Brian Baker, CFA, covered investing and retirement for Bankrate. He previously worked in equity research at Diamond Hill Capital Management and is a CFA Charterholder. His work has appeared online in various publications including MarketWatch, Fortune, the Omaha World-Herald, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Detroit News, MSN and Yahoo Finance. He also serves on the Investment Task Force for the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing.
Prior to joining Bankrate, he covered mergers and acquisitions for MLex Market Insight in Washington, D.C. Baker is passionate about helping people make sense of complicated financial topics so that they can better plan for their financial futures.
Readers can rely on his articles to learn more about a variety of investing topics such as how to start investing, investing through mutual funds, when to sell a stock and how investors can manage their emotions.
Baker’s passion for investing developed in college after reading about the success of long-term investors like Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger.
Investing can be intimidating, but following some basic principles can put you on the path to achieving your financial goals.
— Brian Baker, CFA
Fidelity Go offers core robo-advisor features (portfolio management, rebalancing) and combines them with Fidelity’s investor-friendly reputation. So you’ll get funds with no fees and excellent customer service at any hour of the day.
SoFi Active Investing is a low-cost broker that should meet the needs of new investors looking to only trade stocks and ETFs.
Many top stocks deliver solid returns year after year. These are the best-performing stocks in the S&P 500 so far in 2026.
Acorns offers a useful app for managing many aspects of your financial life, from basic spending to saving with its “round-up” feature to investing in a diversified portfolio of securities.
Wealthfront ranks among the best robo-advisors, offering sophisticated portfolio management, a top cash management account and some of the most useful planning tools. Wealthfront scores big in all major areas – then somehow does it all at low cost, too.
SigFig Managed Accounts offers a decent option for investors looking for a low-cost robo-advisor.
SoFi Robo Investing offers a low-cost robo-advisor that can get the job done without a lot of fuss. Its biggest advantages include no management fee, cheap ETFs, and access to certified financial planners.
Personal Capital transforms the experience of a human financial advisor into the digital world, melding together some of the top features of each. The robo-advisor provides unlimited access to human advisors who can customize a portfolio to your financial needs while providing the advantages of automated tax-loss harvesting.
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