Empower review 2026
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Key takeaways
- Empower's apps carry a mixed reputation depending on where you look: 4.0 stars on NerdWallet's own review and 4.5 from WSJ's Buy Side desk, vs 2.8 from roughly 30,000 Google Play ratings.
- Empower's free Personal Dashboard aggregates external accounts at no cost. Paid advisory tiers start at 0.89% from $100,000 with an advisor team, add a dedicated advisor from $250,000, and drop to 0.59% and below at Private Client's higher tiers.
- Empower charges 0.89% under $1 million, versus just 0.25% at robo-advisors like Betterment and Wealthfront. For the higher fee, Empower adds two dedicated financial advisors from $250,000 under management and direct indexing at tiers these competitors don't offer.
In this article
- What is Empower?
- Who is Empower for?
- Empower pros and cons
- Is Empower safe and legitimate?
- Empower detailed review
- How much does Empower cost?
- How does Empower Retirement work?
- The verdict: Is Empower worth it?
- Empower vs. the alternatives
- Track your own numbers before you pay a fee
- Frequently asked questions about Empower
Key takeaways
- Empower's apps carry a mixed reputation depending on where you look: 4.0 stars on NerdWallet's own review and 4.5 from WSJ's Buy Side desk, vs 2.8 from roughly 30,000 Google Play ratings.
- Empower's free Personal Dashboard aggregates external accounts at no cost. Paid advisory tiers start at 0.89% from $100,000 with an advisor team, add a dedicated advisor from $250,000, and drop to 0.59% and below at Private Client's higher tiers.
- Empower charges 0.89% under $1 million, versus just 0.25% at robo-advisors like Betterment and Wealthfront. For the higher fee, Empower adds two dedicated financial advisors from $250,000 under management and direct indexing at tiers these competitors don't offer.
Empower rebranded from Personal Capital in 2020 and now runs two different businesses under one name: a free net-worth and fee-analysis dashboard everyone can use, and a paid wealth-management advisory tier starting at $100,000. This review covers the free tool, what each paid tier costs, Empower's safety and regulation, and whether the fee is worth it vs Betterment, Wealthfront, or a traditional advisor. You'll also see which features are free and when the sales outreach starts.
What is Empower?
This review covers Empower Personal Wealth, the free dashboard and paid advisory service formerly known as Personal Capital, which was acquired in 2020. Empower Retirement is a separate 401(k) and 403(b) recordkeeper that employers choose, not individuals. It has its own section further down.
One more name to keep separate: Empower Personal Wealth is unrelated to Empower Cash Advance, a short-term lending app. Several negative reviews on consumer complaint boards come from this brand confusion, not from Empower Personal Wealth itself.
Who is Empower for?
Anyone who wants a free net-worth tracker
There is no minimum balance and no cost to use the dashboard. The dashboard aggregates external bank, brokerage, mortgage, and 401(k) accounts into one central interface. For other planning apps, read the Mezzi review, the CFO Silvia review, the Origin Financial review, the Boldin vs ProjectionLab comparison, and Mezzi vs Empower.
Investors with $100,000 to $1 million weighing a human advisor
Empower's paid advice starts here, with an advisor team from $100,000 and a dedicated advisor from $250,000. Below $100,000, the Empower Premier Managed Account runs a mutual fund portfolio with fees starting at 0.5% a year and no minimum, but it doesn't come with an advisor. Empower's Premier IRA page lists lower rates on balances above $100,000.
High-net-worth investors ($1 million+) who want private-client access
Empower's Private Client tier lowers the advisory fee percentage and adds direct indexing, tax-loss harvesting, and access to estate-planning specialists for accounts crossing the million-dollar threshold.
Empower pros and cons
| Feature | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Free tool | Net worth tracking and external account aggregation at no cost and no minimum. | Read-only linking still routinely triggers sales outreach once you cross $100,000 in linked assets. |
| Advisory fee | Drops to 0.79% and lower once you cross into Private Client status at $1 million or more. | The 0.89% rate under $1 million is higher than the flat 0.25% at Betterment or Wealthfront. |
| Human access | Private Client and Wealth Management tiers get dedicated advisors and direct indexing. | The $100,000 to $249,999 tier gets pooled, non-dedicated advisor access at the same 0.89% fee. |
| Safety | SEC-registered advisor, custody through a major clearing firm, and standard SIPC coverage. | None noted |
| Brand clarity | None noted | The Empower name covers a free wealth dashboard, a paid advisory business, and a separate employer 401(k) recordkeeper. The marketing doesn't always make clear which business it means. |
If the 0.89% fee is the dealbreaker, Wealthfront charges 0.25% a year for a fully automated portfolio (see our Wealthfront review).
