. So the real question is whether you'd buy your employer's stock with the same cash today.

Holding for more than a year can lower the rate on future gains. In 2026, long-term gains are taxed at 0% up to $49,450 of taxable income for single filers ($98,900 married filing jointly), 15% up to $545,500 ($613,700 joint), and 20% above that. On top of that, the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax can apply to investment income once your modified adjusted gross income passes $200,000 single or $250,000 married filing jointly. The NIIT doesn't apply to wages, so it doesn't touch the RSU income at vesting.

That rate difference only applies to the gain after vesting, and a lower rate doesn't help much if the stock falls. FINRA points out that heavy company stock means your investments and your paycheck depend on the same company. It also notes that some experts suggest keeping no more than 10% of your investment assets in a single stock, while saying that may be too high for some people. If you're ever laid off, our guide on [what happens to RSUs when you're laid off](https://www.astor.app/blog/rsus-when-laid-off) covers what changes.

## Which strategies can lower the tax on RSU income?

You can't avoid the tax on RSU income, but you can lower your taxable income around it and be careful about what happens when you sell.

### Max out pre-tax accounts

Pre-tax 401(k) contributions and HSA contributions reduce your taxable wages, which is the same income your RSUs add to. For 2026, the 401(k) employee limit is $24,500, plus an $8,000 catch-up at age 50 or older ($11,250 if you're 60 to 63). The 2026 HSA limit is $4,400 for self-only coverage and $8,750 for family coverage, if you're on an HSA-eligible health plan. New for 2026, if your prior-year wages from your employer topped $150,000, catch-up contributions must go in as Roth, which doesn't lower taxable income.

### Harvest losses, and watch the wash-sale rule

Capital losses offset capital gains. If losses exceed gains, you can deduct up to $3,000 a year against other income ($1,500 if married filing separately) and carry the rest forward. The wash-sale rule disallows the loss if you buy substantially identical securities within 30 days before or after the sale. If you sell your employer's stock at a loss, shares that vest within that window may count as acquiring substantially identical stock, so check your vest calendar first.

### Give appreciated shares instead of cash

If you already give to charity, IRS Publication 526 says you can generally deduct the fair market value of stock you've held for more than one year, and you don't pay capital gains tax on the appreciation. Shares held a year or less are treated differently, and the deduction is generally limited to your basis. A donor-advised fund lets you give in a high-income year and recommend grants later. Starting in 2026, itemizers can only deduct charitable gifts above 0.5% of adjusted gross income, and itemized deductions are trimmed for people in the 37% bracket, so the math is worth running before you give.

### Know the 2026 SALT limit

If you itemize and pay high state and property taxes, the 2026 deduction limit for state and local taxes is $40,400 ($20,200 married filing separately). It phases down once modified adjusted gross income passes $505,000, but not below $10,000.

### Mind your state

State tax follows where you did the work. California's Franchise Tax Board says it taxes equity compensation to the extent you performed services in California, even if you've moved away by the time it vests. If you're moving, keep records of your move date and where you worked.

### Time other income around vest-heavy years

If you control when other income lands, like exercising nonqualified options or selling other investments at a gain, consider moving it out of a year with large vests.

## Why Astor

RSUs tend to pile up in one stock. Astor is a personal investing agent on iPhone and in iMessage. It connects through Plaid to the brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts you already have, so it can see how much of your portfolio is your employer's stock across all of them, and it can't move money.

It follows every position you own, including earnings dates, filings and headlines on your employer. When something crosses a line you care about, it texts you what happened, why it matters to your portfolio, and what you could do. You can ask about your holdings in plain English, and set a [scheduled alert](https://www.astor.app/blog/scheduled-alerts) before your employer reports. Every alert links to its reasoning and sources, because the AI can be wrong.

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Astor doesn't do tax filing, so tax returns stay with you and your tax professional. It does the research and the watching, and you make every decision. [See how Astor works](https://www.astor.app/#how-it-works).

## Frequently asked questions

### How are RSUs taxed when they vest?

The fair market value of the shares when they're transferred to you is taxed as wages and reported on your W-2. It's subject to federal and state income tax, Social Security and Medicare. That value becomes your cost basis for figuring gains or losses when you sell.

