Invest Round Review – How Does This Investment Service Measure Up?

About Invest Round

Round, also known as Invest Round, is a managed investment platform founded in 2016. The platform’s goal is to make active hedge-fund-style investing available to anyone, even if you don’t have millions of dollars to invest directly with a fund manager. Round has $2.1 million in assets under management.

The question is, does this platform really have everything you need? We’ll find out in this thorough Invest Round review!

How Round Works

Invest Round starts out much like other automated investing or robo-advisor platforms. When you sign up, the service asks a series of questions about your investing goals and risk tolerance to build a customized portfolio for you.

However, instead of investing in a series of passively managed index ETFs, Round invests your money with seven major investment firms. These include Guggenheim Partners, PIMCO, Brookfield, DoubleLine, Highland, Gabelli, and Aberdeen. Through these fund managers, your portfolio is invested in specialized asset classes, including:

• Collateralized loan obligations
• Aircraft lease asset-backed securities
• Whole-business asset-backed securities
• Mortgage-backed securities
• Commercial real estate
• Private equity

Of course, you also get exposure to a mixture of stocks and bonds. While you don’t have complete control over your portfolio composition, you can work with the Round team if you want to add or subtract exposure to a specific asset class within your portfolio.

Importantly, your portfolio is actively managed once it is established. Fund managers at Round’s partner investment firms can make changes to the composition of your portfolio, and Round itself uses a mix of fundamental and technical analysis to shift your money between asset classes over time. 

Overall, the goal behind Round is to outperform the stock market while giving you a more diversified portfolio than you could achieve through stock investing alone.

Invest Round Account Requirements

Invest Round requires a $500 minimum deposit to open an account. If you have at least $100,000 invested with Round, you can qualify for a Private Client account that includes access to additional investment firms, a wider range of investments, and financial planning.

Invest Round offers standard investing accounts, traditional IRAs, and Roth IRAs.

Invest Round Pricing and Fees

Invest Round charges an annual management fee of 0.50%. The fee is assessed based on your total account value on a monthly basis, and the fee is waived if your portfolio has a negative return over the course of the month. 

One thing to note is that the funds and assets that Round invests in have higher expense ratios and transaction costs than passively managed ETFs. So, the fees that you will pay for your investments can be significantly higher than for other robo-advisors. These fees can also vary over time as the composition of your portfolio changes.

Invest Round Platform and Tools

Round offers a web platform and a mobile app for iOS (there is no Android app at this time). The platform offers an overview of your account, including a chart of your portfolio value over time. You can also dive into a detailed breakdown of the seven investment firms that Round uses to see how much of your portfolio is invested with each firm and what assets you are invested in with a given firm.

Notably, the Round platform does not provide options to customize your portfolio. If you want to make changes to your investment structure, you must contact Round for help.

Invest Round Performance

Round does not offer information about its past performance, although this is likely in part due to the fact that there are no standardized investment portfolios with this platform. In addition, since the platform has only been around since 2016, it may be difficult to gauge the long-term performance of Round’s active management strategy.

The good news is that in any month when your portfolio loses money, Round waives your management fee.

Round Key Differentiators

Round differentiates itself in a crowded field of robo-advisors by giving investors a way to invest in specialized assets in addition to stocks and bonds. The platform partners with seven different investment firms to get access to asset classes like mortgage-backed securities, collateralized loan obligations, asset-backed securities, and private equity. Few other automated investing platforms, if any, offer access to these asset classes.

Round also stands out for waiving its management fee in any month your portfolio loses value. Most competitors charge their management fee regardless of how your portfolio performs.

Trustworthiness

Round is registered as an investment advisor with the SEC and is a member of FINRA and SIPC. All investor accounts are insured through SIPC for up to $500,000.

The seven investment firms that Round invests your money through are globally recognized firms with decades in business. However, it’s important to note that SIPC insurance does not cover all of the assets that these firms invest in, so you may not be protected in the unlikely event that one of Round’s partner firms were to fail. 

Who is Invest Round Best For?

Round is best for investors who want to take a more aggressive approach to the market than most other automated investing platforms allow. The service makes it possible to invest in the same asset classes as top hedge funds without having to commit millions of dollars.

Round can also appeal to investors who like the idea of active investing and are willing to pay for it, but who aren’t comfortable investing in complex asset classes on their own. Since Round supports IRAs, it can be used for tax-advantaged retirement investing.

The fact that Round waives its management fee in any month your portfolio loses money is a major plus. However, it’s important to be aware that this platform does not offer information about past performance, and the cost of active investing in highly specialized funds can add up over time.

Conclusion: Invest Round

Round enables anyone to invest in highly specialized asset classes thanks to a partnership with seven well-known investment firms. The platform takes an active approach to investing to try to beat the stock market and provides greater diversification than most other automated investing platforms. While the annual management fee is very reasonable, beware that the investments Round makes on your behalf can be expensive.

Pros

• Invest in highly specialized asset classes 
• Management fee waived when your portfolio loses money
• Supports traditional and Roth IRAs
• Only requires a $500 minimum deposit
• Flexibility to customize your portfolio

Cons

• Expensive fund fees and transaction costs
• No Android app available
• Little information about past performance