Having developed robo platforms for retail clients and advisors, Betterment is expanding further into the asset management industry with a 401(k) offering for businesses. As can be expected from its CEO Jon Stein, the scope is grand as the digital-first firm sees a $4.6 trillion market ripe for disruption.
"We see this as one of our key lines of business, alongside our direct-to-consumer and Betterment Institutional. We will someday manage hundreds of billions, and ultimately trillions of dollars for Americans," Stein boasts.
The Betterment for Business platform seeks to bring the firm's simple design and digital approach to plan administration. The robo firm says for plan sponsors with more than $1 million in assets, there will be no upfront fee, and AUM fees will range from 10 to 60 basis points.
Portfolios will consist of ETFs, and participants will receive personalized investment advice; accounts will also be managed to maximize tax efficiency, which Betterment claims no other provider offers.
DIFFICULTY SETTING UP INTERNAL PLAN
Stein says the company's own experience setting up a 401(k) plan for its employees last year spurred the decision to launch the product. Betterment began with the assumption it would be quick, given their staff and knowledge in investments, he says, but it became a five-month process as they struggled to develop a plan to their satisfaction with what was available.
"There were no good options," Stein says. "It was very difficult to understand the pricing of the options we were presented with. It was a mess." (For its 154 employees, Betterment ultimately chose low-cost Vanguard.)
The Department of Labor fiduciary standard proposal only added momentum to the effort, he adds.
"We feel it was a bit of an invitation to us," Stein says. "It's almost as though they are out there saying, 'Will someone please create a good, fiduciary advice model in the defined contribution space?' That model doesn't exist today as far as we can see."
The 401(k) offering will not conflict with the relationship Betterment has with Fidelity, Stein notes. The robo has partnered with the financial services giant for its advisor product. "That relationship is purely on the Betterment Institutional side, and it’s a relationship where they promote Betterment Institutional to their 3,000 advisors," he says. "It doesn’t touch the retail offering, and it won't touch the 401(k) offering."
Stein didn't view the new Betterment offering being in a competition with Fidelity's 401(k)s -- the firm has $1.2 trillion in retirement assets under management. "We have retail customers, and they have retail customers. We offer IRAs, and they offer IRAs. There's nothing new here."
UPHILL CHALLENGE
Leading 401(k) providers declined to discuss Betterment's new offering. But concerns about new digital competitors entering the space are strong -- research firm Cerulli Associates recently highlighted how e-commerce companies Alibaba and Tencent jumped into asset management in China.
Betterment isn't the first digital platform to enter the 401(k) space either. There are bolt-on retirement investment advice providers such as Financial Engines and, earlier this year, former Corporate Intelligence analyst Grant Easterbrook launched Dream Forward Financial as a low-cost 401(k) provider.
“We think it’s a validation that the multitrillion dollar 401(k) industry is primed for disruption,” Easterbrook says. “Even if it is just a tiny fraction of the market, if you look at what has happened in the robo space, they have a relatively small slice but an outsized impact that has resulted in all these changes.”
Even prominent firms attempting to break into the 401(k) market will face an uphill challenge, despite Betterment's brand recognition, says Morningstar equity analyst Michael Wong.
"There are already pretty entrenched players in there and I think it will be hard for them to gain traction," Wong says. "Most of those players already have very deep connections with the retirement plan sponsors and generally they’ve already been offering something very close to institutional quality type of investment options compared to the robo advisors."
Ironically, if the Labor Department fiduciary standard proposal passed and smaller retirement plan sponsors lose access to retirement plan advice, as predicted by industry critics of the proposal, Wong says that would be an opportunity for robo firms to exploit.
Stein acknowledges the competition, but sees beyond it. The future roadmap for the company's offerings, he says, could potentially include other financial products, such as insurance. "We know that this will take time. We're not just building something and hoping that next year we'll dominate the space. Just like we've done on the retail side, we're building for the long term," he says.
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