### Why does my employer only withhold 22% on RSUs?

Employers often treat RSU income as supplemental wages, which IRS rules let them withhold at a flat 22%, rising to 37% above $1 million in a year. If your marginal rate is higher, you'll owe the difference. You can add withholding on Form W-4 or make estimated payments.

### Should I sell RSUs as soon as they vest?

Many people do, because holding doesn't reduce the tax already owed at vesting and selling cuts concentration in one stock. Holding more than a year lowers the rate only on gains after vesting.

### Can I avoid paying tax on RSUs?

No. RSU income is taxed as wages when the shares are delivered. You can lower your overall taxable income with pre-tax 401(k) and HSA contributions, charitable giving and careful timing, but the RSU income itself is taxable.

### Does the wash-sale rule apply to RSUs?

It can. The rule disallows a loss if you acquire substantially identical securities within 30 days before or after selling at a loss. Newly vested shares near the date of a loss sale may trigger it, so check with a tax professional.

## Sources

- [IRS: Information Letter 2024-0010 on taxation of restricted stock and RSUs (June 18, 2024)](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-wd/24-0010.pdf), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Publication 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p525), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Publication 15 (2026), Employer's Tax Guide](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p15), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2026 (IR-2025-103)](https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-releases-tax-inflation-adjustments-for-tax-year-2026-including-amendments-from-the-one-big-beautiful-bill), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Revenue Procedure 2025-32, 2026 inflation adjustments](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-25-32.pdf), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Publication 505 (2026), Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p505), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Topic No. 409, Capital Gains and Losses](https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc409), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Topic No. 559, Net Investment Income Tax](https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc559), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Instructions for Form 8949](https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i8949), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: 401(k) limit increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA limit increases to $7,500](https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/401k-limit-increases-to-24500-for-2026-ira-limit-increases-to-7500), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Publication 15-B (2026), Employer's Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15b.pdf), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [Investor.gov (SEC): Wash Sales](https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/investing-basics/glossary/wash-sales), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Publication 526, Charitable Contributions](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p526), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [IRS: Correction to state and local income tax deduction amount in the 2026 Form 1040-ES](https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/correction-to-state-and-local-income-tax-deduction-amount-in-the-2026-form-1040-es), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [California Franchise Tax Board: Publication 1004, Equity-Based Compensation Guidelines](https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/misc/1004.html), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [FINRA: Love Your Company Stock? Here's What to Know (Aug 11, 2023)](https://www.finra.org/investors/insights/love-your-company-stock-what-to-know), accessed Oct 21, 2026

## Important information

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Astor provides non-discretionary advice: you make every investment decision. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Astor uses AI, which can make mistakes. This article is general information, not individualized investment, tax or legal advice. See our [disclosures](https://www.astor.app/legal).

## About comparisons

Information about other companies comes from their public websites and filings as of October 2026 and may have changed since; check each provider for current details. Comparisons and rankings reflect Astor’s opinion. Other companies’ names and trademarks belong to their owners, and no affiliation or endorsement is implied.

---

# How to actually review your investment portfolio

Source: https://www.astor.app/blog/how-to-actually-review-your-investment-portfolio
Published: 2026-01-05
Updated: 2026-10-21
By: Astor team, Astor (Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor)

To review your investment portfolio, put every account you own into one list, then check your mix of stocks, bonds and cash, how much rides on any one company or sector, what you pay in fees, and whether it all still fits your goals. Change something only if it has drifted from what you intended. Astor is a personal investing agent that connects all your accounts in one place, which takes care of the hardest step, and watches what you own between reviews while you make every decision.

A review isn't a rebuild. It's a structured check-in that usually takes an hour or two, and often the right outcome is a small adjustment or none at all.

> **In one minute**
> - Review your whole portfolio across every account, not one account at a time. Old 401(k)s and company stock are the parts people forget.
> - Check four things, starting with your mix of stocks, bonds and cash, then your concentration in single companies and sectors, your fees, and whether it all still fits your timeline and goals.
> - The SEC's Investor.gov says many experts suggest rebalancing every six or twelve months, or when an asset class drifts past a percentage you set in advance.
> - Fees look small but compound. Use a tool like FINRA's Fund Analyzer to see what each fund costs.
> - Astor connects your brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts in one view and watches them between reviews. You make every decision.

