Personal Capital pressures

Have a question about your personal investments? No matter how simple or complex, you can ask it here.
sljted
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2021 7:03 pm

Re: Personal Capital pressures

Post by sljted »

Henryk wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 1:15 pm Newbie for Bogleheads here. I am looking for a safe and reliable portfolio aggregation service since I have a few accounts (Schwab/Merrill/Fidelity). By reading above, it seems to be that PC is good for this purpose? Any other recommendations? I'll be only interested to see my investments on one place and see allocation/exposure etc. Thanks!
If by that you mean keeping your investments where they are but utilizing Personal Capital to see the big picture, than yes. The Investment Checkup feature is nice as is the Fee analyzer and you can mess around with the Retirement Planner. There are also some budget features for your everyday monthly financial picture. Just don't fall for the sales pitch and switch everything to them.
teamDE
Posts: 504
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2016 9:16 pm

Re: Personal Capital pressures

Post by teamDE »

I don't use their advising services, but I really like PC. I have a Quicken Premier for Mac and Windows and also use Vanguard's and Fidelity's "outside accounts" aggregators, but I keep going back to PC. It is near flawless in terms of actually connecting and working, the asset allocation tool is pretty advanced, balance/performance/holdings are easy to see and use on desktop or mobile. The retirement planner is also fun to play with. It's quite great. I don't know wtf Quicken can't get their crap together and work like this.

I receive 1-2 voicemails per year from them. And its not even a pitch, just a "Hey this I blah blah from PC calling to check in and see if there's anything we can do to help you on your financial journey." type thing. I never call back, they never call back.
HeelaMonster
Posts: 1045
Joined: Sat Aug 10, 2019 11:46 am

Re: Personal Capital pressures

Post by HeelaMonster »

teamDE wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 10:31 am ....but I keep going back to PC. It is near flawless in terms of actually connecting and working, the asset allocation tool is pretty advanced, balance/performance/holdings are easy to see and use on desktop or mobile.
Agree on the utility of the aggregator, and not the personal advisor. One thing I haven't been able to figure out (but maybe someone here has...), is how to change (recategorize) the allocation PC places on assets. For example, it has decided that my TSP account is cash, so my cash allocation is sky high, while most of that should really be counted toward bonds. Is there a way to manually reclassify an asset, to override where PC wants to place it?
Henryk
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2021 12:40 pm

Re: Personal Capital pressures

Post by Henryk »

Thanks! I just registered PC and linked a few accounts, pretty cool so far.

Question: I have an investment overseas and not in PC list. I can add a "Manual Investment Holdings" account, however inside it I can only add cash or lookup Ticker/CUSIP. The investment I have doesn't have Ticker/CUSIP, it has 6% annual return and paid quarterly, similar to CD or savings account. Of course I can update the cash balance every quarter, or any other better way? Another tricky thing is the investment is not in USD, so I will have to convert it USD amount manually each time I update it. It will be nice if PC can take different currency and use official currency rate to convert it to USD when displaying. Anyone has similar situation and how do you deal with it?
HeelaMonster
Posts: 1045
Joined: Sat Aug 10, 2019 11:46 am

Re: Personal Capital pressures

Post by HeelaMonster »

Henryk wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 11:45 am Thanks! I just registered PC and linked a few accounts, pretty cool so far.

Question: I have an investment overseas and not in PC list. I can add a "Manual Investment Holdings" account, however inside it I can only add cash or lookup Ticker/CUSIP. The investment I have doesn't have Ticker/CUSIP, it has 6% annual return and paid quarterly, similar to CD or savings account. Of course I can update the cash balance every quarter, or any other better way? Another tricky thing is the investment is not in USD, so I will have to convert it USD amount manually each time I update it. It will be nice if PC can take different currency and use official currency rate to convert it to USD when displaying. Anyone has similar situation and how do you deal with it?
I don't have any non-USD currency to convert, but do have several items that aren't linked directly by PC. It has not been a big hassle to update the entered value manually, whether that is once or twice per year, quarterly, whatever you wish.

