Here's something you don't see every day: two investment companies in a very public fight about values, greed and putting the interests of customers first.

This is what has happened since Charles Schwab launched Schwab Intelligent Portfolios last month, becoming the first major investment company to leap into the so-called "robo-advisory" market.

These automated portfolio management services use algorithms to select a mix of mostly low-cost ETFs for clients who answer online inputs, and then manage the accounts. The field’s early leaders are Wealthfront and Betterment.

Schwab Intelligent Portfolios' debut prompted an attack by the chief executive officer of Wealthfront, Adam Nash. He charged in a widely circulated blog post that the service marked a departure from Schwab's core values of transparency, low cost and putting customers first.

"Much to my dismay, I now find myself hoping we never lose our identity the way Charles Schwab has. It's my hope that we always place our clients first and show them the transparency they deserve."

That prompted an angry response from Schwab: "Adam wishes he could build a moat around Wealthfront and protect it against competition. But misrepresenting facts isn't the way to do that."

The Wealthfront-Schwab food fight focuses on some specific criticisms of the new Schwab service's fees and portfolio structure. But it also illustrates a much broader phenomenon that retirement investors should understand: the growing links between allegedly independent, unconflicted advisory services and owners of those services who push proprietary investment products.

Change In The Air

The Schwab launch is just one recent sign of change. Last week, the Northwestern Mutual [NMLIC.UL] Life Insurance company bought LearnVest, a tech-enabled registered investment advisory firm that had tried to stake out turf as an independent player providing holistic planning advice. Learnvest is not a robo-adviser; it does not manage assets. But the acquisition will turn LearnVest into a giant lead generator for Northwestern Mutual products.

Vanguard Group is beta-testing Personal Advisor Services, a home-grown planning service that will offer only Vanguard funds.

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