Why You Need a Robo Investor in 2025: My 7-Year Betterment Experiment

Seven years is a long time to test anything.

Long enough to see if it actually works. Long enough to experience multiple market crashes, recoveries, and everything in between. Long enough to know if you made the right choice or if you're just fooling yourself.

I've been using Betterment since 2018, and I can finally give you the honest verdict.

The short answer? It's made me over $50,000 with almost zero effort on my part. But there's more to the story than just numbers.

Seven years ago, I was that person checking my portfolio every day, reading financial blogs obsessively, and trying to time the market like I had some secret edge. The stress was real. The returns were... not great.

Then I decided to try something radical: automation. Let the robots handle what I was clearly bad at.

My recent YouTube video, you can watch it below, if you want a video version of this post; but this post is going to give you everything I wish someone had told me seven years ago.

The good, the bad, and whether Betterment is actually worth it after living with it for seven years.

Important Disclaimer: I'm not a financial advisor, and this isn't personalized financial advice. This is my personal experience and what's worked for me. All investing involves risk, including potential loss of principal. Do your own research and consider consulting with a qualified financial professional for advice tailored to your specific situation.

The Wake-Up Call: Why Trying to Beat the Market Was Killing My Business

Let me be clear about why most people (including past me) fail at investing:

We think investing should be hard.

Back in 2017, I was convinced that successful investing required hours of research, perfect timing, and some secret knowledge that only the pros had. I'd spend entire afternoons reading analyst reports, watching CNBC, and trying to predict which tech stock would be the next Apple.

The reality? I was mediocre at best. Worse, all that "research" was time stolen from growing my actual business.

Then I had this realization: I don't need to be smarter than the market. I just need to participate in it consistently.

That shift led me to Betterment in 2018. Seven years later: over $50,000 in returns with zero stock picking, zero market timing, and zero daily stress.

The best part? This approach freed up mental bandwidth to focus on what actually makes me money – building my business.

The Harsh Reality About Individual Stock Picking

Before we dive into the solution, let's address the elephant in the room. Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett's legendary partner, once said something that should humble every amateur investor: "The top 3-4% of the investment management world will do fine."

Think about that for a second. If professional fund managers – people who do this for 60+ hours a week with teams of analysts and sophisticated tools – struggle to beat the market, what chance do you have picking stocks between meetings?

The data backs this up. Study after study shows that individual investors underperform the market by an average of 2-3% annually. Over 20-30 years, that's not just a small difference – it's the difference between a comfortable retirement and working until you're 75.

The three biggest mistakes I see people make:

1. Emotional decision-making: Buying when everyone's excited, selling when panic hits

2. Chasing performance: Jumping from hot stock to hot stock based on last quarter's winners

3. Ignoring fees: Not realizing that high management fees compound negatively over time

This is exactly why algorithmic investing has become my go-to strategy. Remove human emotion, stick to proven principles, and let mathematics do what it does best.

Automation Over Complexity: My Two-Part System

What I then do to invest better focuses on two key models:

Exploration Automation

Exploration

Focus on learning about investing rather than trying to predict it.

When I first started investing, I'd stress about memorizing every market indicator, every earnings report, every analyst prediction. This is a common stumbling block for new investors. But here's the thing – you're not there to become a fortune teller.

A lot of times, people get stuck trying to nail down exactly what the market will do next quarter, but if it's not working, who cares? It could be the strategy you implement in year three that really pays off.

So when you're investing for exploration, you're freeing yourself to really dive into building wealth. Forget sweating over every market fluctuation. Focus on the big principles, the stuff that makes you go, "Ohhhh, that's how compound interest actually works." That takes the pressure off, and suddenly investing becomes... simple.

When you prioritize exploration over prediction, your investment experience has the freedom to grow naturally. Your curiosity leads you to learn about diversification, tax strategies, and long-term thinking – the stuff that actually builds wealth.

Automation

I use the best tools to make investing as simple as possible. It's a combination of Betterment's robo-advisor, automatic deposits, and goal-based strategies. Let me break it down.

My Betterment Strategy: The "All-Weather" Approach

The investment philosophy I follow (and that Betterment implements) is based on Ray Dalio's concept of an "all-weather portfolio." Instead of trying to predict which asset class will perform best, you create a diversified mix designed to perform reasonably well in any economic environment.

Here's how this plays out in practice:

Index Fund Foundation: Rather than buying individual stocks, every dollar goes into low-cost index funds. This gives you instant diversification across hundreds or thousands of companies.

Automatic Rebalancing: As markets move, your portfolio can drift from your target allocation. Betterment automatically sells high-performing assets and buys underperforming ones to maintain your desired balance.

Tax-Loss Harvesting: This is where robo investing really shines. When investments lose value, the algorithm automatically sells them and reinvests in similar (but not identical) assets. This creates tax benefits that can save you thousands come April.

Dividend Reinvestment: Every dividend payment automatically buys more shares, creating a compound interest snowball effect.

