News

Betterment’s Progress On Employee Representation Here’s the latest on our efforts to nurture diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging among our team. In 2020, we first shared our employee demographics and commitments to doing better and promised to make public reporting on our progress at regular intervals. A lot has happened at Betterment since then: Sarah Levy joined us as our new CEO, we raised our Series F to continue our mission of Making People’s Lives Better, acquired Makara to fast track a cryptocurrency offering, and grew our team to over 400. We’ve been focused on our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) strategy to drive sustained change for our employees and our broader community. We want to highlight some of the tangible outcomes we've created through community, hiring, retention, and training efforts. We're grateful for the dedication from all of those at Betterment who have made these outcomes possible, and recognize that our work is ongoing, and always will be. Betterment’s Employee Demographic Data We used 2020 as a call-to-action and reviewed our People strategy to make a significant impact on the diversity of our workforce. We implemented a multi-pronged approach focusing on: Recruiting and retention Goal setting and measurement Community-building and engagement, enhanced by creating and supporting ERGs (Employee Resource Groups) Full Time Employees 2020 Full Time Employees 2021 Leadership 2020 Leadership 2021 Recruiting and Retention A deliberate expansion of our candidate sourcing was a critical component of our strategy. We expanded our reach for potential candidates through various sources that are known for diversity hiring and were able to make significant progress, increasing representation of People of Color by 8 percentage points company-wide, with gains in our Black, Latinx, and Two or More Races populations. We also increased representation of women by 3 percentage points. Our Leadership Team is 33% women and 23% People of Color. We attribute much of our progress to our hiring outreach as well as our conscious efforts on inclusion and belonging. In 2021, 52% of our hires were People of Color, 46% were women, and 1% were non-binary. Our internal programming and ERG initiatives (more on these later) have also helped to build community and increase retention. Goal Setting and Measurement A strategic initiative we implemented at the start of 2021 was to incorporate DEIB progress into our company goals, performance metrics and bonus targets. Our bonus targets prioritized employee education and engagement in our DEIB curriculum to build cross-company awareness as well as for personal development. Bonus achievement required meaningful DEIB engagement at all levels of the organization: 100% of all employees participating in our DEIB core education 100% of the Executive Team and 65% of all other employees participating in at least one DEIB event or initiative per quarter A semi-annual qualitative assessment on representation efforts that is reviewed by the Executive Team and shared with the entire company In 2021, we achieved 100% of our bonus targets and we have set the same DEIB bonus weighting for 2022. To support our desire to drive both engagement and education, we refreshed our approach to DEIB education and made it a core pillar of our Talent Development offerings. We provided four streams of programming: All employees, including new hires, completed our online learning course: Inclusion and Belonging in the Workplace. Our Executive Team, People team, and all people managers attended bespoke trainings focused on building psychological safety and inclusive leadership provided by Merging Path & Collective DEI Lab. All employees were encouraged to attend our DEIB Learning Hours, featuring keynote speakers. Employees took advantage of counseling, support and facilitation resources to reflect on bias in the workplace, personal safety, how to overcome barriers and ways to foster support and allyship. Community Building and Engagement A big focus of 2021 was to build community and engagement via our Employee Resource Strategy Groups (“ERSGs”). We believe that the ERSGs are a great vehicle to support inclusion and for employees to develop a sense of belonging here at Betterment. A few facets of the program that contributed to its success included electing leadership for each of our 8 groups; pairing ERSGs with Executive Champions; and providing mentorship and support to build out roadmaps, goals, and budgets for the year. Each ERSG met monthly to build community, produced quarterly events to raise awareness and celebrate recognition months, and flexed their leadership skills working with our CEO, Exec Champs, and the People team. We are pleased with the engagement and the development opportunities the ERSGs have afforded our employees: “AoB provided a safe space to embrace our identities, celebrate our cultures, bring awareness to issues in our communities, and empower us to speak up and share our perspective and experiences with the company - something I used to shy away from or dismiss. It was powerful to connect with peers in this way, and to see people across the organization listen, support, and participate in the unique and diverse cultures we shared.” - Pamela Do, Senior Manager Talent Development who served on the leadership team for Asians of Betterment   “Being the President of Black at Betterment was one of my greatest opportunities at Betterment. At