Automated Investor is the robo-advisor for U.S. Bancorp Investments. A robo-advisor such as this uses a set of investing rules run by advanced computer software to manage your investments automatically in an investment advisory account.

Through answering a series of questions, you provide the robo-advisor with information about your investment goals and comfort level with financial risk. A portfolio of investments will then be selected for you based on your responses. This portfolio is typically monitored daily by the robo-advisor when U.S. markets are open and trades are made on your behalf in order to work toward your goals.

Automated Investor was built using the professional expertise and insight into investment strategies that U.S. Bancorp Investments clients have relied upon for decades, well before robo-advisors existed.

Consider using the robo-advisor Automated Investor if you:

• Have some money available to invest, in addition to an emergency fund 
• Are seeking a way to get started growing your money, saving for retirement or reaching other goals 
• Want an investment strategy created by experts
• Are comfortable investing online, with automated investments and with the robo-advisor approach
• Can accept market risk
• Prefer to have your accounts monitored and automatically rebalanced 
• Would like a low-cost investment solution

• U.S. Bancorp Investments, the company behind the robo-advisor Automated Investor, has a track record of experience helping customers invest.
• As a company, we put people first. We believe in doing the right thing for you and your family.
• Transparency and ethical decisions are at the core of everything we do.

• Asset allocation – Based on your goal and risk profile, the robo-advisor will invest your money across a variety of asset classes with various levels of risk and potential return to keep your portfolio diversified.
• Automatic portfolio rebalancing – Your account is typically reviewed by our robo-advisor daily, when U.S. markets are open, to help keep your portfolio in balance with your goal and target date.
• Low-cost investments - We invest your money in exchange-traded funds (ETFs)¹, whose fees are typically lower than those for mutual funds. Source: Investopedia, September 2022, “Why are ETF fees lower than mutual funds?”
• Tax-loss harvesting - For taxable accounts, we automatically seek to offset taxes on capital gains by selling other investments at a loss. The cash from the sells transactions will be reinvested across your portfolio to help keep your portfolio in balance and on track with your goal.
• See our Methodology & Assumptions page for more information on automated investments.

To open an Automated Investor account, you must be a U.S. citizen or U.S. permanent resident, at least 18 years old, have $1,000 or more in investible assets, have a valid Social Security number or Tax Identification Number, be a customer of USBI or our affiliate, U.S. Bank and be enrolled at usbank.com. Depending on your financial circumstances, objectives and needs, another advisory program may be more appropriate for you and you should discuss your financial needs with a USBI Financial Advisor by calling 866-758-8655 before enrolling in Automated Investor.

There is a $1,000 minimum investment to get started with Automated Investor.

Automated Investor charges a 0.24% annual advisory fee on all assets under management. That’s just $2.40 a year on a $1,000 minimum investment. This fee, billed quarterly, covers all transactions, trades, rebalancing, advice and account administration. No additional fees are charged to buy or sell securities. Fund level fees go directly to fund providers and neither U.S. Bank nor U.S. Bancorp Investments receives any part of these fees. Please review our Pricing page for more details.

Yes. You can open more than one Automated Investor account, each with its own goal.

Yes. You can open a Traditional IRA, Roth IRA or SEP IRA. You can also rollover a 401(k) account from a previous employer. To rollover a 401(k), please call us at 866-758-8655 and we’ll walk you through the steps.

Yes, you can open a joint Automated Investor account. There can be one primary account holder and one joint or co-applicant for the joint account, both holding equal ownership rights. Two types of joint accounts are available: tenants in common or tenants with rights of survivorship.

Peace of mind

• We invest and manage your money for you. As a fiduciary, it’s our responsibility to make automated investment decisions that are in your best interest.
  
• The strategies behind the smart technology of Automated Investor come from our affiliate U.S. Bank Asset Management Group, that has more than 40 years of experience managing money.
  
• Our always-on automated trading system typically monitors your investments every business day when U.S. markets are open.

Ease and convenience

• Automated Investor is an easy robo-advisor tool to use. You don’t need to have any investing experience or knowledge.
  
• You can track progress toward your goal right on your account dashboard and easily move money between accounts. Access all your accounts together at usbank.com or on any mobile device.

Value and service

• Our low-cost investment advice, low fund fees, dividend reinvesting and tax efficient investing methods could potentially mean more money for your goal.

• Investing with a robo-advisor, including Automated Investor, comes with investing risk.  As with any investment, you’ll experience ups and downs in the market that will be reflected in your account value. Please see the charts below on historical returns for stocks and bonds for additional information.
• There are some limitations if you want access to your money immediately. Automated Investor should not be a replacement for a cash reserve or emergency fund. Requests to withdraw cash could take two to three business days to complete. To maintain your Automated Investor service, you’ll need to keep at least $1,000 in your account.
• Like any robo-advisor, Automated Investor is dependent on technology and utility providers. The service could be impacted by issues and outages at both our site and 3^rd party provider sites, such as power outages, software and system issues, cyber-attacks or other Internet-related failures. For more information, please refer to the Automated Investor Investment Advisory Agreement.