## How often should you review your portfolio?

In our view, a full review once a year is enough for most people, plus an extra one when your life changes. A new job, a big raise, a marriage, a child, a home purchase or a windfall can each change what your money is for, which is a better reason to revisit your plan than anything the market did last month.

This lines up with how the SEC's Investor.gov describes rebalancing. It says many financial experts recommend doing it on a regular interval, such as every six or twelve months, and that rebalancing tends to work best when done relatively infrequently. Looking at your accounts more often is fine, as long as you keep looking separate from acting. Our guide on [time in the market vs. timing the market](https://www.astor.app/blog/time-in-market-beats-timing-the-market) covers why reacting to every move can be costly.

## What should you gather before you start?

Every account, in one list. You can't judge a portfolio you can only see in pieces.

- Your current employer's 401(k) or 403(b)
- Old 401(k)s from previous jobs, which are easy to forget
- Roth or traditional IRAs
- An HSA, if you've invested it
- Taxable brokerage accounts
- Vested company stock, RSUs or ESPP shares
- Crypto accounts

For each one, write down the institution, the account type, the balance and what it holds. Every other step depends on this list, because a fund that looks sensible in one account can double up on something you already own in another.

## Is your mix of stocks, bonds and cash still right?

Your asset allocation is how your money is divided among stocks, bonds and cash, measured across your entire portfolio rather than account by account. Investor.gov says the right mix depends largely on your time horizon and your ability to tolerate risk, and that there's no single model that's right for every goal.

Add up each category across all your accounts and compare the result with what you intended. If you never set a target, this is the time to pick one. Two checks help.

1. **Does it match your timeline?** Money for a goal decades away can usually take more ups and downs than money you'll need in a couple of years. Investor.gov says a portfolio heavily weighted in stocks would be inappropriate for a short-term goal, and it also notes that cash carries inflation risk, the risk that rising prices erode what your money can buy.
2. **Could you live with it in a bad year?** If a sharp drop in your stocks would make you sell, the mix is probably more aggressive than you can actually hold.

Then step back and ask whether your goals themselves have changed. Investor.gov says the most common reason to change your allocation is a change in your time horizon, and that a change in your risk tolerance, financial situation or goal is a reason too. A recent rally or slump in one asset class isn't on that list.

## Are you too concentrated in one company or sector?

Concentration is when too much of your portfolio depends on one position or one industry.

### Single companies

If you work at a public company, vested RSUs and ESPP shares can quietly become your largest holding, on top of the paycheck that already depends on the same company. Look at what share of your total portfolio each individual stock represents, and decide in advance how large you're willing to let any one position get. Investor.gov notes that a stock portfolio isn't diversified if it holds only four or five individual stocks.

### Sectors and overlapping funds

Funds can concentrate you too. Investor.gov points out that a fund focused on one industry sector doesn't give you instant diversification. Owning several broad US stock funds that track similar indexes can also mean owning many of the same large companies two or three times. Open each fund's top holdings and see how much they overlap.

## What are you paying in fees and taxes?

### Fees

Fees are easy to ignore because each one is small, but they come out every year. Investor.gov illustrates this with a hypothetical $100,000 investment growing 4% a year for 20 years, which ends at about $208,000 with a 0.25% annual fee and about $179,000 with a 1.00% fee. That's the SEC's illustration, not a forecast, but it shows why fees deserve a line in your review.

List the expense ratio of every fund you own and any advisory or account fees on top. FINRA's Fund Analyzer lets you look up and compare fund costs. If you hold an expensive fund without a clear reason, ask whether a cheaper one would do the same job. Investor.gov also suggests asking any professional you pay how they're paid, whether by commission, by the amount of assets they manage, or another way.

### Taxes

Where you hold something can matter too. Retirement accounts like 401(k)s and IRAs have different tax treatment from a taxable brokerage account, so many investors think about which holdings belong in which kind of account. Before you sell anything in a taxable account, check whether the sale would trigger capital gains. This is general education, not tax advice, and a tax professional can tell you what makes sense for your situation.

## When should you rebalance, and how?

Rebalance when your mix has drifted far enough from your target that it no longer carries the risk you chose. Investor.gov gives the example of a portfolio meant to be 60% stocks that drifts to 80% after a stock market rise. It describes three ways to bring it back.