a time when the rest of the world was really opening their eyes to the daily experiences of BIPOC—and we ourselves were being pushed to our limits—Black at Betterment was able to provide community, solace, and celebration of our collective and individual identity. Being able to advocate for Black employees and knowing we had voices, empathy, and understanding in the rooms where change happens is something I am constantly grateful for.” – Dan Bound-Black, Black at Betterment, President ‘21   “This experience was a wonderful way to create and strengthen relationships with a diverse group of employees across the Betterment organization. I found it to be a valuable exercise in helping grow and nurture a team of leaders that was facing many of the typical challenges one would expect on any team trying to get things done. I am grateful to the entire team for welcoming me into their conversations and both taking my feedback seriously and also pushing back when they disagreed. I believe they helped me grow as a leader and equipped me to help ensure Betterment continues on its journey to becoming a more inclusive organization." - Mike Reust, President of Betterment who served as Exec Champ to Black at Betterment Conclusion We’re proud of the progress we’ve made over the past 18 months to scale our diversity and inclusion efforts and increase representation of People of Color and women at Betterment. Our journey is a testament to the commitment and focus across the team and our community. We’re looking forward to building on the strong foundation we’ve laid so far to continue to make Betterment a place where everyone can do their best work and where all identities are reflected and appreciated. If this sounds like a place where you’d like to work, check out our careers page!

How Memestocks Affected Investors’ Actions And Emotions We surveyed 1,500 investors to examine “the rise of the day trader.” Money and emotions have long gone hand-in-hand, and this is no more apparent than during significant financial crises. From the 2008 market crash to COVID-19’s economic impact, we’ve seen first hand how money has the ability to impact our stress levels, mental health and personal relationships. And yet in times of particular financial strife—or likely because of it— many people take actions with their money that often undermine their emotional wellbeing, sacrificing long-term happiness for short-term pleasure without even realizing it at the time. This trend toward short-termism grew in 2020: people stuck inside, on screens all day and kept from their normal activities sought new ways to fill their time and energy. Many took up day trading, culminating in one of the wildest rides at the beginning of 2021 (and recent surges demonstrating people are still trying to head to the moon) with Gamestop, AMC, Blackberry and other retail stocks caught in the middle of a clash between amateur retail and institutional investors. Following this eventful start to the year, Betterment was curious to see both the immediate and long-term impact this had on investors, particularly those involved in the action. In this report -- a survey of 1,500 active investors conducted by a third party -- we took a look at the rise of day trading activity and the impact it did (or didn’t have) on people’s behavior. From their own forecasts, it looks like “the rise of the day trader” is here to stay -- but forecasting is hard. None of us would have bet on the pandemic and the changes it's causing. People actually aren't very good at forecasting their own preferences and behavior in the future, so it will be interesting to see if said forecasts actually come to fruition. Regardless, at Betterment we welcome the addition of consumers looking to learn more about the markets and, ultimately, how to balance their portfolios for the long-term too. Section 1: The Rise Of Day Trading Activity With movie theaters, stadiums, bars and restaurants closed, many people took up day trading during the COVID-19 pandemic. Half of our total respondents said they actively day trade investments, and nearly half of those day-traders (49%) have been doing it for 2 years or less. While most day traders indicated their main reason for doing so was that they believed they could make more money in a shorter period of time (58%), many (43%) also indicated it was because it is fun and entertaining. Of those who look to day trading for fun/entertainment, half (52%) said it was to make up for the bulk of their other hobbies—like sports, live music, social gatherings, gambling—not being available due to COVID-19. And these day traders have fully acknowledge that COVID-19 played a big impact role in their market activity overall: 54% indicated they trade more often as a result of COVID-19; and interestingly, 58% said they expect to day trade more as normal activities return and COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, likely as a result of what they learned during this downtime. Only 12% said they expect to trade less. More than half (58%) are using less than 30% of their portfolio to actively trade individual securities or stocks. Nearly two thirds also allow an advisor (either online or in-person) to manage a separate part of their portfolio. It's interesting to see more respondents expect to day trade more after the pandemic than are currently day trading: we imagine it is hard for people to forecast themselves into the future and imagine doing things differently than they are