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Empower Review | The Best Free Financial Tools Out There

Inside: In this Empower review, learn how this free financial app allows you to monitor net worth, investments, and expenses. Sign up today for free.

You are looking for the best investment app to help you save money, but all of them seem too complicated. You want something that is simple, easy to use, helpful, and even better if the app is free.

Empower is an online service for tracking your finances. Before a merger, the company began in 2009, and to this day it has been growing exponentially with a user base of over two million people.

Personal Capital is now Empower.

The app works on desktop as well as mobile devices, giving users the ability to track their spending easily wherever they go.

Empower also offers a suite of tools that help you get out more information about how you are using your money so that you can make better financial decisions.

On this Empower review, we will focus on what they do well, how it works for those who use it, and where Empower could improve.

Don’t forget… here is a list of all of the budgeting apps on the market.

If you are looking for an easier way to monitor your financials and see how healthy your finances really are, then you may want to check out what Empower has to offer.

In this Empower reviews, learn how this free financial app allows you to monitor net worth, investments, and expenses. Sign up today for free.

This post may contain affiliate links, which helps us to continue providing relevant content and we receive a small commission at no cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read the full disclosure here.

Empower Personal Wealth, LLC (“EPW”) compensates Money Bliss  for new leads. Money Bliss  is not an investment client of Personal Capital Advisors Corporation or Empower Advisory Group, LLC.

What is Empower?

Empower is an online tool for tracking your finances.

It has been called the best financial app out there, and I agree with that statement. But, I personally use it as one of the money management tools to help guide our financial decisions.

I have used Empower to track my investments for over six years now, which probably makes me a bit of an expert on this topic because I use it regularly.

Overall, Empower is a financial planning and wealth management tool that users can use to manage their net worth. The product offers tools for managing investments, retirement, debt payoff, and other personal finance goals.

How does it work?

First of all, Empower is a FREE app that helps you keep track of all your accounts. It can help you to invest better and did we mention… it is free to use!

To get the most out of this app, you’ll have to link each of your financial accounts one by one so that Empower can learn how you spend money.

It takes a couple of minutes to create an account and verify your identity.

The longest step is linking accounts to the Empower app. Just make sure you do this step within 7 days to get the most out of the app.

Features of Empower

The features of Empower include the ability to visualize your overall financial picture, keep track of your investments in a dashboard, and see which companies you are invested in.

Most people associate Empower as one of the best tools to help with investing, like a stock screener and an investment calculator.

But, there are many great features available for free including:

  • Net Worth Planner
  • Retirement Planner
  • Fee Analyzer
  • Cash Flow Management
  • Savings Planner
  • Budgeting
  • College Savings Planner
  • Investment Checkup

Pros and Cons of Empower

First of all, Empower is free to use. So, you might as well test drive the system and check out if the Empower app fits what you are looking for.

Just like any of the Empower reviews will tell you, there are positives and negatives with every type of money management app available.

You just have to decide the most important features for you. As well as what you are willing to pay.

Pros of Empower:

  • Free portfolio management tool.
  • Good for new investors who want a free-to-use tool with minimal features.
  • Easy to use and can be accessed on multiple platforms.
  • Can track investments across multiple accounts.
  • Tracks over 23,000 securities and over 1,000 mutual funds. – check
  • Offers a free app for on-the-go access.
  • Offers in-depth analysis and investment research on stocks, bonds, and ETFs.
  • Cloud-based platform
  • Free to use!

Cons of Empower:

  • Sales call from staff
  • Wealth management service is more expensive than a traditional advisor or simply investing in index funds.
  • High wealth management fee
  • Unable to reconcile your bank statements with Empower, but since they are coming from your bank directly, they should already be in sync.
  • No credit health information
  • Budgeting Tool needs improvement
  • Limited transaction management and budgeting
  • No import option for transactions from any platform including YNAB, Quicken or Mint
  • Cloud-based platform

Many people report that the Empower app requires $100,000 in investment assets to be eligible. That is untrue. In fact, it works best for those who have at least $100k in some form of investments – 401k, IRA, brokerage accounts, or even cash!

Empower is incredibly easy to use and has helpful financial planning tools.

Overall, it is one of the many great tools to help further push you to financial freedom.

Empower

Empower offers powerful tools to help you plan your investment strategy along with basic budgeting features and a great net worth tool.

As a free app, Empower can help you to save money, save time, and even make more money.

Get Started
Empower Personal Wealth, LLC (“EPW”) compensates Money Bliss  for new leads. Money Bliss  is not an investment client of Personal Capital Advisors Corporation or Empower Advisory Group, LLC.

Empower Pricing

While Empower is free to access personal finance tools, it does come at a small price of annoyance.

Empower is free

Empower is a free online portfolio platform that helps people save and invest their money. It offers tools to track net worth, create investment plans, compare retirement accounts, view savings goals and cash flow, and more.

This is the great part of using this app!

The downside of making these dashboards free is they are trying to entice you to move to their wealth management services.

You do not need to invest your money with Empower to use this platform.

It is best to keep everything invested where it currently is and use their free tools to analyze and make the necessary changes.

