All independent robo advisors are standalone, but not all standalone robo advisors are independent.
An independent robo advisor is standalone by nature because it operates on its own. In contrast, a standalone robo advisor doesn’t necessarily have to be independent — a robo advisor that a larger financial institution owns could operate as a separate brand or subsidiary, that is, as a standalone. Here, the larger financial institution we refer to is an investment product issuer (such as an ETF issuer), brokerage firm, bank or traditional financial advisory firm.
Our firm QuietGrowth is an independent robo adviser. This is in the context that no investment product issuer (such as an ETF issuer), bank or financial institution has the controlling ownership in our firm. Per the above discussion, our firm is also a standalone robo adviser.
More focused service by an independent
A large financial institution that owns a robo advisor offers the robo advice service as an additional service to its existing clients — the robo advice service is not their primary focus. In contrast, an independent robo advisor offers the robo advice service as its central service, thus typically enabling them to provide a superlative offering to their clients.
No potential bias due to affiliations for an independent
Unlike a robo advisor that a larger financial institution owns, an independent robo advisor has no affiliations that could potentially influence its investment advice.
Related information
Read the answers to the related questions:
QuietGrowth has been publishing content in this blog or in other sections of the website. Contributors for this content may include the employees of QuietGrowth, or third-party firms, or third-party authors. Unless otherwise noted, such content does not necessarily represent the actual views or opinions of QuietGrowth or any of its employees, directors, or officers.
Any links provided in our website to other websites are for the purpose of convenience, or as required by any such other websites. Unless otherwise noted, this does not imply that QuietGrowth endorses, is affiliated, and/or promotes any information, or products or services of those websites. Please read the advice disclaimer section of the website too.