now. However, what is positive to see is these people aren’t using an excessive amount of their portfolio to day trade. The majority of investors day trade with a minority of their total investing balance, and delegate day-to-day management of the larger portion of their portfolio to an advisor. Passing hobby or not, how educated is the average day trader on what they’re buying and what they stand to gain—or lose? Sixty one percent rely on financial news websites to decide which stocks to buy, but nearly half (42%) are influenced by social media accounts, showing just how powerful “memestocks” can be. More than half of the respondents suggested they buy stocks based on company names they’re familiar with, but we’ve seen this lead to issues in the past—with “ticker mis-matches,” where people trade the ticker of a stock that isn't the correct company. For example, after a tweet from Elon Musk about Signal (a non-profit messaging app), a different company’s stock was sent soaring 3,092%. We also asked day trader respondents if they consider capital gains taxes when deciding to sell their investments. While the majority (60%) indicated that it influences them to hold onto stocks longer to avoid short-term capital gains, 14% said they weren’t aware there was a difference in taxes based on how long they hold a stock. Another 17% said they simply don’t care about the short-term capital gains tax. Who invested their stimmys? Almost all (91%) respondents received some stimulus money, and nearly half (46%) invested some of that money; of those who did invest it, 70% invested half or less of their stimulus. Day trader and male respondents were more likely to invest then their counterparts, as represented in the graphic below. Section 2: Memestocks Understanding And Involvement We asked all respondents how well they understood what occurred in the stock market in January & February surrounding “memestocks” like GameStop, AMC, BlackBerry and other retail investments. Most indicated having some level of understanding, but nearly a quarter (24%) of all respondents said they didn’t understand it well at all; and only half (51%) of day trader respondents said they understood what happened very well. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of all survey respondents said they did not actively purchase any popular retail investments (GameStop, AMC, BlackBerry, etc.) during the stock market rally in January or February. But those that DID were primarily day traders. Of all respondents that did buy in actively, 55% are still holding onto all their investments. Only 2% of those that sold these investments sold everything at a loss; 44% sold all for a profit and 54% sold some at a profit and some at a loss. Of those that bought into memestocks, there is a near universal consensus that they will continue investing in stocks like these that get a lot of attention in the future—97% said they’re at least somewhat likely to invest.   Betterment's Point Of View: It is interesting to see the majority of respondents holding onto their investments - are they expecting another high or holding on because they don't want to admit they made a bad investment? Disposition Effect says people tend to hold on until they get back to zero loss. However, 60% previously said thinking of short-term capital gains taxes encourages them to hold onto their investments longer. Section 3: Money And Stress Factors It’s no secret that money and stress are linked, so we wanted to take a look at respondents’ money habits and how that may be impacting stress levels. The consensus is that for better and for worse day traders and younger generations are more engaged with their finances. We asked respondents how much they stress about their finances on a daily basis—three quarters said they stress to some degree. Interestingly, when we looked a layer deeper, day traders are much more stressed than non-day trader—86% indicated they stress to some degree, vs 65% of their counterparts. In looking at the causes of the stress: respondents are nearly equally concerned about money in the short term, near term future, and long term future with the top 3 financial stress factors being their daily expenses (43%), how much money they will have in retirement (43%), and how much money they have saved (42%). We asked respondents how often they are checking their bank account and investment portfolio balances -  39% are looking at their bank account balances every day, with 11% of those checking multiple times a day; 37% also check their investment portfolio balances every day, with 16% of those checking multiple times a day. When we look a layer deeper, we find that day traders are checking both their bank account and investment portfolio balances significantly more than non-day traders. Interesting Bank Account Habits 50% of day traders indicated they check at least once a day (18% multiple times) vs 29% of non-daytraders (5% multiple times). Men check their accounts more often—41% at least once a day (13% multiple times) vs 36% of women (8% multiple times). 46% of Gen Z/Millennials and Gen X both said they check their accounts at least once a day, whereas only 28% of Boomers said the same. Those making more money actually check their accounts more often—42% of respondents making $100K or more check every day, compared to 39% of those making between $50-100K and 35% of those making less than $50K. Interesting Investment Account Habits Unsurprisingly, 56% of day traders said they check their investment portfolio balances every day (25% multiple times a day), whereas only 18% of non-day traders said the same. 41% of men check every day, compared to 30% of women. 