Best robo-advisors in Italy 2024

The best robo-advisors in Italy

Read on for the details.

What's a robo-advisor?

A robo-advisor is a digital platform that provides you with automated investments with little human supervision and interaction. You answer a short questionnaire and the platform creates an investment plan personalised to you, your goals and your tolerance for risk. It will also rebalance your portfolio automatically for you so you can relax whilst your money works for you.

Robo-advisors offer a low-cost alternative to investing through your bank and are highly efficient. You can start investing your money in only a few clicks to a portfolio tailored to you and your goals.

They are also an alternative to investing through a broker. A broker provides access to the stock markets, but nothing more. It's up to you to know what to invest in, when to buy and sell, understand taxation, execute your orders etc... On the other hand, a robo-advisor takes care of it all so you don't have to worry.

Let's dig into the reasons why you should use a robo-advisor.

Why use a robo-advisor

Based on index investing

Robo-advisors are centred around index investing and providing a cost effective way to put your money to work. Portfolios are usually made up of low-cost ETFs. Highly diversified, they're designed to provide a good trade-off between risk and returns over the long-term.

Index investing is a tried and tested method for growing your wealth. It’s based on the observation that rather than picking individual stocks and trying to buy and sell at the right time, it’s usually more profitable to invest in the stock market as a whole. Instead of finding the needle in the haystack, you buy the entire haystack.

When index investing, you invest in a type of fund called an index fund or ETF (which stands for "exchange-traded fund"). These funds track an index, which is a basket of stocks with rules on which stocks are included in the index. The most popular index is the S&P 500, which consists of the largest 500 American companies. An index fund that follows the S&P 500 buys a little bit of each company, according to the size of the company.

And the past shows that index investing works. For example, the graph below shows the evolution of the MSCI World index since 1978. MSCI World is a basket of over 1,500 stocks from 23 countries that are considered "developed": the United States, Germany, Japan, Italy 🇮🇹…. It contains the largest companies like Apple, Amazon or Tesla. As such, investing in a fund that follows the MSCI World index approximates investing in the world economy as a whole. And a €10,000 investment in 1979 in a fund tracking MSCI World would have grown to €825,000 today! This equates to an average yearly return of 10.6%. And the world economy continues to grow enormously.

For most robo-advisors, index investing is their investment philosophy. You can follow a similar philosophy by setting up a portfolio of ETFs and investing through a broker. A broker is a middleman that gives you access to the stock markets and allows you to buy and sell the thousands of ETFs out there. This way of "do-it-yourself" investing gives you the most flexibility because you're in control of what you buy. But it also means you're fully responsible for the management of your investments, which is why a robo-advisor can provide value.

They help you set up the best portfolio for you

For most, a single ETF is not enough to constitute a balanced portfolio that will bring you success over the long term. You must choose the right mix of indices to build a portfolio that fits you and your goals:

• What's your investment goal?
• How long are you investing for?
• What is your tolerance for risk?
• What is your capacity for taking risks?

Robo-advisors help you answer these questions, and set up the right mix of investments for you.

Benefits of a robo-advisor

Aside from this, robo-advisors offer other benefits compared to investing through your bank or through a broker:

• No expertise needed: they're the easiest way to invest your savings and grow your wealth for the long term. Taxes, allocation, rebalancing... it's all taken care of.
• Don't spend your time managing your investments: since they do the work for you, you can just relax whilst your money is working for you.
• Based on index investing: we think index investing is the best way for most people to accumulate wealth.
• Cost-effective: the funds sold by your bank are typically actively managed. This means they're much more expensive than index funds, which results in lower returns for you.
• They help you stay on course: setting up your investment portfolio is one, ensuring you stay the course is another. A robo-advisor helps you ensure that you stay invested the right way all throughout your investment journey.

Why not use a robo-advisor

There are some cases where a robo-advisor may not be the best way for you:

• You don't mind spending the time and energy managing your investments. If you find it fun to keep yourself busy with your investments, a broker is the way to go!
• You want to invest in individual stocks. Most robo-advisors invest in broadly diversified funds, because they offer better returns than individual stocks in most cases. But if you like to be in the driver's seat, trading stocks with a broker is better for you. Beware, the odds of outperforming an index fund are against you!
• You value cost over time. Depending on the broker and type of investment, a broker can be cheaper than a robo-advisor. Since robo-advisors do the work for you, they let you trade cost for free time.

New robo-advisor in Italy: Curvo

Worried about his financial future, our founder Yoran wanted to invest his savings. He spent hours researching and figuring out how to build an optimal portfolio to prepare for his financial future. He read books, scoured the web and got lost online. Finding the right resources was challenging. The majority of books and articles about investing are written for US audiences and aren't applicable to European and especially Italian investors. Furthermore, most tell you only the theory. But resources that teach you how to bring it into practice, for instance how to deal with Italian taxes, are scarce.

From this experience, he realised why none of his friends were investing: it's too complicated.

He also wasn't happy with the offering of robo-advisors in Europe at the time. For instance, he wanted a way to invest part of his monthly income in an automated fashion, which none could do. He was also taken aback by the high minimum starting amount required by these robo-advisors.

So it made sense to build a product to solve these problems. Curvo was born. Let's see how Curvo takes away all the complexities of investing while still providing a human touch.

Portfolio of index funds tailored to you

When opening an account, you are asked a few questions at the start to learn about you and your goals. Based on your answers, you are matched with the best portfolio of index funds for you. No need to choose which ETFs to buy. Each portfolio is built and managed by NNEK, a Dutch investment firm licensed by the Dutch regulator (AFM).

Proven investment strategies

The portfolios are built to stand the test of time. Each portfolio invests only in assets that are widely understood and that, through decades of research and usage, are predicted to earn significant returns over the decades to come. Concretely, this means index funds of stocks and bonds!