As such, once you sign up, you will receive calls on a recurring basis offering you a free analysis. There is no pressure to do this. Once you have said no enough times, they will stop calling you.

Wealth management services come with fees

Empower offers fee-only financial advisory services.

For those under $1 million in investable assets, their fee is 0.89%.

As you can read in this book, there are many ways to invest yourself without paying that fee.

In fact, this is my favorite book explaining how much harder and longer you have to work by paying someone a 1% wealth management fee.

However, for a small percentage of people, this may be a more cost-effective way of receiving professional advice, as it eliminates hidden costs from this type of service.

Personally, I prefer to trade stocks for my own investing.

Empower Tools

Empower is a financial management platform that provides tools to help individuals manage their personal finances. The platform offers tools for portfolio tracking, performance analysis, and retirement planning. The company also provides its users with educational resources on financial topics.

Under their free dashboard, these are the tools you can use for free.

Net Worth Calculator

This simple tool will keep track of your net worth. Very simple and always available.

Know where you stand, by downloading the free app to see your true net worth in real-time.

Understanding your personal financial statement is important. Plus growing your liquid net worth is key to financial success.

Picture of using personal capital net worth feature.

Savings Planner

One of the most asked questions is how much I need to save for:

  • Retirement
  • Emergency Fund
  • To Pay Down Debt

Calculate how much to save each year with a 70% chance of reaching your retirement goals. Learn how much you are currently savings and how much you need to start saving.

Cash Flow

Cash flow is the amount of cash available for expenses at a certain time. This term used in personal finance describes the rate at which one’s income and expenses change over time.

The Cash Flow tool is easy to use because Empower automatically tracks deposits and spending. The time saver feature allows users to see their cash flow, balance sheet, net worth, and asset allocation over a period of time.

Cash flow is a budgeting tool that offers limited information on spending. It provides a second check when using another program that gives you more details like Quicken or Simplfi.

Retirement Planner

This is the #1 reason I recommend Empower especially if you are looking to stay away from a financial planner.

Trying to figure out how much you need for retirement by yourself seems like picking a random FI number from the sky.

The retirement planner is used by millions of people to figure out how on track they are for retirement. Plus get tips on what they can do to improve their chances of success.

Budgeting

Budgeting is a method of allocating financial resources by identifying and evaluating needs, prioritizing them in order to meet goals, and monitoring the achievement of those goals.

Empower includes a budgeting section to help you set monthly spending targets and track your spending. They automatically import the information from linked accounts such as checking, savings, and credit card statements.

Using their free online financial dashboard, allows you to track your spending and investments. There are interactive charts, graphs, pie-charts, and even widgets. All to make sure your budgeting is on track.

Investment Checkup

This portfolio analysis is the process of measuring performance and risk in order to develop a strategy for capital allocation. The goal of portfolio analysis is to improve return on investment, which can be achieved by increasing return on assets, decreasing the risk of losses, or reducing the variance.

The Empower app lets you explore your entire portfolio visually. It also provides asset allocation tools and tax optimization tools to help manage a person’s financial life.

Picture of using personal capital investment checkup feature.

Fee Analyzer

A fee analyzer helps people to determine the annual fees they are paying in their retirement plan.

401K Analyzer also calculates how much your retirement is costing you and provides a breakdown of any hidden fees that may be present within mutual funds with which it has been linked. This Retirement Planner tool uses assumptions about account holdings and investment behavior for calculating expenses against an estimated portfolio value.

Consequently, these fees add up over time and will drastically put a drag on your portfolio and reduce your retirement savings.

Picture of using personal capital fee analyzer feature.

Empower Dashboard is Free

Just remember, you do not need to hire an advisor to use the platform.

Empower is a free tool for individual investors.

Empower provides users with access to all of the above-mentioned advanced tools for free. In addition, they offer free financial advice through their blog and social media pages.

It allows users to track their investments and get a personalized financial plan. The service also offers apps for iOS and Android devices, which makes it easy to manage finances on the go.

Empower Wealth Management Review of Services

In addition to offering free financial tools, Empower provides wealth management services.

You get to work one-on-one with an advisor who will give you personalized advice based on your situation.

They help you to invest, save money, and track your financial goals.

Their advisors start by determining your risk tolerance and goals in order to construct the best personal financial plan for you.

If you are interested in getting a better understanding of your financial situation, Empower is an excellent option. It gives users the tools to understand their investments, budgets, and cash flow all with one app.

All it requires is that you sign up for free without any obligations or commitments from them whatsoever. You do not have to agree to use their wealth management program.

Personally, I cannot comment on an Empower advisor review as I have not used this service.

Empower Investment Strategy

The Empower investment strategy is a simple way to invest your money for the long-term.

This means that you will be able to retire and live a comfortable life without any concern about how you will be able to live.

They employ the tactic called Smart Weighting because they invest equally across all sectors and industries, which can provide diverse returns with minimal risk. The best part of this strategy is it’s easy to use as Empower has created an interface that makes portfolio management simple for users on any device or platform.