But speaking of updates, I'll give you a heads up on one thing, just so you don't have to scratch your head like I did. There are at least some entries (maybe all?) that do not continuously update "behind the scenes," but only update when you log in. If there is a long period between log ins, this might get reflected in what appears to be a perfectly flat value for quite some time, and then a dramatic jump or drop, when you do finally log in and activate the update process. I was confused looking at the display for individual holdings (which I knew were fluctuating in value on a daily basis), until I realized what was happening. The new value was accurate, but not the path it took to get there.
Henryk
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2021 12:40 pm

Re: Personal Capital pressures

Post by Henryk »

Thanks for the heads up. I guess PC only pulls update from accounts when we login to the account and then saves that balance. It's not tracking the real price of the investment. I think mint does the same thing (haven't use it for many years though)
teamDE
Posts: 504
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2016 9:16 pm

Re: Personal Capital pressures

Post by teamDE »

HeelaMonster wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 10:54 am
teamDE wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 10:31 am ....but I keep going back to PC. It is near flawless in terms of actually connecting and working, the asset allocation tool is pretty advanced, balance/performance/holdings are easy to see and use on desktop or mobile.
Agree on the utility of the aggregator, and not the personal advisor. One thing I haven't been able to figure out (but maybe someone here has...), is how to change (recategorize) the allocation PC places on assets. For example, it has decided that my TSP account is cash, so my cash allocation is sky high, while most of that should really be counted toward bonds. Is there a way to manually reclassify an asset, to override where PC wants to place it?
I can't access it right now, but I recently did a manual classification of TIAA Traditional to make it show up as US Bonds. Should be possible.
Vanguard User
Posts: 2191
Joined: Wed May 26, 2021 5:46 pm
Location: Sugar Land, Texas

Re: Personal Capital pressures

Post by Vanguard User »

There is none. All you have to do is ignore.
jarjarM
Posts: 2511
Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2018 1:21 pm

Re: Personal Capital pressures

Post by jarjarM »

Looks like Personal Capital is going to the next level a bit, just got an email invite for "Private Client Premier" which included:

- Direct access to our Investment Committee
- Unlimited access to our team of financial experts, including tax and estate strategists
- Access to institutional-level private equity opportunities
- Securities-based lending, mortgage loans, and other private banking services
- A custom fee rate tailored to your asset level
- Periodic in-person meetings*

No fee description in the email and ask to schedule a meeting to provide additional detail. A quick googling didn't seem to reveal anything neither. The emailed flyer promises annual tax review, individual bond assistance and private equity access.

Just thought it's interesting to see their expansion of their targeted clienteles.
LeeMKE
Posts: 2233
Joined: Mon Oct 14, 2013 9:40 pm

Re: Personal Capital pressures

Post by LeeMKE »

Post by Henryk » Thu Sep 16, 2021 1:15 pm

Newbie for Bogleheads here. I am looking for a safe and reliable portfolio aggregation service since I have a few accounts (Schwab/Merrill/Fidelity). By reading above, it seems to be that PC is good for this purpose? Any other recommendations? I'll be only interested to see my investments on one place and see allocation/exposure etc. Thanks!
Read about the Boglehead Portfolios here https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Three-fund_portfolio
Pick one brokerage and move your accounts there as able (Schwab and Fidelity are both well liked)

Personal Capital has a free online tracking service, which many of us have tried out. It is good for tracking assets in your portfolio. But the FREE six month trial is their version of the FREE steak dinner offered by some firms fishing for business.
The mightiest Oak is just a nut who stayed the course.
Gary Guss
Posts: 118
Joined: Sun Jan 05, 2014 10:44 am

Re: Personal Capital pressures

Post by Gary Guss »

They are as bad as the car warranty people, they will call you for YEARS!
HeelaMonster
Posts: 1045
Joined: Sat Aug 10, 2019 11:46 am

Re: Personal Capital pressures

Post by HeelaMonster »

