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Investing your money in any institution can be a bit overwhelming. First, there is concern about the safety of your money.
Many people prefer to make the decision an easy one and go with a huge, well-respected company because they feel the size adds a level of security.
Then, there is the sheer number of investment companies that cater to a wide range of investors.
One type that attracts the more tech-savvy investors is the automated investment advisor, or “robo-advisor,” which has popped up recently.
These financial technology companies streamline buying stocks to the masses.
Though newer, the concept has proven itself through many years, including 2020, as a good option for managing your investments.
Titan Invest is one of the newest forays into the robo-advisor space, and we’ll go into detail about who they are and what they offer investors.
What Is Titan Invest?
Titan Invest is an automated investment advisor. The company was started in 2017 by three partners, Clayton Gardner, Joe Percoco, and Max Bernardy.
They launched their services in early 2018 and have grown to a substantial advisor in their market.
How Does Titan Invest Work?
When you invest your money with Titan, you don’t have to scroll through hundreds of mutual funds, ETFs, stocks, and bonds to find the perfect mix of investments for you.
The process is simplified so that all you need to do is invest your money, choose a portfolio, and let the company do the rest.
Their strategies work in a similar fashion to a hedge fund, where you have several portfolio options (which we’ll obviously get into).
The portfolios are professionally managed, and the freedoms prospective investors can enjoy with Titan are far more attractive than investing with an actual hedge fund, which comes with strict minimums, heavy fees, and other requirements.
Titan Invest Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Powered by a Team of Industry-Leading Professionals
- Low Fees
- Low Account Minimums
- Tailored Portfolios to Meet Your Financial Goals and Risk Needs
- Brining Hedge-Fund Strategies to the Average Investor
Cons:
- Users Do Not Have Access to Financial Advisors or Chartered Financial Analysts
- No Tax-Loss Harvesting Capabilities
Titan Invest Features and Benefits
While their competition typically works with multiple asset classes, including stocks, bonds, and international assets, Titan Invest offers stock-only portfolios.
They currently have three different portfolios for investors to choose from, each with a different focus and target.
The idea is to hold stocks for a long period of time, though the number of stocks can range between 15-25 in each portfolio.
Let’s get into detail about features and benefits.
Easy-to-Use Mobile App
The mobile app is sleek and simple, providing you with everything you need to watch your portfolio.
The app is accessible to both Apple and Android users.
Detailed Investment Research
The investment team at Titan Invest diligently research stocks. This is done by conducting a thorough review of the companies listed on the US stock market, analyzing the fundamentals of each company before it even gets added to any of the portfolios.
World-Class Capital Management
It takes some of the stress off choosing investments with only three portfolios offered, making it run similar to a hedge fund.
After the stocks are taken through the deep research phase and added to a portfolio, the portfolios are managed by a team of computer scientists and economists who constantly make sure the portfolios perform better than any other fund.
Tailored Portfolios
One of the best features of Titan Investis the ability to provide a personalized hedge. This allows each investor to tailor the portfolio to their level of risk tolerance.
Once an investor chooses between aggressive, moderate, or conservative risk levels, the portfolio will automatically include a hedge to satisfy the investor’s requirements.
Low Fees
With a hedge fund, you might be stuck with a “2 and 20” fee structure, but you’re also far more exposed to some risky investments.
With Titan Invest, they charge only $5 per month for accounts with less than $10,000 and 1% annually on accounts with more than $10,000.
While this may seem a bit high, the stock-only nature offers more upside potential, especially if you consider they are conducting the stock research for you.
Low Investment Minimum
Where most hedge funds require at least a few hundred thousand or even a few million dollars, Titan Invest requires only $100.
A better comparison would be some of their competitors: Wealthfront requires at least $500, and Betterment Digital doesn’t require any initial deposit. However, their premium service has a steep $100,000 minimum.
Hands Off Investing Experience
When you invest with Titan Invest, you don’t have to do anything.
After you sign up, deposit, pick your portfolio or portfolios, and set your risk preference, Titan Invest takes care of everything else.
What Account Types Does Titan Invest Offer?
Titan allows investors to open taxable accounts, such as regular taxable accounts or Roth IRA accounts, and pre-tax retirement accounts, 401(k), 403(b), and traditional IRA accounts.
You can also roll over existing pre-tax accounts into a Titan Invest portfolio.
How Does Titan Invest Your Money?
Where most robo-advisors would focus on mutual funds with one or several investment firms, Titan Invest buys the stocks directly and keeps them in one of the three portfolios they’ve set up.
Many larger funds must post their investments, and Titan capitalizes on this by tracking their holdings and making similar investments.
Titan Invest Strategies
Let’s get into the three strategies and explain the focus, the benchmark each one compares to, and the different requirements each one has.
Titan Flagship
The Titan Flagship portfolio is composed of 20 large-cap stocks with the aim of out-performing the S&P 500.
As a new investor with less than $10,000 to deposit, the Flagship portfolio only requires $100 and is the default option.
Titan Opportunities
This portfolio is slightly different with 20 small- and mid-cap companies. The goal is also growth, and their benchmark is the performance of the Russell 2000, which has a similar focus.
You’ll be able to invest in the Titan Opportunities portfolio once your account balance reaches $10,000.
Titan Offshore
The newest addition to the lineup is the Titan Offshore portfolio, launched only in April of 2021.
