October 15, 2015

By Chris Nam, Manager of Research & Consulting

The recent surge of tech startups has given rise to “robo-advisors,” a new investment option for long-term investing. They’ve removed the human financial advisor from the equation, and opted for an automated online approach. Robo-advising companies like Betterment and Wealthfront have simplified the volatile and ambiguous world of investing into a low-cost, Q&A platform that executes an effective long-term strategy based on Modern Portfolio Theory. Adding to the investment startup mix, Motif investing brings a somewhat different approach.

As a UX Researcher, former Equities Trader, and avid follower of financial markets, I think that Motif Investing is on the verge of something big. I love the idea of motifs and the way they’ve made certain aspects of professional investing extremely accessible. Additionally, they’ve taken the traditional online brokerage website and turned it into a social platform by including a Facebook “like” community which includes a feed with community postings, the ability to view user profiles and their motif investments, and the ability to “add friends.” Motif Investing has the makings of something great; I only hope that the platform can stand up to the test of time and market volatility.

What do YOU think about these new approaches to investing? Can Motif Investing’s community become as great as Facebook’s? Leave a comment below, and let us know what you think.

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