The beauty? All of this happens without any input from me. While other people are refreshing their portfolios obsessively, I'm focused on growing my business.

The Numbers Don't Lie: My 7-Year Journey

Let's talk specifics because vague success stories don't help anyone.

2018: I started with a few thousand dollars, mostly as an experiment. Returns were modest – maybe a few hundred dollars by year-end.

2019-2020: The portfolio weathered market volatility beautifully. While friends were panic-selling during the COVID crash, my automated system kept buying at lower prices.

2021-2022: Strong growth years, with the portfolio consistently hitting 7-8% annual returns.

2023-2025: Compound interest really started showing its power. The account that started with a few thousand has now generated over $50,000 in returns.

The key insight: The first few years felt slow, almost boring. But that boring consistency is exactly what creates long-term wealth. By year five, the growth became undeniable.

Tools - Your Wealth-Building Sidekicks

Most people are way too ineffective with their investing habits. It's 2025. So much great automation exists to help you build wealth. Enlist it.

Betterment - The Brain

This is where the magic happens. Betterment handles everything I used to stress about: rebalancing, tax optimization, and diversification.

I don't pick individual stocks. I don't time the market. I don't even think about asset allocation. The algorithm does all of that based on my goals and timeline.

But here's the best-kept secret about Betterment – it's not just the automation. It's the goal-based approach.

Want to save for a house in three years? Create a goal, and it optimizes for stability. Planning retirement in 30 years? More aggressive growth allocation. Each goal gets its own strategy, automatically.

Automatic Deposits - The Discipline

I don't rely on willpower to invest consistently. Every week, $200 automatically transfers from my checking account to Betterment. No decisions to make, no temptation to spend it elsewhere.

This removes 90% of the mental friction that stops people from building wealth. You're not choosing between investing and that new gadget every month. The choice is made once, then automated forever.

High-Yield Savings Integration - The Foundation

Here's what most people miss – Betterment also offers a high-yield savings account at 4% APY (crushes any traditional bank). This creates the perfect ecosystem:

• Emergency fund in high-yield savings

• Short-term goals in conservative portfolios

• Long-term wealth in growth portfolios

Everything synced, everything optimized, everything automated.

Getting Started: Your Step-by-Step Action Plan

Ready to stop overthinking and start building wealth? Here's exactly how to begin:

Step 1: Define Your Goals (10 minutes)

Before opening any account, get clear on what you're investing for. Retirement? House down payment? Kids' education? Each goal should have a timeline and target amount.

Step 2: Open Your Betterment Account (15 minutes)

The signup process is straightforward. You'll answer questions about your goals, risk tolerance, and timeline. Don't overthink these – you can adjust later.

Step 3: Fund Your Account (5 minutes)

Start with whatever you can afford. Even $100 is better than waiting for the "perfect" amount. The key is getting started, not the starting amount.

Step 4: Set Up Automatic Deposits (5 minutes)

This is crucial. Automate weekly or monthly transfers from your checking account. Consistency matters more than amount. $50/week beats $500 once in a while.

Step 5: Walk Away (Ongoing)

Seriously. Don't check it daily. Don't panic during market downturns. Trust the process and let compound interest work its magic.

The Honest Downsides (Because Nothing's Perfect)

I believe in giving you the complete picture, so here are the legitimate criticisms:

Limited Customization: If you want to invest in specific sectors or individual stocks, Betterment isn't the platform for you. It's designed for broad market exposure, not stock picking.

Fees Add Up: While 0.25% annually is reasonable, it's still more than buying index funds directly through platforms like Vanguard. For very large portfolios, this difference becomes meaningful.

No Crypto Integration: You can't connect crypto accounts, so if that's part of your strategy, you'll need to track it separately.

Interest Payment Timing: The high-yield savings pays monthly rather than daily, and sometimes there are 2-3 day delays. Not a dealbreaker, but worth noting.

The Bottom Line: Why This Approach Works

After seven years of automated investing, here's what I've learned: The best investment strategy is the one you'll actually stick with.

Complex strategies that require constant monitoring and adjustment might work on paper, but they fail in real life because humans are emotional, inconsistent creatures.

Betterment succeeds because it removes the human element from the parts of investing where humans consistently make poor decisions. It automates discipline, consistency, and optimization – the three pillars of long-term wealth building.

The math is compelling:

• Traditional savings: ~0.5% annually

• Betterment portfolio: ~7% average returns

• Time saved: Countless hours not researching stocks

But the peace of mind is priceless. No more FOMO about missing the next big stock. No more stress about market volatility. No more complex tax situations.

Ready to Start Building Wealth on Autopilot?

The best time to start investing was 20 years ago. The second-best time is today.

If you're ready to stop overthinking and start building real wealth, open your Betterment account here. Your future self will thank you for taking action today instead of waiting for the "perfect" moment that never comes.

Remember: Time in the market beats timing the market, every single time.