Refer a Friend Sender Offer Terms and Conditions

Updated July 16, 2026

Earn a $150 investing bonus and/or a 0.75% Cash Reserve APY boost when you refer a friend.

Through the Betterment Refer a Friend Program, you can invite friends to sign up for a Betterment account by sending them an invitation through the Betterment interface or sharing your referral code. Eligible referrers may earn a $150 investing bonus and/or a 0.75% APY boost on Cash Reserve for 92 days, depending on which qualifying Betterment accounts you hold when your referred friend qualifies.

Terms and Conditions

Invite your friends to join Betterment.

Through the Betterment Refer a Friend Program you can invite friends to sign up for a Betterment account by sending them an invitation via the Betterment interface.

Please send invites only to people you know personally who will be glad to get them. Betterment will send one invite and up to two reminders to each friend you invite: (1) in your name; and/or (2) with your name. The reminders may be different from the original invite and can be canceled by emailing support@betterment.com. At the time of referring a friend, you are required to include the following Disclosure: “FYI - I'm a client of Betterment and, if you fund a new account, I receive compensation for this referral. You can see what others say about Betterment in reviews in the App Store and Google Play Store.”

Services

This agreement is entered into between Betterment LLC (“Betterment”), an SEC registered investment adviser, and client (“you” or “promoter”). You are contracting with Betterment to participate in Betterment's Refer a Friend Program. By referring friends to open a new Betterment account (a “Referral”), you are acting on behalf of Betterment. You agree to make Referrals consistent with and subject to the terms and conditions of this agreement.

Client Status and Disclosures

You represent and warrant that you are a client of Betterment, and that you will make the required Disclosure (as set forth above) clearly and prominently with any Referral (at the time the Referral is made). You should consider yourself a client for this purpose if you have a funded Betterment account at the time of the Referral.

Conflict of Interest

You represent and warrant that you have informed Betterment, in writing, of any conflicts of interest between you and Betterment (e.g., you are an employee of Betterment or you own shares of Betterment Holdings) as of the date of the Referral (the “Referral Date”). If a conflict between you and Betterment subsequently arises, you must notify Betterment in writing to support@betterment.com within 5 business days.

Rules and Regulations

You understand that any Referrals sent as a part of the Refer a Friend program are testimonial advertisements subject to the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the “Advisers Act”) Rule 206(4)-1 (the “Marketing Rule”).

Disqualification

By making a Referral, you represent and warrant that you are not an “ineligible person” as defined in the Marketing Rule, 17 CFR § 275.206(4)-1. Moreover, you represent and warrant that you are not and have not been subject to any “Disqualification Events” under Rule 206(4)-1 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the “Advisers Act”) in the past 10 years.

You must notify Betterment within five (5) business days if you become aware of a Disqualification Event on your part.

Promotion

If a friend you have referred to Betterment consistent with the requirements described in these Terms makes a Qualifying Deposit (as defined below) within 30 days after you send the referral link, Betterment will provide a Sender Investing Bonus (as defined below) and/or Sender APY Boost (as defined below and together with the Sender Investing Bonus, the “Sender Rewards”). Your eligibility for each Sender Reward is determined based on which accounts you hold at the time your referred friend completes their first Qualifying Deposit.

A "Qualifying Deposit" is when a new Betterment client that does not have any pre-existing Betterment accounts makes a $10 minimum deposit of new funds into a new Betterment Cash Reserve account or a $100 minimum deposit into an individual automated investing account (including taxable accounts and IRAs). To be a Qualifying Deposit, the account must also be opened by your referee friend using the special designated link or your referral code from your invitation and must be funded with an initial deposit within 30 days of your referee friend’s signup, inclusive of the required settlement time (typically 2-3 business days). Betterment is not responsible for incorrect entry or other failure on the part of your referee to meet the standards of a Qualifying Deposit. Deposits into a Betterment self-directed investing account, 401(k) account, joint or trust automated investing account, health savings account, or Betterment Checking account are not Qualifying Deposits. In addition, this offer is not available to Betterment Advisor Solutions advised clients or clients receiving Premium Services.

