Nudged into Better Portfolios and Lower Risk: Robo-Advice and Savings Decisions

Mutual fund and ETF savings plans (SPs) are becoming an increasingly important part of retail investor portfolios and many investors now adopt robo-advisors to obtain guidance on SP choices. Using data from a large online bank that introduced a robo-advising tool, I explore how robo-advice changes investors’ SP choices and document three main results. First, default options improve robo-advice users’ fund choices towards lower-cost and more diversified funds. Second, many investors – also those who previously held all-equity portfolios – adhere to the default asset allocation that is associated with a 50% equity exposure, although they could construct riskier SP portfolios through the robo-advisor. Third, I document considerable heterogeneity in longer-term adherence to robo-advisor recommendations. First-time SP users are more inert and stick to the robo-advisor’s proposed asset allocation while experienced SP users quickly readjust their equity exposure away from the robo-advisor’s recommendation. My results emphasize the power of defaults in all-digital robo-advisory services and highlight how they can improve fund choices while at the same time push investors into unsuitable asset allocations.