Is Empower safe and legitimate?
SEC registration and fiduciary standard
Advisory services run through Empower Advisory Group, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser operating under a fiduciary standard.4The fiduciary standard means the firm and its representatives are bound by law to act in the client's best financial interest rather than push proprietary products for higher commissions.
Custody, SIPC, and FDIC cash sweep coverage
Investment assets custody with a major clearing firm, which carries standard SIPC protection up to $500,000, including a $250,000 limit for cash claims.3Cash balances swept into partner banking networks receive standard FDIC pass-through deposit insurance.
Empower detailed review
The free Personal Dashboard for net worth tracking
The core free software aggregates all your linked financial accounts into a single interface, featuring budgeting graphs and cash flow tracking. It also includes a retirement planner using Monte Carlo simulations, as do the planners in our Boldin review and ProjectionLab review. The dashboard has two limitations. It works mainly as a lead-generation funnel for the advisory side, and it lacks the granular, envelope-style budgeting tools found in dedicated apps like YNAB or Monarch Money.
To compare the dashboard's net worth figure with other families your age, see net worth by age.
Paid advisory tiers, from $100,000 to $1 million and up
Empower structures its paid wealth management into three distinct tiers above the free dashboard. Investment Services covers accounts from $100,000 to $249,999, providing pooled advisor access and automated ETF portfolio management. Wealth Management spans $250,000 to $999,999, assigning two dedicated financial advisors and adding direct indexing alongside tax-loss harvesting.
Private Client handles balances of $1 million and above, adding Investment Committee access, estate-planning specialists, and private banking integrations.
Empower Personal Cash
Empower Personal Cash is an interest-bearing cash account with no account fees and FDIC pass-through coverage on uninvested money. You can hold short-term savings there, and the balance shows up in your aggregated net-worth graph.
How much does Empower cost?
| Tier | Minimum | Advisory fee |
|---|---|---|
| Personal Dashboard | $0 | Free |
| Investment Services / Wealth Management | $100,000 | 0.89% |
| Private Client, first $3 million | $1,000,000 | 0.79% |
| Private Client, next $2 million | n/a | 0.69% |
| Private Client, next $5 million | n/a | 0.59% |
| Private Client, above $10 million | n/a | 0.49% |
The 0.89% standard advisory fee
The base advisory fee of 0.89% applies from the $100,000 minimum up to the Private Client threshold.1The 0.89% fee doesn't include the expense ratios of the ETFs and mutual funds held in the portfolio. Empower's Personal Strategy page puts the average ETF expense ratio at 0.06%, and its Wealth Management page says 0.08%.
Private Client pricing above $1 million
The fee rate steps down on a tiered schedule once your balance reaches the $1 million Private Client minimum. The lower rates apply only to assets managed in the Private Client program. They don't retroactively discount smaller accounts.
How Empower compares to Betterment, Wealthfront, and a fee-only RIA
| Provider | Minimum | Fee on $250,000 | Fee on $1,000,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Betterment Digital | $0 | 0.25% | 0.25% |
| Wealthfront | Not confirmed | 0.25% | 0.25% |
| Vanguard Personal Advisor | $50,000 | 0.30% | 0.30% |
| Empower | $100,000 | 0.89% | 0.79% |
| Traditional fee-only RIA | Varies | ~1.00% | ~1.00% |
How does Empower Retirement work?
Empower Retirement is a separate business from Empower Personal Wealth. It is a major 401(k), 403(b), and 457 recordkeeper for employer-sponsored plans, serving more than 20 million participants with over $2.1 trillion in total assets under administration as of Q2 2026.2If you participate in an employer plan administered by Empower, your employer's plan agreement sets your login credentials, investment menu, and plan rules. The retail wealth management platform doesn't. For full details on workplace account mechanics,review the Empower 401(k) guide.
The verdict: Is Empower worth it?
Editorial reviews score Empower favorably as of August 2026, with NerdWallet awarding 4.0 stars and the Wall Street Journal Buy Side desk rating it 4.5 out of 5. App-store user ratings are lower, with Google Play showing an average of 2.8 stars from roughly 30,000 reviews. The two groups are rating different things.
Editorial reviewers are mostly judging the free aggregation software's technical utility and how well the advisory tiers are designed. Everyday app users are grading a different experience: the persistent sales outreach that starts once you cross $100,000 in linked assets.