Your Sender Reward depends only on which qualifying account types you hold when your referred friend completes a Qualifying Deposit, and not on which specific qualifying account type your referred friend funds. This means that if you hold both a qualifying Cash Reserve account and a qualifying automated investing account at the time of your friend’s Qualifying Deposit, you will earn both Sender Rewards for a single successful Referral. Your friend will receive a reward based on the type of account(s) that they open and fund with a Qualifying Deposit. There are no minimum deposit or balance requirements for you to receive a Sender Reward.

Sender Investing Bonus

If you have an automated investing account open at the time your referred friend makes a Qualifying Deposit, Betterment will provide a $150 investing bonus into an eligible automated investing account (the “Sender Investing Bonus”) on or around the date of your friend’s Qualifying Deposit (the “Reward Date”). Self-directed investing accounts and 401(k) accounts are not qualifying accounts to receive the Sender Investing Bonus.

On the Reward Date, the Sender Investing Bonus will be deposited into your automated investing account in the following order of priority: (1) Roth IRA, (2) traditional IRA, (3) SEP IRA, (4) highest balance individual, joint or trust taxable account.

  • That means that if you have a Roth IRA, traditional IRA and an individual taxable account that are all open on the Reward Date, the Sender Investing Bonus will be delivered to your Roth IRA.

  • Alternatively, if you have only a traditional IRA and an individual taxable account, the Sender Investing Bonus will be delivered to your traditional IRA.

  • If you only have funded taxable accounts, the Sender Investing Bonus will be delivered to the taxable account with the highest balance on the Reward Date.

Betterment processes and treats the Sender Investing Bonus as interest earned by the receiving account for tax reporting purposes. The interest amount is based on a percentage of deposits made into the account. The interest earned by a receiving account that is an IRA will not be subject to, or impact, the maximum annual dollar contribution limit or the maximum annual deductible amount. Please note that the Sender Investing Bonus may be taxable income if you convert a Traditional IRA contribution to a Roth IRA and may be reflected on your tax forms as such. Betterment does not provide tax advice. Please consult a tax advisor.

Sender APY Boost

If you have a Cash Reserve account open at the time your referred friend makes a Qualifying Deposit, Betterment will increase the Cash Reserve rate by 0.75% on top of the current standard Cash Reserve rate (the “Sender APY Boost”) on up to $1,000,000 of your total balance in your Cash Reserve account for 92 days beginning on the date of the completed Qualifying Deposit (the “Promotional Period”).

The Cash Reserve Rate is currently 3.25% but is subject to change, including the boosted rate during the Promotional Period. For example, if the standard Cash Reserve Rate decreases during the promotional period, your promotional rate will also decrease. Please note that the Cash Reserve APY is variable and only applies to Cash Reserve accounts, not investments or other cash held through Betterment’s Cash Sweep Program. At the end of the Promotional Period, your interest rate will return to the standard Cash Reserve rate at that time. If you elect to exclude Cash Reserve deposits from one or more of the participating Program Banks, Betterment is unable to guarantee you will receive the promotional rate regardless of whether your friend made a Qualifying Deposit. Accounts advised through the Betterment Advisor Solutions platform are not eligible for the Sender APY Boost, and if you become advised through the Betterment Advisor Solutions platform during the promotional period, Betterment will not apply the Sender APY Boost following such date.

The Sender APY Boost will apply as follows:

  • The promotional rate will apply to up to a total balance of $1,000,000 in each of your Cash Reserve accounts. 

    • For example, if you open an individual, joint, and trust Cash Reserve account, you would receive the promotional rate on up to $1,000,000 in each of those accounts until the end of the promotional period.

    • If you make a qualifying deposit into an individual Cash Reserve account and later open a joint Cash Reserve account during the promotional period, you will receive the promotional rate on up to $1,000,000 in your individual Cash Reserve account and a promotional rate on up to $1,000,000 in your joint Cash Reserve account, in each case until the end of the promotional period.

  • If you have more than one cash goal within a Cash Reserve account, the promotional rate will be applied proportionally across the balances of those goals, based on their relative balance during the promotional period, up to a combined total balance of $1,000,000. Cash goals do not have separate balance caps; rather the $1,000,000 limit applies across all cash goals held within the same account type (i.e. individual, joint, trust).

    • For example, if you have an individual Cash Reserve account with $1,000,000 in cash goal A and $1,000,000 in cash goal B, goal A would receive the promotional rate on $500,000 of its balance, and goal B would receive the promotional rate on $500,000 of its balance.

