Personal Capital

Personal Capital's investment committee historically oversaw asset-allocation models and security selection, using a tactical-weighting framework across US and international equities, fixed income, and alternatives. Since Empower Retirement's acquisition, the investment approach has been integrated into Empower's broader advisory platform under the leadership of Jay Shah. The firm does not disclose individual portfolio-manager names publicly.

Client acquisition runs through a free financial-dashboard product that aggregates bank, brokerage, mortgage, and credit-card accounts. Users who meet asset thresholds — typically above $100,000 in investable assets — receive outreach from salaried in-house advisors who convert them to managed accounts. The dashboard functions as a lead-generation engine rather than a standalone software business.

The firm blends both: portfolios are built and rebalanced algorithmically using individual stocks and ETFs, but every client is assigned a dedicated human financial advisor. Advisors handle onboarding, financial planning, and periodic reviews, making it closer to a traditional RIA with a technology front-end than a pure automated service like Betterment or Wealthfront.

Managed portfolios historically used direct indexing across sectors, holding individual equities weighted to match sector allocations rather than buying cap-weighted index funds. The strategy included tax-loss harvesting for taxable accounts and equal-weighting tilts. Fixed-income allocations typically used individual bonds and bond ETFs. Alternative exposure included REITs and commodities as diversifiers.

Empower Retirement completed the acquisition in July 2020, retaining the Personal Capital brand and free dashboard while integrating advisory operations. Empower, as a major 401(k) recordkeeper, gained a digital-advice channel to serve plan participants rolling assets out of employer plans. The combined entity operates under Empower's regulatory umbrella, with personal-capital accounts custodied at Pershing Advisor Solutions.