Historical gains and losses

Here are examples of the best and worst market returns based on market indices for the past 20 years²

You can apply for an Automated Investor robo-advisor account in about 10 minutes.

• You’ll answer a few questions about your goal and your comfort with risk. We’ll use this information to show you an investment mix tailored to your goal. Then, complete our brief application and transfer money into your new investment account.
• Fund your account from your checking, savings or brokerage account. If you’re opening an Automated Investor IRA and want to rollover funds from a previous employer, call us and we’ll walk you through the steps.
• Once you transfer money to your new automated investment account, we’ll start investing for you, usually on the next business day. You’ll receive a welcome email and you can check your progress on your mobile app or online.
• If at any point along the way you have questions or need help, call us at 866-758-8655.

Don’t worry if you don’t have a goal in mind. Just choose “grow my wealth” when prompted to select goals.

During the enrollment process we’ll ask you to answer three questions about your comfort with investing risk to help you choose the right amount of risk for your goal. You can change it at any time by going to the Automated Investor dashboard.

You can transfer money from any checking or savings account. Just go to the transfer area in the Automated Investor dashboard or usbank.com. If you’d like to rollover³ a 401(k) from a previous employer, call us at 866-758-8655.

Automated Investor uses computer technology and other factors to make trades in your account. Our system compares each of your investments to a target weight and rebalances investments to maintain the appropriate mix of investments based on your risk level, type of goal, and goal target date. If you make changes to your plan, such as your target date or risk tolerance, or if you add or withdraw any money, your account will be automatically adjusted by the robo-advisor.

Your Automated Investor account is typically monitored by our robo-advisor daily when U.S. markets are open.

Portfolio rebalancing is the process of buying and selling investments in your account to help keep your overall investment mix aligned with your goal. It also assists you in maintaining the proper risk for the financial goals you have set for yourself and your portfolio.

• This is essential for reaching your investment goals since your target allocations are restored by selling some of your asset classes that have overperformed in the short-term and purchasing others that have underperformed in the short-term. 
• It manages your risk by reducing the volatility of your portfolio.

You can check your account dashboard to see the trades that we’ve made on your behalf.

When you log in to usbank.com you’ll see a link to your Automated Investor account and goal from the usbank.com dashboard. From there you can view your balance, track your goal progress, make transfers, view your transfer streak and see the trades that we’ve made for you.

Dividends you may receive will be deposited as cash into your account. Over time, this cash will be used for additional purchases when appropriate as part of the management of the account.

You can easily add money to your account in the Transfers area at usbank.com. You can make a one-time deposit to your account or set up recurring transfers, so you won’t forget.

Yes. You can request a transfer of funds from your Automated Investor account at any time by going to the Transfers area in the Automated Investor dashboard or from usbank.com. When you request a withdrawal, we will automatically sell some investments in your account to provide the cash for your transfer. However, you should be aware that taking money out of your account before your goal date may affect your ability to reach your goal, and some retirement accounts will have penalties and tax implications for early withdrawals. 

Keep in mind that the more years you have to your target date, the more likely you are to stay on track. This is because you have a greater chance to recover from any market declines and volatility.

If you have questions or need assistance, call to speak with an Investment Consultant at 866-758-8655

You can update your risk comfort level, goal target date, goal target amount or goal name directly from your account dashboard. Updates will generally take effect the following day.

A streak occurs when you make automated or manual deposits two months (or more) in a row. Continuing your streak may help you reach your goal. You’ll need to login to see the streak tracker.

Yes, you can add beneficiaries for your Automated Investor account. You can add beneficiaries for an Automated Investor IRA account during the account opening process. For all other account types, you can call 866-758-8655 to add or update your beneficiaries.

Yes, you can have up to 10 beneficiaries on your Automated Investor account. There must be one primary beneficiary, regardless of how many beneficiaries you have. You would assign a percentage of the account to each beneficiary. 

Beneficiaries can be individuals, groups, trusts, organizations or any combination of these. 

Either of the named account holders can manage the joint Automated Investor account.

We invest in Exchange Traded Funds or ETFs. ETFs are SEC-registered and offer investors a way to pool their money in a fund that makes investments in stocks, bonds, other assets or some combination of these investments.  

You can learn more about ETFs, from the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) or FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority). 

SEC - Mutual fund and ETF guide for investors

FINRA - Investment funds: Exchange-traded funds

Our experts guide Automated Investor’s philosophy by selecting investments from thousands of choices when designing portfolios, from which yours is chosen, based on five factors:

• Due diligence - The ETFs we use for our portfolios go through a research and evaluation process. We do not receive money from revenue sharing or any additional compensation for the investments we select.
• Market outlook – We choose your portfolio and set your asset allocation based on an analysis of the market by our investment strategists.
• Your investment goal and time horizon – We factor in your goal and target date, automatically decreasing your risk level over time if you have a retirement or large purchase goal.
• Risk comfort level – We help you assess how much risk you are comfortable taking in your portfolio and take this into account when selecting your portfolio.
• Tax efficiency – We use tax-efficient strategies when applicable, to help you potentially save on taxes.