  • If the balance in your applicable Cash Reserve account exceeds $1,000,000, the APY you receive on that Cash Reserve account will be reflected on your statements as a blended rate that combines the promotional rate on $1,000,000 of your balance and the current base rate on balances above $1,000,000.

  • While there is no limit to the number of eligible friends that can earn rewards through Referrals, only one promotional rate (including a Sender APY Boost) can be applied to increase your Cash Reserve rate on up to $1,000,000 of the balance of each of your Cash Reserve accounts at any one time (i.e., your Cash Reserve interest rate can never exceed the current standard rate plus 0.75% and will only apply on up to a $1,000,000 balance in each Cash Reserve account, regardless of how many Referrals you have made).

  • Sender APY Boosts earned for any additional successful Referrals will be applied consecutively, following the end of your then applicable Promotional Period, subject to a “Maximum Aggregate Duration”.

  • The Maximum Aggregate Duration of APY Boosts that you (as referrer) are eligible to earn at any one time across all promotions and all Cash Reserve accounts is 6 months (184 days).

  • This means if you make two successful Referrals that complete Qualifying Deposits on the same day, you will receive a Sender APY Boost for 6 months (184 days) on up to $1,000,000 of your total Cash Reserve balance at the time of the Qualifying Deposits.

  • However, if you make three or more successful Referrals that complete Qualifying Deposits on the same day, you will only receive a Sender APY Boost for 6 months (184 days), and will not receive additional time beyond 6 months for the third successful Referral.

  • Alternatively, if you made two successful Referrals that completed Qualifying Deposits on the same day, and then one month later, made a third successful Referral, at the time of the third Qualifying Deposit you will receive an additional Sender APY Boost for one month. This would increase the boost period back to the maximum of 6 months (184 days) from the date of the third Qualifying Deposit, but would result in the fulfillment of only one month of the Sender APY Boost for that particular third Referral.

  • In sum, to receive a full 3 month Promotional Period for any third or later successful Referrals, you must have 3 months or fewer remaining on your current Promotional Period.

Additional terms

You will not receive Sender Rewards for more than five Referrals in any calendar year. If you have both an open automated investing account and a Cash Reserve account at the time of your successful Referral you will receive both Sender Rewards (the Sender Investing Bonus and the Sender APY Boost) for that successful referral. Once you have successfully filled 5 Referrals, you do not become eligible for additional Sender Rewards until January 1 of the next calendar year. Even when you are not eligible to receive additional Sender Rewards, you will be permitted to send Referrals and your friends will be eligible to receive promotional offers through the Betterment Refer a Friend Program.

The Refer a Friend Program is not a recommendation of any investment or investment strategy, not a recommendation to buy or sell any security, and not a recommendation that you or your referred friend open, rollover, transfer, or fund any Betterment account. By participating in the Refer a Friend Program, you represent that neither Betterment nor any Betterment affiliate has made a recommendation that you or your referred friend invest in or open any particular Betterment account, purchase or sell any security, or rollover or transfer assets to Betterment.

The Sender Rewards are not valid with any other offers (and, for the avoidance of doubt, the Sender APY Boost may not overlap with any other Cash Reserve promotional rate offers) and are non-transferrable. The Refer a Friend Program is available to U.S. residents only. Betterment reserves the right to terminate the Refer a Friend Program and Sender Rewards at any time for any reason, to limit the amount of account bonuses you are eligible to receive, and to refuse or recover any Sender Reward if Betterment determines that it was obtained under wrongful or fraudulent circumstances, that inaccurate or incomplete information was provided in opening the account, that any rules or regulations would be violated (including any provisions of the Marketing Rule), or that any terms of the Betterment Account Agreements have been violated.

In making Referrals to friends to open a Betterment account you are acting on behalf of Betterment and under the supervision and control of Betterment. You agree to limit the information you provide in connection with the Referral to the Referral web page and email provided by Betterment and further agree that you will not provide individuals with recommendations regarding their specific needs or investment decisions. You agree that your participation in the Betterment Refer a Friend Program will conform to the terms contained herein as well as the provisions of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, 15 U.S.C. § 80b-1, the Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. ch. 18, and the rules thereunder.

See Betterment's Form ADV Part II for additional information, including details of the deposit allocation methodology.