1. Sell some of what's overweight and use the money to buy what's underweight.
2. Buy more of the underweight asset with new money.
3. If you're contributing regularly, point new contributions at the underweight category until things are back in balance.

Investor.gov also says to consider whether your rebalancing method will trigger transaction fees or taxes before you start. That's one reason to start with retirement accounts or with new contributions before selling anything in a taxable account.

A few common mistakes are worth checking for while you're here.

- **Forgotten old 401(k)s.** They can sit for years in whatever default investments they started with. Decide whether to leave them, move them to your current plan, or roll them into an IRA.
- **Idle cash.** Money left in a cash sweep account by accident isn't part of any plan.
- **Selling on recent performance alone.** A fund having a weak six months isn't, by itself, a reason to sell. Judge it on whether it still fits your plan and what it costs.

## How Astor fits into a portfolio review

Astor is a personal investing agent on iPhone and in iMessage. It connects to brokerage, retirement and crypto accounts at most major US institutions, such as Robinhood, Schwab and Coinbase, through Plaid, so the first step of a review, getting your accounts into one picture, is done once instead of every year. Astor can see your holdings but can't move money, and you don't transfer anything to it.

Between reviews, Astor follows every position you own and the earnings dates, filings and headlines that touch them, and texts you when something crosses a line you care about. [At a glance](https://www.astor.app/blog/at-a-glance) gives you a five-second daily check with two lines on what moved your money today and why. Themes let you group what you own, like AI infrastructure or nuclear power, and follow each group, which can help you notice when several holdings ride on the same idea. With [scheduled alerts](https://www.astor.app/blog/scheduled-alerts), you can ask Astor to check something on a schedule, like every Monday morning or before a company you own reports, and the free plan includes one custom alert. You can also ask Astor questions about your actual holdings in the app or [in iMessage](https://www.astor.app/blog/talk-to-astor-in-imessage).

Astor doesn't rebalance, trade or decide anything in your connected accounts, and it doesn't do tax filing or estate planning. The AI can be wrong, which is why it shows its sources. You make every decision. Astor is free to start and available in the US only, and you can [see how it works](https://www.astor.app/#how-it-works).

## Frequently asked questions

### How often should I review my investment portfolio?

In our view, once a year is enough for most people, plus an extra review after a major life change like a new job, a marriage or a home purchase. Investor.gov notes that many experts recommend rebalancing every six or twelve months, and that rebalancing tends to work best when done relatively infrequently.

### Do I need a financial advisor to review my portfolio?

Not for a basic review. Listing your accounts, checking your mix, concentration and fees, and rebalancing are things many people can do themselves. A financial professional can add real value in more complex situations, like large amounts of company stock, retirement income planning, or tax and estate questions.

### Should I sell something just because it dropped?

Not on price alone. A better test is whether the holding still fits your plan, whether it costs more than it should, and whether it leaves you more concentrated than you want. A drop can be a reason to look closer, but it isn't a decision by itself.

### What should I fix first if my review finds several problems?

Prioritize. In our view, concentration you didn't intend usually deserves attention first, then high fees, then any drift in your overall mix. Check the tax cost of each change before selling in a taxable account.

## Sources

- [Investor.gov (SEC): Beginners' Guide to Asset Allocation, Diversification, and Rebalancing](https://www.investor.gov/additional-resources/general-resources/publications-research/info-sheets/beginners-guide-asset), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [Investor.gov (SEC): Understanding Fees](https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/getting-started/understanding-fees), accessed Oct 21, 2026
- [FINRA: Fund Analyzer](https://tools.finra.org/fund_analyzer/), accessed Oct 21, 2026

## Important information

Gaus, Inc. DBA Astor is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #338424). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Astor provides non-discretionary advice: you make every investment decision. All investing involves risk, including the loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Astor uses AI, which can make mistakes. This article is general information, not individualized investment, tax or legal advice. See our [disclosures](https://www.astor.app/legal).

## About comparisons

Information about other companies comes from their public websites and filings as of October 2026 and may have changed since; check each provider for current details. Comparisons and rankings reflect Astor’s opinion. Other companies’ names and trademarks belong to their owners, and no affiliation or endorsement is implied.