Online financial advisor Betterment has teamed up with Dosh, an app that finds cashback deals for consumers and helps businesses acquire and retain customers, in order to offer cashback rewards for checking account customers.
Betterment notes that they’ve created their no-fee, “hassle-free” Checking account because they think that consumers should not have to pay to access their funds. Betterment will now be teaming up with Dosh, so that consumers can make the most of the money they spend by receiving automatic cashback at many of their favorite stores.
Betterment also mentioned that with special cashback offers from Dosh, customers will be able to shop from many different personalized online and in-person offers within their Betterment accounts. There’s no activation needed to start receiving cashback rewards. Betterment’s clients only have to purchase items and should automatically see their cashback come through by the next day.
Katherine Kornas, VP of Growth at Betterment, stated:
“Our goal at Betterment is to continuously find new ways to help our clients make the most of their money and have their best interests at heart. Providing Betterment Checking customers with a rewards program powered by Dosh builds upon this mission, by helping people save more money on everyday purchases. We’re excited to work with Dosh on implementing this benefit for our users.”
Ryan Wuerch, CEO and founder at Dosh, noted that his company is passionate about “putting cashback in the wallets of consumers when they shop, dine and travel, while making it a frictionless and delightful experience.”
Wuerch added:
“We’re so proud to provide Betterment Checking customers with automatic cash back at more than 10,000 of their favorite brands and retailers.”
In September 2020, Betterment had formed a partnership with Insurtech company Sure to provide cell phone insurance to Betterment Checking users, offering coverage for phone damage or theft. The offering is notably available to any Betterment Checking user that pays their monthly cell bill with their Betterment Visa Debit Card.
As covered in June 2020, BuyShares claims that the Robo Advisors sector (which includes companies like Betterment) is expected to reach a valuation of $987.4 billion this year, which represents a 19.3% increase in only a year.
As mentioned in a release shared with CI:
“[There’s been] a surge in the number of investors using robo-advisor financial planning services. Robo-advisors pioneers Wealthfront and Betterment both confirmed that March was one of the strongest months for account growth, proving the global robo-advisors industry managed to maintain a steady rise, despite the market volatility caused by the COVID-19.”
However, a recent update from Wealthfront shared with CI revealed that the company was avoiding “big press” announcements due to current events (like the COVID-19 outbreak and resulting socio-economic challenges).
As previously reported, passive investing strategies, like those offered by Wealthfront and other Robo-advisors, have taken a major hit. Advisors are now turning to more active fund management strategies.