LeeMKE wrote: Tue Sep 21, 2021 12:39 pm Personal Capital has a free online tracking service, which many of us have tried out. It is good for tracking assets in your portfolio. But the FREE six month trial is their version of the FREE steak dinner offered by some firms fishing for business.
Perhaps this (six month trial) is something new, but I have never seen any indication of charges for their online tracking service. Are they now charging, and perhaps I was grandfathered in (having used PC for several years)?
jarjarM
Posts: 2511
Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2018 1:21 pm

Re: Personal Capital pressures

Post by jarjarM »

Gary Guss wrote: Tue Sep 21, 2021 12:46 pm They are as bad as the car warranty people, they will call you for YEARS!
That's interesting, I being using PC for ~4 years now. They called the first 6 months and I politely said no and then they stopped. I don't think it's account size neither since my aggregated account there is much higher than their average account size. I wonder if it's related to individual "advisors" and how aggressive they are in pursuing business opportunities. Just my experience.
ronno2018
Posts: 567
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 9:31 am

Re: Personal Capital pressures

Post by ronno2018 »

I am jealous of you guys and gals getting phone calls. I think your portfolios are way larger than mine!

Regardless, I really like Personal Capital and Mint, I hope they are making money and continue to exist for us free riders.

I assume they get tons of knowledge about consumer spending and perhaps a glimpse of investment decisions that they can take advantage of.

I suppose even those aspects of their business model pale in comparison to sweet assets under management fees...
Gary Guss
Posts: 118
Joined: Sun Jan 05, 2014 10:44 am

Re: Personal Capital pressures

Post by Gary Guss »

I let them look at my portfolio and have them quote what they could do. Once I did that and declined their help, they continued to call for about 7 years, after repeatedly being told I had no interest.. It's probably like 15 years now and they still call a couple of times a year.

GG
chris319
Posts: 1659
Joined: Thu Jan 28, 2021 5:04 pm

Re: Personal Capital pressures

Post by chris319 »

GaryA505 wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 5:14 pm $600/month?

Somebody call 911, I think I'm having a heart attack.
$7,200 per year? Now I'M having a heart attack.

I realize I'm jumping in late to this thread.

We're all grown-ups here. Two things a grown-up should know in life:

1. How to say "no" politely but firmly.

2. How to have sales resistance.

Fail those two things and you're going to get played for a sucker, which I'm afraid happened here.

Lordy sakes, how did they ever get you on the phone in the first place? I don't give out my real phone number EVER. If a phone number is required I give them my FAKE phone number in Peekskill, New York: 765-4321 or 555-1234. I never answer the phone unless I'm expecting a call. The answering machine is on 24/7 so leave a message.

"Thanks, but I think I'll pass" is a phrase which comes in handy when rejecting solicitors. Be calm and be polite. Don't let them engage you in discussion. Don't be a pushover.

I looked around Personal Capital's web site. It looks like they want to take over your finances and be your "fiduciary". I'm not going to pay someone $7,200 per year to throw darts for me.
Financial decisions based on emotion often turn out to be bad decisions.
guitarman555
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2018 1:43 pm

Re: Personal Capital pressures

Post by guitarman555 »

I just got a call from a Personal Capital advisor today. We talked for a few minutes, he told me they wanted to spend the first phone call to tell me about their services, and the 2nd call would go deeper. But he did give me an out, I think he could tell I most likely wouldn't be interested.

So after about 10 minutes we "parted ways" with a, if you decide you want to work with us in the future contact us through the dashboard.

After reading so many posts here, and some books as well, I just don't see the need for a financial advisor, so yes I would have been a very tough sell. No sense in wasting the advisors time.
firedaddy
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2023 2:12 pm

Re: Personal Capital pressures

Post by firedaddy »

I'm so glad I found this thread. I was tempted by the "6 months free" offer and finally succumbed to their incessant calls. Finished my first consultation and find myself questioning his assertion that index funds are problematic because they're weighted on market cap.
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