One of the best things in life will soon be free.
Wealthfront, an automated investing platform, is offering new users free access to its financial planning service, powered by Path, its financial advice engine, by the end of the year. The launch of the free service on the company’s website will allow new users to see for themselves that the software can provide comprehensive financial planning.
“Financial planning and advice does not need to be delivered through a person,” company spokesperson Kate Wauck said in a statement.
The company announced the free offer at the Money 20/20 Conference in Las Vegas on Wedesday.
One week earlier, the company announced a partnership and integrations with Intuit. The partnership enables new Wealthfront account subscribers to prefill many essential Path fields with their TurboTax data.
Wealthfront’s partnership with Intuit, which reported over 30 million TurboTax users in 2016, has the potential to bring in millions of new Path users as well.
New Path subscribers will receive all the benefits of technology’s cutting edge in automated financial planning, with none of its competitors’ downsides. While the new “freemium” software would still rely on account aggregation and third-party data, it would not be used to solicit sales leads or incorporate a hybrid model that included human financial advisors, as well as an automated one.
Path helps users establish the feasibility of financial goals, such as planning for retirement, college funding, home purchases and taking extended time off from work.
The service extrapolates home purchase prices based on location and college funding based on the tier of college and the expected cost of attendance. As a result, the user is more likely to receive an accurate estimate of the realistic amount of funding needed to achieve a goal, the company said.
Users are reportedly already benefiting from Wealthfront’s Path program. The company said it found elevated savings rates among users who engaged with Path. The savings take the form of assets under management when invested with the robo-advisor.