You can’t buy specific investments yourself with Automated Investor, but if you own and want to keep certain investments, please call us. When transferring investments over, you may request that up to 10% of your Automated Investor account value be “locked” so we won’t sell them. If you want to have even more control over your investment mix, consider opening a self-directed brokerage account where you can choose your own investments.

The Monte Carlo simulation is a statistical model used widely for portfolio management and financial planning. Our model runs thousands of possible outcomes to simulate market volatility, which helps us to project which outcome has a reasonable probability of success. This is a projection, and your actual outcome may vary with each use over time.

The simulations do not consider taxes, which will reduce the performance of taxable accounts. The simulations assume that your account will be rebalanced each year and do not consider the impact of a significant investment loss or gain.

To gauge if a portfolio is on track, not on track, ahead of schedule or complete, we provide an educational tool that reviews the difference between your current portfolio value, and the simulated projected value at the 50th percentile based on the years remaining to your target date, your repeating transfers, your risk comfort level and goal.

To account for possible short term market risk as you approach your goal date, we apply weak market conditions (15th percentile) to the simulator when you are one year or less to your goal date. This means that the on-track message may sometimes prompt you to have more than your goal target amount, as a cushion against any potential losses in the final year before your target date.

The simulated potential outcome does not reflect your account’s actual future performance and is not a guarantee of a future outcome.

You can read more about the Monte Carlo simulation and on track notifications in our Methodology & Assumptions.

We research thousands of ETFs to select those which are well suited for your goals. The list below represents a recent list of the ETFs that we use. Primary ETFs are listed first, followed by an alternate.

Fixed income

• SPDR Portfolio Aggregate Bond – SPAB | Vanguard Total Bond Market - BND
• Vanguard Tax-exempt Bond – VTEB | iShares National Muni Bond - MUB
• iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond – HYG | SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond - JNK

U.S. Equity

• The SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 – SPLG | Schwab 1000 - SCHK
• Vanguard Extended Market – VXF | iShares Russell Mid-cap - IWR

International equity

• SPDR Portfolio Developed World ex-US – SPDW | Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets - VEA
• iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets – IEMG | iShares MSCI Emerging Markets - EEM

Real estate

• Schwab U.S. REIT – SCHH | Vanguard Real Estate – VNQ

At times when we harvest a loss we may leave the cash from the sale in your account to avoid a wash sale. The wash-sale rule is an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulation that prevents a taxpayer from taking a tax deduction for a security sold in a wash sale. The rule defines a wash sale as one that occurs when an individual sells or trades a security at a loss and, within 30 days before or after this sale, buys a “substantially identical” stock or security. Please check your tax advisor for more information on the tax implications.  In most cases, the proceeds from the sale will be invested after 30 days.

Tax-loss harvesting is a standard strategy used for larger taxable portfolios to help reduce taxes on gains. The good news is that Automated Investor is among the few robo-advisors and other automated investing algorithms that now make it possible to use tax-loss harvesting without a high minimum-balance requirement.

• Automated Investor typically monitors your portfolio daily, when U.S. markets are open, for tax-loss harvesting opportunities.
• Losses are used to realize tax benefits by offsetting taxes on gains from other investments.
• Your portfolio will remain on target, as account proceeds are usually invested in ETFs already in your portfolio. In some cases, the proceeds may be temporarily held in your portfolio as cash. 
• Losses can be used to offset taxes that you would pay on gains or income. You can also carry forward losses to future tax years.

Note: Tax-loss harvesting is not relevant for tax-advantaged accounts such as traditional, Roth, and SEP IRAs, 401(k)s and 529 plans.

• Let’s say your Automated Investor portfolio consists of $50,000 invested in ETF X. Then, in a year where the market declines, the value of that holding decreases to $45,000.
• Automated Investor would sell the $45,000 holding in ETF X and either invest it in ETFs you already own in your portfolio or hold it in your portfolio in cash for 30 days in order to avoid a wash-sale. After 30 days, the cash proceeds would then be used to repurchase shares in ETF X. In either case, you have “harvested” the $5,000 loss for tax purposes.
• Now, because you have a $5,000 capital loss from the sale of ETF X, at tax time, you can apply this loss against capital gains elsewhere in your portfolio, thereby reducing the amount of capital gains tax owed. In a year when your capital losses outweigh gains, you may be able to apply the losses against your other income, and to carry over the remaining losses to offset income in future years.
• This example is for illustration purposes only. Any benefits of tax-loss harvesting could be impacted by activity in other investment accounts, and this does not suggest that Automated Investor’s tax-loss harvesting strategy will have any tax implications. Consult with your tax advisor to learn more about your specific situation.