Betterment at Work vs. Guideline

Compare 401(k) providers across fees, investments, employee experience and service & support. 

Betterment at Work Guideline
Fees
Ongoing Administrative (Paid by employer)
Essential:
$100/month + $5/participant/month 
 

Pro:
$150/month + $6/participant/month

Core:
$49/month + $8/participant/month

Flex:
$79/month + $8/participant/month

Estimated fund fees (Paid by employee)

0.06%1

0.07%2

Investment management (Paid by employee)

0.25% on assets annually
($2.50 for every $1,000)

0.08% on assets annually
($0.80 for every $1,000)
Terminated participant fee

None

$4/month (after 90 days)2

Investments
Funds

Indexed Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)

Indexed Mutual Funds

Portfolios

7 strategies with customizable risk levels , plus the Flexible Portfolio Strategy

1 strategy, plus customized participant strategies

Customizable risk

101 risk levels

6 levels

Automatic allocation adjustments (Glidepath feature)

Yes, for some portfolios

Flexibility

Participants may choose their own allocation

Participants may choose their own allocation
Socially responsible investments

3 managed portfolio strategies:

Broad Impact,
Social Impact,
Climate Impact

2 large cap equity mutual funds

Qualified default investment

Core - globally diversified managed ETF portfolio

A managed mutual fund portfolio
Additional investment strategies Innovative Technology,
Socially Responsible (3),
Goldman Sachs Smart Beta,
BlackRock Target Income,
Flexible Portfolio Strategy
Employee Experience
Platform scope

Financial advice across all investing and savings goals:

401(k),

529 Education Savings
Student Loan Management,

Other financial goals

Focus exclusively on retirement

401(k) ,
SEP IRA,
Personal IRA

External account syncing
Personalized retirement planning tools
Tax coordination strategies
Access to human advisors
For financial advisory services, additional fees apply for use in the Pro plan. Services not available in the Essential plan.
Service and support
3(38) Investment Fiduciary
3(16) Administrative Fiduciary
Automated compliance support
Online signup process
Access to onboarding support team
Payroll integrations

15

8

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