This is the international market exposure that helps to round out the offerings to investors.
The Titan Offshore includes 15-25 international companies in developed markets and may include any market capitalization if the company passes the rigorous requirements.
Like the Titan Opportunities portfolio, you can invest once your account balance reaches $10,000.
Shorting
While shorting may seem to add way too much risk to the package, this is really the hedging part that we discussed earlier.
When you choose one of the three hedging preferences based on your risk tolerance – conservative, moderate, or aggressive – Titan Invest will include short positions equal to a certain percentage of your portfolio up to 20% if the market is in downturn.
When you pick one of the three options, the hedging is done automatically, so you don’t have to get involved.
Titan Crypto
Titan Crypto is a new portfolio that is getting launched “in the coming months,” according to the website.
The strategy is focused on actively managing crypto assets with a goal of holding for 3-5 years.
This makes sense as an addition since many large banks and hedge funds are jumping into crypto investments.
Who Should Use Titan Invest?
Titan is a better bet for young to middle-aged investors who already have an established portfolio but want to include additional stock assets for more upside potential.
The strategies are similar to a hedge fund, though with the benefit of lower fees and account minimums.
How Does Titan Invest Compare to Other Robo-Advisors?
Titan invest is a stock-only (soon-to-be stock and crypto) investment advisor that has different portfolios that cater to different investor tastes and risk preferences.
This is very similar to what a hedge fund can offer.
By contrast, most robo-investors focus on sticking to their customers’ risk level and investing in stock, bonds, and international mutual funds with investment firms such as Vanguard, Fidelity, and the like.
Let’s compare directly with some of the others out there.
#1. Titan Invest vs. Betterment
Betterment has been around as a robo-investor for quite some time and definitely offers some of the most respectable features and benefits from the standpoint of putting together a total portfolio.
The goals of Titan Invest are slightly different, however, since the total stock portfolio comes with a bit more risk and a bit more upside.
Because of the actively managed nature of Titan’s portfolios, the fees are a bit higher.
This also makes sense given that Betterment uses mutual funds, the fees for which are lower.
>> Learn More: Full Betterment Review
#2. SoFi Invest vs. Titan Invest
SoFi does not charge any stock and ETF trades fees, but they also don’t provide an actively managed portfolio.
Investors new to the game may find it a bit overwhelming to try and put together their own portfolio, which is where Titan Invest comes in.
The fees may be higher, but you don’t have to pick stocks and put your own portfolio together.
#3. Facet Wealth vs. Titan Invest
Facet Wealth fills a gap between something like Titan Invest and a full-blown investment manager.
They provide consultations between Certified Financial Planners and prospective customers to put together a full investment plan.
The fees start at $1200 per year and can get up to $6,000, depending on how complex the plan gets.
Titan Invest is obviously more hands-off. They invest your money in pre-built portfolios with fund managers actively involved in the assets.
#4. Titan Invest vs. Blooom
Blooom focuses on providing guidance and management for retirement accounts and other pre-tax accounts such as 401(k), 403(b), 457, TSP, 401(a), and traditional IRAs.
At a relatively modest $45 per year, customers can ask questions and get guidance on the employer-driven investment funds and make changes as needed.
Titan Invest has many educational materials, but the focus is again on actively managed automated investing in all-stock portfolios.
>> Learn More: Full Blooom Review
#5. WealthFront vs. Titan Invest
Like Betterment, Wealthfront focuses on a total portfolio approach with mutual funds based solely on the investor’s risk profile.
They offer low fees and are very close behind Betterment in the sector. However, as compared with Titan Invest, they do not offer all-stock portfolio options.
You can set your risk tolerance at 10 out of 10, in which case your portfolio would be stock heavy but still only 47% US stocks and 17% foreign stocks.
>> Learn More: Compare the Best Online Stock Brokers
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Titan Invest Safe to Use?
Titan uses industry-standard security protocols and works closely with its partners to ensure security is a top priority.
The website FAQs clarify they use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and 256-bit encryption, and they use Apex Clearing, one of the top names in the business, as their clearinghouse.
How Much Should I Invest in Titan?
This is completely up to your risk tolerance. A smart advisor would recommend not investing your entire portfolio with Titan Invest as you could experience heavy drawdown with few ways to bounce back.
Also, limiting your total market exposure to only 20 stocks isn’t advisable.
Is Titan Invest Legit?
Absolutely! Titan Invest might be newer, but they are expanding rapidly.
The strategy of latching onto successful funds for ideas might seem simple, but their team and software rigorously analyze hundreds and hundreds of pages of financial reports to titrate the information.
The same task would take a single investor days or weeks to find out.
Is Titan Invest SIPC Insured?
Yes, indeed! Since your investment is placed in its very own account with Apex Clearing, your money is insured up to the SIPC limit of $500,000.
Bottom Line: Titan Invest Review
Titan Invest is an impressive new(er) addition to the lineup of robo-investment advisors.
While they provide a bit of a niche, it could be an exciting and profitable addition to an already well-established portfolio.
The easy sign-up and deposit and mobile app access make it up to par with what investors should expect from a robo-advisor.
Compared to other advisors out there, Titan Invest has different goals than most of the pack, yet this makes it an even better offering that gives it a good springboard to grow and expand.
