Robo-Advisor Platform

Part of the worlds-biggest-software-project initiative.

An AI-native, open-source robo-advisor platform offering automated investment advice, portfolio rebalancing, and goal tracking for consumers and institutions.

The Robo-Advisor Platform automates portfolio construction, rebalancing, tax-loss harvesting, and goal tracking for retail investors, while exposing the same engine for banks and RIAs to white-label. It is aimed at mass-affluent investors aged 25–45 and at financial institutions seeking to offer automated investing without licensing a closed proprietary stack.

Why Robo-Advisor Platform?

Consumer pricing has compressed to near-zero (Schwab Intelligent Portfolios at 0%, Fidelity Go free under $25K), squeezing independent platforms that still charge 0.25–0.40% AUM and forcing differentiation on capability rather than fee.
Incumbents are overwhelmingly proprietary: Betterment, Wealthfront, SigFig, AdvisorEngine, and InvestCloud all run closed stacks, leaving banks and RIAs with custom B2B contracts and limited control.
Direct indexing — historically gated behind $500K+ minimums and now creeping down to $100K at Wealthfront — remains absent from most platforms; an open implementation would democratise access.
Tax-loss harvesting is typically gated by minimums ($25K–$50K) and limited to single-account optimisation; only Betterment's Tax Coordinated Portfolio coordinates across account types.
Static questionnaire-based onboarding and generic market commentary leave users without context during volatility — an area research.md flags as systematically underserved.

Key Features

Portfolio Construction & Rebalancing

Risk-based portfolio assignment via questionnaire or algorithm, recommending 8–12 portfolios across the risk spectrum.
Diversified ETF portfolios across 12+ asset classes, with optional client-customisable weighting.
Daily monitoring with threshold-based (drift) and schedule-based rebalancing triggers.
ESG / socially responsible portfolio options.
Direct indexing for accounts above a configurable threshold (target $100K) for granular tax-loss harvesting.

Tax Optimisation

Automated tax-loss harvesting across taxable accounts, with no minimum balance gate.
Multi-account tax coordination that places assets across taxable, IRA, and HSA accounts for tax efficiency.
Lot-level tracking for accurate cost-basis reporting.

Goal Tracking & Financial Planning

Multi-goal tracking with progress monitoring and automated updates.
Retirement income calculator, healthcare cost estimator, debt payoff tool, and budget integration.
Salary-linked financial projections that adjust contribution recommendations to career stage.
Dynamic goal scenario modelling for real-time recalculation as variables change.

Onboarding & Client Experience

Streamlined digital onboarding (<10 minutes) with KYC/AML identity verification and bank account linking.
Conversational AI onboarding as an alternative to static risk questionnaires.
Plain-English portfolio monitoring that explains rebalancing actions, tax events, and market impacts.
Unified dashboard with consolidated reporting; full feature parity across mobile and web.

Institutional & Hybrid Tiers

Zero or low-cost (<0.20% AUM) consumer tier to compete with Schwab and Fidelity.
Optional hybrid advisor tier (async messaging or scheduled calls) at higher account thresholds.
API for institutional partners enabling white-label deployments, advisor platforms, and banking integrations.

AI-Native Advantage

AI replaces static questionnaires with a conversational onboarding dialogue that surfaces goals, constraints, and risk tolerance dynamically. Continuous portfolio monitoring is delivered as plain-English explanations of rebalancing and tax-loss harvesting events, rather than raw statements. Linked-account cashflow analysis powers dynamic contribution recommendations that avoid liquidity stress, and cross-account tax-harvesting intelligence identifies optimisation opportunities across taxable and retirement accounts — going beyond the single-account view most incumbents provide.

Tech Stack & Deployment

The platform is intended to support both consumer-direct deployment and B2B white-label use by banks, credit unions, and RIAs, with an API-first architecture for institutional integration. Relevant standards include the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, SEC Regulation Best Interest, FINRA rules, Modern Portfolio Theory as the algorithmic foundation, and FIX / XBRL for trade execution and reporting. SOC 2 Type II is expected for institutional partnerships.

Market Context

US robo-advisor AUM is in the hundreds of billions — Betterment alone manages over USD 65 billion and Wealthfront USD 42.9 billion — with global AUM projected to reach USD 2.5–4 trillion by 2027 (research.md). Consumer pricing ranges from 0% (Schwab) to 0.40% AUM, with premium hybrid tiers at 0.40–0.89%; B2B white-label pricing is custom. Primary buyers are mass-affluent investors aged 25–45, goal-oriented savers, and financial institutions seeking to offer automated investing to their customer base.

Project Status

This project is in the research and specification phase.
Contributions, feedback, and domain expertise are welcome.

Contributing

We welcome contributions from developers, domain experts, and potential users. See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Important: All contributions must be your own original work or clearly attributed open-source material with a compatible licence. Copyright infringement and licence violations will not be tolerated and will result in immediate removal of the offending contribution. If you are unsure whether a piece of code, text, or other material is safe to contribute, open an issue and ask before submitting.

Licence

Licence to be determined. See discussion for context.