Empower is a strong value for self-directed investors who use only the free dashboard and never upgrade to a paid advisory tier. The paid tiers are a solid value for accounts between $250,000 and $1 million that want dedicated human advisors.
For the $100,000 to $249,999 band, though, the value is weaker: you pay the full 0.89% fee for pooled, non-dedicated advisor access. A robo-advisor like Betterment or Wealthfront at 0.25% costs less there if you don't need human guidance. Our Wealthfront vs Vanguard comparison shows a robo-advisor that charges less still.
Empower vs. the alternatives
| Feature | Empower | Betterment | Wealthfront | Traditional fee-only RIA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fee under $1M | 0.89% | 0.25% | 0.25% | ~1.00% |
| Account minimum | $100,000 (advisory) / $0 (dashboard) | $0 | Not confirmed | Varies |
| Dedicated human advisor | Yes, $250K+ | No | No | Yes |
| Direct indexing | Yes, higher tiers | No | Not confirmed | Varies |
| Free net-worth dashboard | Yes | No | No | No |
Empower vs. Betterment and Wealthfront
Robo-advisors like Betterment and Wealthfront undercut Empower's standard fee by more than half at 0.25%, but neither provider offers dedicated human advisors at their standard tiers. Wealthfront's 0.25% buys an automated portfolio with tax-loss harvesting, not a named planner. The Betterment vs Wealthfront comparison covers how the two robo-advisors differ. For private funds and direct indexing open only to accredited investors, see our Arta Finance review.
Empower vs. a traditional fee-only advisor
A traditional human financial advisor operating independently typically charges roughly 1.00% of assets under management, with a comparable or higher account minimum. Empower's Private Client tier charges less than that rate. It also includes Empower's own software tools, which most standalone local RIAs don't build in-house.
Track your own numbers before you pay a fee
Download the free Empower Personal Dashboard to see your net worth and portfolio fee drag in one place before deciding whether a paid tier is worth it. If you're weighing Empower's advisory fee vs managing your own portfolio, run your numbers through the Tweed retirement calculator first. Do that before you take a sales call at $100,000.
Frequently asked questions about Empower
How much does Empower charge on $500,000?
Empower charges 0.89% a year on a $500,000 managed account, or $4,450, as of October 6, 2026. That fee comes before the expense ratios of the funds inside the portfolio. A $500,000 balance sits in the tier that gets a dedicated advisor. That tier is where the 0.89% fee gets you the most service.
Who is better, Fidelity or Empower?
Fidelity is a full-service brokerage with no advisory minimum and far lower fees on managed accounts, whereas Empower combines a net-worth dashboard with a human-advisor tier starting at $100,000. Empower wins on cross-account aggregation and dedicated planning access, while Fidelity wins on overall cost for self-directed savers.
Who is better, Vanguard or Empower?
Vanguard Personal Advisor charges roughly 0.30% with a $50,000 minimum, coming in well below Empower's 0.89% fee under $1 million. Empower's primary advantage is its free net-worth aggregation dashboard and, at higher balances, more tailored human access than Vanguard's team-based advisory model typically provides.
How much does Empower cost per month?
Empower doesn't charge a flat monthly subscription fee. The free dashboard costs nothing. The paid advisory tiers charge an annual percentage of assets under management, starting at 0.89% and dropping as balances grow past $1 million. On $100,000, that 0.89% works out to $890 a year.
Is Empower the same as Personal Capital?
Empower is Personal Capital under a new name. Empower Holdings acquired Personal Capital and rebranded the consumer software to Empower Personal Dashboard and Empower Personal Wealth, preserving the underlying analytical tools and advisory services. The Personal Capital name no longer appears on the product.
Does Empower call you after you link accounts?
Users frequently report receiving follow-up calls and emails from Empower representatives after linking external accounts showing $100,000 or more in total assets, and several note needing an explicit do-not-call request to stop them. These calls are the most common complaint in independent reviews of the free tool. The calls start when you link accounts, not when you sign up for a paid tier.
What would Empower cost on $2 million?
Empower would cost about $15,800 a year on $2 million, because Private Client charges 0.79% on the first $3 million, as of October 6, 2026. The same balance at a 0.25% robo-advisor costs $5,000. The gap pays for a dedicated advisor, estate-planning specialists, and direct indexing.
Sources
- https://www.empower.com
- Empower Q2 2026 earnings release, Business Wire, July 29, 2026
- https://www.sipc.org/
- https://www.sec.gov/
Personal finance writer, former Forbes contributor and This Week in Fintech writer. He isn't a financial advisor or a CPA.
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