SoFi Robo IRA Review 2024: Features, Fees, and More

Best If You Want

With no account minimum, low annual management fee, and access to a range of great financial tools including Certified Financial Planners, a SoFi Robo IRA is a great option for beginner and hands-off investors. While there is some limited ability to influence the portfolio they create for you, you can change portfolio themes or your risk appetite. SoFi’s mobile app and web platforms are well liked, as seen by the positive reviews across app stores. Overall, those looking for a mobile-first experience that takes the work out of investing with recommendations built by industry experts will appreciate a SoFi Robo IRA.

SoFi is a digital-first institution that offers a simple, low-fee rollover IRA managed for you. One of the early “fintech” companies, SoFi started out by helping people refinance their loans. From that start they’ve expanded into a range of financial services, recently launching investment accounts that include rollover IRAs.

The SoFi experience is built for mobile, so if you want a well-designed, mobile-first way to manage your retirement savings, then the SoFi Robo IRA is a great option.

Fees

SoFi charges a 0.25% management fee.

What You Can Invest In

The SoFi investment process is similar to other robo-advisors – you open an account, answer some questions about your goals and risk tolerance, and they suggest a portfolio for you.

That portfolio is based on a combination of “asset classes” like equities (stocks), fixed income (bonds), and international investments. They’ll put your money in a collection of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that allow you to access these asset classes efficiently.

Those ETFs are generally provided by large financial institutions like Vanguard and Blackrock and will live inside your portfolio. SoFi also offers its own ETFs and some of your money will be invested in those.

Account Minimums

No account minimum is one of the biggest perks of a SoFi Automated Investing IRA. Other IRA providers can require much higher minimums, sometimes upwards of $500. By offering a low account minimum, SoFi appeals to a broader range of investors – including those who are just starting out.

Customer Support

SoFi offers phone, email, and chat support to customers. Phone and live chat support is available Monday through Friday from 8 am to 8 pm EST. As part of your investment account experience, you’ll get access to a team of certified financial planners (CFPs) available to chat with you by phone. This is a nice perk for those who might have extra questions about financial planning, retirement planning and diversification. IRA portfolios also come with automatic rebalancing as needed.

Account Types

SoFi Automated Investing offers a range of individual retirement account types to choose from—alongside other types of investment accounts like brokerage and trading accounts. For the purposes of this article, we’ll stick with the various iterations of the SoFi IRA that investors might choose from.

Traditional IRA

Traditional individual retirement accounts (IRAs) are funded with pre-tax dollars, which offer the account holder a tax break in the year contributions are made. The funds are then allowed to grow tax-free, though they are taxed as regular income in retirement. They also carry no income limitations for direct contributions.

Roth IRA

Like all Roth IRAs, SoFi’s Roth IRAs are funded with after-tax dollars—so although you won’t get a tax break in the short term, the long-term tax benefits are many. For one thing, Roth accounts mean account holders can take out tax-free funds once they reach retirement age (so long as the Roth five-year rule has been followed). Furthermore, Roth IRAs don’t carry required minimum distributions (RMDs) as do most other types of retirement plans, making them an attractive option for those looking to pass down a tax-free asset to their heirs.

Rollover IRA

If you’ve got an old retirement account hiding somewhere, rolling it over can help ensure you know where all of your retirement money is — and that you’re actively managing it so it can go to work for you. Once you’ve found your old 401(k), the process to roll over that 401(k) to an IRA can be daunting. SoFi’s rollover IRA simplifies the process, and Capitalize’s specialists can manage the entire process step by step.

SEP IRA

SEP IRAs are designed for small business owners to maximize their employees’ retirement savings while also gleaning tax benefits for the business, as well as self-employed people saving for retirement. SoFi offers a Simplified Employee Pension IRA to eligible account holders.

Other Features

SoFi’s overall mission is to help you “Get your money right”. To do that, they offer a broad selection of financial services – all digital, and all built with a younger, tech-savvy user in mind. Besides investment accounts, SoFi offers a checking account, student loan refinancing, personal loans, home loans, and even insurance products.

As part of your investment account experience, you’ll get access to a team of certified financial planners (CFPs) available to chat with you by phone. This is a nice perk for those who might have extra financial questions.

Limitations

The SoFi Robo IRA account has the same limitations as other digital, managed accounts – you won’t be able to directly change the portfolio allocations across investment options, but you can adjust your risk appetite or portfolio theme, which is best if you want to outsource your retirement fund money management. They also don’t have physical branches so if that’s important to you then you’re best off with a slightly older brand.

Considering a SoFi Automated IRA?

SoFi offers a simple, low-fee, automated IRA. If you want somebody to manage your IRA with little fuss, it’s a solid option. You’ll also be able to establish a broader relationship with SoFi and access a full range of financial services over time.

If you’re looking to fund your new SoFi Invest Automated Investing IRA with a 401(k) rollover, Capitalize can help. We’ve made it our mission to make this process easier for everyone. We can handle the entire process for you. Most of the process can be done online and our rollover experts will guide you through any of the manual parts. Get started with your 401(k) to IRA rollover in just a few minutes.