47% of Gen Z/Millennials check every day, compared to 41% of Gen X and 22% of Boomers. 42% of those making 100K or more check every day, compared to 35% making between $50-100K and 30% of those making less than $50K. Encouragingly, when we asked people how they felt checking these accounts, the positive responses outweighed negative options for both. Interestingly, day traders were significantly more excited for both (21% for bank accounts, 25% for investments) than non-day traders (4% and 12%, respectively) as well. Most respondents (89%) indicated they’re putting some money away every month, but it's equally split as to where that money is actually going. Conclusion At Betterment, we have often compared day trading to going to Vegas—have a great time, enjoy yourself, but be prepared to come back home with fewer dollars in your wallet and a hangover.  The trends outlined in this report seem to indicate that more people are dipping their toe into the investing pool and (so far) few have decided to walk away. Whether this trend will continue—and the long term impact it will have on people’s finances, health, stress, etc.—remains to be seen. And for those who want to avoid the FOMO of the next big memestock, but aren’t sure of the best way to get started—a simple alternative is investing in a well-diversified portfolio. That way, whenever someone asks if you own the hottest thing, you can say “yes,” regardless of what it is. Methodology An online survey was conducted with a panel of potential respondents from April 26, 2021 to May 3, 2021. The survey was completed by a total of 1,500 respondents who are 18 years and older and have any kind of investment (excluded if only 401k). Of the 1,500 respondents, 750 of them actively day traded their investments while the other 750 did not. The sample was provided by Market Cube, a research panel company. All respondents were invited to take the survey via an email invitation. Panel respondents were incentivized to participate via the panel’s established points program, regardless of positive or negative feedback. Participants were not required to be Betterment clients to participate. Findings and analysis are presented for informational purposes only and are not intended to be investment advice, nor is this indicative of client sentiment or experience. Any links provided to other websites are offered as a matter of convenience and are not intended to imply that Betterment or its authors endorse, sponsor, promote, and/or are affiliated with the owners of or participants in those sites, unless stated otherwise.

The Pursuit Of Betterment’s New CEO (And Finding Happiness Along The Way) Betterment Founder Jon Stein announces the appointment of Sarah Kirshbaum Levy as his successor and new CEO of Betterment. It’s the fall of 2007 on the Lower East Side. My Betterment clock starts not when we launch in 2010 but as I hash out the concept in conversations with roommates and friends. I have a crazy idea: to pursue my happiness via helping Americans pursue their happiness. I write a mission statement: empower customers to do what’s best with their money so they can live better. Investing feels complicated to most people, but the best practices are known and straightforward. Why not take the smart services used by the wealthy and institutions and make them accessible to every American? People like this crazy idea, some join me, and with sweat and sacrifice, a tiny, hungry, customer-impact-obsessed company is born. I pursue Betterment’s mission doggedly. My wife (whom I met in 2006—not coincidentally—her encouragement begets a startup) calls Betterment my “first child.” I say often (usually sincerely): “I’m the luckiest person, I have the best job in the world.” At times, it feels like all of my being, every waking hour, every dream, is intertwined with my company. I am Betterment. There is nothing else. Teammates become best friends (and each other's family: I officiate weddings of Bettementers who later have Betterment babies). I star in TV ads—never imagined that career turn. Early customers email me personally for support (and some still do—love y’all, customers). We grow to $25B AUM, more than 500,000 customers, a team of more than 300, and we move the industry forward. And yet, I know we can achieve more; we have millions more Americans to reach. The Pursuit Of Our Potential For some time, I look to bring in an experienced, dynamic operating leader to help drive the company forward. The search is not initially focused on one specific role to fill; it is about finding amazing talent that could help lead Betterment to realize our full potential. The time at home this year affords more time to devote to the search process, to talk to senior operating leaders and to think about what might be needed for the next leg of the journey. I spend time with hundreds of diverse candidates. I realize that the best way to achieve our mission might be to invite a successor to lead Betterment in the next phase of growth. Due to good fortune and intense effort in a most challenging year, the company has never been in a stronger position. Each line of business is reaching new heights in 2020. We’re beating targets, well-capitalized, with wind at our backs. It’s a good time to hand over the reins. Over the summer, I connect