Wealthfront Review (2026): Why We Chose It for Retirement and Savings

We’ve been using Wealthfront for our retirement accounts and high-yield savings needs for a while now, and overall, it’s been a dependable and cost-effective choice for our financial goals. In this Wealthfront review, we’ll cover what we like, some drawbacks we’ve encountered, and why it’s become our primary app for retirement investing.

Please note: This post contains our referral link which means that if you sign up for Wealthfront through this link, we will be rewarded through financial incentives offered by the brand. We just thought you should know.

What Is Wealthfront?

Wealthfront is a robo-advisor and financial platform that combines automated investing, retirement account management, and a high-yield cash management account - all in one place. It’s designed to be largely hands-off, using technology to manage diversified portfolios and savings with minimal effort.

Pros 👍

1. Automated, Low-Cost Investing

One of the biggest draws for us has been Wealthfront’s automated investment management. The platform builds and manages portfolios based on your risk tolerance and long-term goals - including Roth, Traditional, rollover, and SEP IRAs. Advisory fees are low - generally 0.25% annually - which is far less than traditional human advisors and competitive across robo-advisors.

2. Helpful Financial Planning Tools

Wealthfront’s Path tool is excellent for retirement planning. It analyzes your financial situation, spending trends, and long-term goals to estimate how you’re tracking toward retirement. It’s like having a built-in financial plan without extra cost. Please note: if you don't have all of your financial accounts synced here, this may not actually be that accurate or as helpful.

3. High-Yield Cash Account

The Wealthfront Cash Account has been a great home for our "rainy day fund" and short-term cash. It offers a competitive APY with no monthly fees, FDIC insurance up to $8 million, and free transfers/withdrawals - even on weekends and holidays. You can also bump up your APY by inviting friends to join Wealthfront too.

4. Tax-Loss Harvesting

For taxable investing accounts, Wealthfront offers daily tax-loss harvesting, which can help improve after-tax returns over time. This automated strategy is something we appreciate, especially given the low cost.

5. All-In-One Platform

Since Wealthfront combines savings, retirement investing, and general investment accounts, it’s convenient to see everything in one place rather than juggling multiple providers.

Cons 👎

1. No Human Financial Advisor Included

The platform is fully automated, and while that’s great for convenience, it means there’s no dedicated human advisor to talk to if you want personalized guidance. We personally haven't felt that this has been a drawback, but know that for some individuals, this matters.

2. Account Minimums

Wealthfront generally requires a $500 minimum to open an investing account, which might be a hurdle for new investors starting small.

3. Customer Support Limitations

Some users - and even community feedback - suggest that customer support isn’t as responsive or robust as you might get from a traditional financial institution, especially if something unusual occurs with your investment account. This hasn’t been something we have had to deal with yet, but it’s worth noting.

4. Not a Full-Service Bank

Wealthfront isn’t a traditional bank, so services like physical branches, check deposits, and in-person support aren’t available. If you want lots of banking services in-person, this may feel limiting.

Why We Chose Wealthfront for Retirement

We made Wealthfront our primary retirement app mainly because of:

✅ Low overall costs compared to human advisors.

✅ Automatic, diversified portfolios tailored to our long-term goals.

✅ Helpful planning tools that keep retirement goals top-of-mind.

✅ Ease of use and consolidation — we keep all our savings and investing in one interface, which simplifies tracking and planning.

We also like that Wealthfront continues to expand features - like bond portfolios and smart cash automation - which gives us more options as our financial picture grows.

Wealthfront Review Recap

Wealthfront isn’t perfect, but for a largely hands-off, cost-effective way to manage retirement investing and savings, it checks the boxes for us. If you want automation, strong planning tools, and high-yield savings in one place without hefty fees, it’s definitely worth considering.

Want to get started with Wealthfront? Sign up through our referral link and we'll each get a APY boost of 0.75% when you open a cash or taxable, individual investing account and a 0.50% match on deposits for 3 months (up to $100,000 deposited) when you open a taxable, individual investing account.