Empower’s software is able to identify tax-loss harvesting opportunities (opportunities where the investor sells an investment after it has fallen in value and pays fewer taxes than if the sale had occurred earlier) than investing on their own.

In addition, Empower invests passively for cost efficiency which means that they don’t take any active management into account.

The best part about Empower and one of the key areas I prefer, is they include socially responsible investments as well as an investment strategy to fit any budget.

They identify which companies are doing good work for society and invest in them accordingly. This feature makes personal finance much more interesting and easier than ever before!

Wealth Management Tiers

Many people invest in various financial services and products, such as mutual funds or stocks. They are promised that these investments will generate a good return, but they do not always make the best choice. Wealth management services are a way to help people manage their personal investments. They may charge fees for their service, but that is not always the case.

Depending on your level of assets, will determine the amount of services you will receive.

Investment Services:

This is the most basic level to receive financial and retirement planning guidance from their team of experts.

  • $100K in investment assets
  • Unlimited advice from any of the available financial advisors
  • Managed ETF portfolio

Wealth Management:

This is where you can receive more personalized services and dedicated support to manage your money as you move through new financial challenges.

  • $200K minimum in investment assets
  • Two dedicated financial advisors
  • Access to specialists in real estate, stock options, and more
  • Regular reviews on your customized portfolio
  • Tax optimization

Private Client :

This is the most exclusive level at Empower to help you receive comprehensive financial planning. They will help build a customized investment plan to reach your lifestyle goals.

  • over $1 million in investment assets
  • Two dedicated financial advisors
  • Priority access to specialists
  • In-depth retirement and wealth planning

Wealth Management Fee Structure

Empower charges only an all-inclusive annual management fee at a fraction of the cost of traditional financial institutions. In addition, they do not charge hidden fees, trailing fees, or trade commissions.

  • First $1 million = .89%
  • First $3 million = .79%
  • Next $2 million = .69%
  • Next $5 million = .59%
  • Over $10 million = .49%

Overall, if you want a financial advisor or a second opinion, using Empower wealth management services may be for you.

Even if you don’t join, you can still use the tools for free, no questions asked.

My Empower Review from Experience

I have had a lot of experience using Empower in the past. They provide snapshot financial pictures of your personal situation that are very informative.

Plus it is a free tool to use, which is always a bonus.

Empower is one of my favorite online tools to see all your finances in one place.

It is eye-opening to see the overall picture. Also, tracking investments across multiple accounts can be overwhelming, but they make the process seamless and help you stay on top of things.

Personally, my favorite tools are the net worth, fee analyzer, and retirement planner.

I use Empower in conjunction with Quicken. Read my Quicken review.

My Empower dashboard is my overall financial picture whereas Quicken tracks all of my day-to-day spending and helps me remember when we purchased something for a return.

The app has a convenient interface that makes managing your personal financial situation easy, even if you’re not familiar with finance jargon or investing terminology. With this tool at hand, keeping track of where everything stands financially becomes easier than ever before!

Just to note… to get the best financial picture, you must include all of your accounts. The more time you spend in the Empower dashboard, the more helpful analysis you will get from the tool.

Empower

Empower offers powerful tools to help you plan your investment strategy along with basic budgeting features and a great net worth tool.

As a free app, Empower can help you to save money, save time, and even make more money.

Get Started
Empower Personal Wealth, LLC (“EPW”) compensates Money Bliss  for new leads. Money Bliss  is not an investment client of Personal Capital Advisors Corporation or Empower Advisory Group, LLC.

Empower Alternatives

In addition to Empower, other financial apps can help you allocate your portfolio.

These include Betterment with Wealthfront also being a viable option for those who want the best of both worlds by tracking their investments in stocks and bonds. However, these alternatives have much higher fees than what is charged by Empower which makes it an appealing alternative if the fee does not bother you.

Also, if you are looking for budgeting capabilities you may want to look at Quicken, YNAB, or Simplifi.

At the end of the day, you have to decide what your goals are and what you are looking for.

Is Empower right for you?

Picture of trees growing from money for this personal capital review.

Empower is a company that offers tools for personal finance management. This app has more than one hundred different tools to help you with your finances, including monthly budgeting and investing tracking.

Empower also helps people manage their credit card debt, establish emergency funds, track retirement savings progressions, calculate their net worth, and much more!

The smartphone app integrates locations, bank accounts, and credit scores which allows users to access current information on their financial situation.

The online portal allows for comparing available investment options.

This tool allows people to plan out the future of their money as well as provides them with valuable financial information in an easy-to-read format so they can make informed decisions.

As stated before, Empower is a financial app that can help you manage your investment assets. It has many features and it’s not perfect, but it’s the best out there in terms of value for money.

You can always test drive it and see what you learn about your personal finance situation. Plus if you are striving towards financial freedom then you need to get started.

Now you can try it free (no credit card required)!

Know someone else that needs this, too? Then, please share!!

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More importantly, did I answer the questions you have about this topic? Let me know in the comments if I can help in some other way!

Your comments are not just welcomed; they’re an integral part of our community. Let’s continue the conversation and explore how these ideas align with your journey towards Money Bliss.

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