with Sarah Kirshbaum Levy. There is something enthralling about her. I don’t want to jinx or overload it, but outside of meeting my wife, it’s hard, at present, to think of a more consequential introduction. And this is over video conference! The Pursuit Of The One Over the next few months, I spend more time with Sarah and she begins engaging with members of the team and our board. I bring her in full-time as a consultant in a trial run. What a privilege not only to recruit my successor, but to observe her building relationships, to work side by side with her as she iterates on her plan, and to see her making every meeting more open and efficient. I give her my authority to work with the team to architect plans for 2021 and beyond, and she excels. My admiration grows as she starts effectively running the company, with my proxy. My execs tell me they have so much to learn from her. The only thing that is missing is the title—and today, we give her the title. Sarah’s Pursuits Sarah started out at Disney and spent the last 20 years at Viacom, home to beloved brands including Nickelodeon, BET, MTV, and Comedy Central. Through a series of senior leadership roles, culminating in Chief Operating Officer, she’s shepherded global phenomena, from SpongeBob to The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, connecting with audiences in meaningful ways. With her experiences leading large public companies, Sarah is the right executive to lead Betterment now, as we contemplate a transition from private to public in the coming years. For someone with a “big company” pedigree, she’s remarkably down to earth and scrappy. She’s launched and grown businesses, bought and sold businesses, managed the bottom line, and driven consumer brands to win. I appreciate her “outsider” perspective. Betterment is a unique company—not just finance, not just tech, 100% customer-impact obsessed. Take it from one who’s looked: It’d be hard to find someone who’s both spent a career in financial services and can credibly lead the change we envision: to empower customers to do what’s best with their money, so they can live better. The Pursuit Of Happiness I’ve done the best work of my life at Betterment, and I have worked too hard to stop giving it my all to realize this company’s mission, whatever form those efforts may take. From my role on the board, I’ll be supporting Sarah and her team, whether it be via recruiting, investor relations, telling our story, or upholding company culture and values. A dream for me since that Lower East Side fall in 2007 has been to build a sustainable institution, to build something that will outlast me. I’ve never taken a larger step toward that accomplishment than I am today in passing the torch to Sarah. I asked Sarah what mattered most to her in her next role, and she said, without hesitation, “A brand and mission I believe in.” She’s evidenced this for me in every interaction since. I believe that she’ll more fully realize the vision I laid out years ago, and make Betterment the most beloved, most essential financial brand for this generation. And in so doing, she’ll power the pursuit of happiness for millions of Americans.

Betterment Raises $160 Million in Growth Capital The additional funding will be used to accelerate the record growth Betterment has delivered year-to-date. Today, we're announcing that Betterment has secured $160 million in growth capital comprised of a $60 million Series F equity round and a $100 million credit facility. This moment comes as Betterment is the largest independent digital investment advisor with $32 billion in assets under management and nearly 700,000 clients. The Series F round was led by Treasury, with participation from existing investors, including Kinnevik, Bessemer Venture Partners, Francisco Partners, Menlo Ventures, Anthemis Group, Globespan Capital Partners, Citi Ventures, and The Private Shares Fund, as well as new investors Aflac Ventures and ID8 Investments. The financing valued the company at nearly $1.3 billion. The $100 million credit facility was established with ORIX Corporation USA’s Growth Capital group and Runway Growth Capital. ORIX’s Growth Capital group acted as lead arranger and agent. The additional funding will be used to accelerate the record growth Betterment has delivered year-to-date across its core retail investment products and advisor solutions, and particularly its rapidly growing 401(k) offering for small and medium sized businesses. “From day one, Betterment’s mission has been to make people’s lives better with easy-to-use, personalized investment solutions. The record growth and demand for Betterment products and services proves how well we deliver,” said Sarah Levy, Betterment's CEO. “We are thrilled to have the support of new and existing investors who believe in our business model and are excited by the opportunity to support our growth. We’re using these funds to further cement our category leadership with rapid innovation on top of our already differentiated product suite and unique, multi-pronged distribution model that serves retail investors, advisors and small businesses.” “I’ve seen first hand the strength of Betterment’s business model since its founding over a decade ago,” said Eli Broverman, a co-founder of Betterment and a founder of Treasury. “I believe in Betterment’s team and vision, and we are thrilled to support the company’s future success.” To all of our customers, we couldn't have achieved this without you. Thank you!