Built for monthly investing

We think investing regularly, for instance every month, is the best way to grow your wealth over time. Market timing rarely works, and having a system in place ensures you will actually put savings aside. As such, we built automated monthly investing into the app, where an amount you choose is debited from your bank account every month and invested for you. Over two thirds of Curvo members set up an automated savings plan. Saving becomes easy when it's automated!

Diversification at the core

We firmly believe in the power of diversification to lower risk and seek investment returns. Each portfolio consists of over 7,500 companies, diversified across many sectors and countries.

Invest sustainably

Your investments focus on one guiding principle: don’t invest in companies that are considered destructive to the planet. This means that sectors like non-renewable energy, vice products, weapons and controversial companies are all excluded.

But that's not all. The benefits of Curvo include:

• Overseen by the financial regulators. Your investments are safe and managed by NNEK, a Dutch investment firm overseen by the Dutch regulator, the AFM.
• Rebalancing done for you. No need to worry about keeping your portfolio in balance, this is handled for you.
• Fractional shares. All your money is invested, there’s no cash left sitting on the side that's not working for you.
• Best for automated monthly invested. You can set up a savings plan where an amount you choose is automatically debited from your bank account every month and invested for you. Saving becomes easy when it's automated!
• Start from €50. No need for a large amount to start.
• Project your savings into the future. Through Curvo you can see how much your portfolio is expected to be worth in the future. You can answer questions like “how will increasing my monthly contribution by €50, €100 or €200 affect my long-term savings?” to give a concrete idea for the “future you”.
• Withdraw anytime. There’s no long-term contract or exit fees if you wish to stop investing.

Downsides of Curvo

Of course, there are some downsides to Curvo (some of which we are working on!):

• You can't choose what to invest in: the asset allocation is set by the investment philosophy.
• Declarative regime: Curvo provides you with an annual tax report but you'll have to do the declarations yourself every year.
• Only one portfolio at a time: you can only save for one goal. However, multiple portfolios are being added to the app soon.

Want to know more? Discover how Curvo works in more detail.

Other robo-advisors in Italy

There are four other robo-advisors in Italy offering their services which are similar in nature to Curvo. Most follow a similar investment thesis, but there are some differences between the different options.

Gimme5

Gimme5 works like a "digital piggy bank" where it pushes you to save money smartly. Everything is run through a mobile app and the starting sums are really small. You can start investing from €5 and they boast over 590,000 users in Italy.

Your money is invested through 9 different funds managed by AcomeA SGR which is an independent active investment management firm. The ESG funds are run in partnership with Vanguard.

What's neat about Gimme5 is their "goal setting" within the app. For example, if you want to save for a holiday, you can set a goal within the app and it will provide you with guidance and help you reach that goal. The flexibility with setting and activating "rules" for saving will motivate you to reach your targets.

However, the costs are high if you use their app. Each of their funds have significant annual management fees (capped at 1.60%). Unfortunately you also have to pay "performance fees". They have a complicated method of calculating it which adds complexity to understanding exactly how much you'll be paying. You also have to pay for refunds (€1) and switches in strategy (€1). These fees add up and especially when we are talking about small amounts!

Benefits of Gimme5

• Setting saving goals: this is a neat feature and quite unique in comparison to using other robo-advisors as you can be smarter with your choices.
• Start from €5: this is the lowest amount you can start investing in from Italy. It's great if you don't have a significant amount to put to work.

Downsides of Gimme5

• Expensive: the fees add up especially when you're investing small amounts.
• Performance fees: it's not something you should pay for especially if you have a long-term investing goal through a "buy and hold" philosophy.

Euclidea

Euclidea has been around since 2016 offering an easy to use way to put your money to work. It works similarly to other robo-advisors in asking you a questionnaire to begin with in order to better understand you and your goals with investing. It then builds an investment plan for you and the money is managed by them.

They offer 11 portfolios and their pricing varies between the service you choose. You can opt for a "smart service" which is 0.60% per year or else the "wealth service" which costs 1.20% per year.

Benefits of Euclidea

• Handles taxes: operates under a declarative regime meaning that all your taxes are handled automatically for you.
• Index funds instead of ETFs: the total expense ratio (TER) means the fund costs are lower than some ETFs

Downsides of Euclidea

• Web-based: not as user friendly or easy to use as the other options listed which are more app based.
• High starting investment: it starts from a minimum of €5,000 which is on par with Moneyfarm.
• Long-time to start an account: takes roughly 20 minutes to create an account through their website.

Tinaba

Tinaba was started in 2015 and also offers a lot more than investing as they propose bank account options and offer prepaid cards. It's supported by Banco Profilo which is an independent bank listed on the stock exchange.

They offer 8 portfolios ranging in levels of risk. The minimum to start investing through their ap is €2,000 although once you're on the app, you can set up a monthly saving plan from €50. One feature they like to promote is an option to "freeze risks", which is essentially a "parking function" where you can freeze your portfolio whilst markets drop. We don't think it's something particularly useful considering index investors have a long-term mindset and strategy, sometimes it's better to buy when the market is low!

The fees to use Tinaba start at 1.22% per year. The fees do drop for larger investments, starting from €20,000, that you make through the app.

Benefits of Tinaba

• Monthly plan: you can set up a monthly savings plan from €50 per month.

Downsides of Tinaba

• Price: the management fee to use Tinaba doesn't include VAT which has to be added on so the cost is 1.22% per year.
• Complicated offer: they offer far more than just the investing side of things. This makes their entire offer quite complicated with all of the additional banking options.

Moneyfarm

Moneyfarm is one of the most popular investment apps in Italy. The idea was born in 2011 and having started in the UK, the platform now has over 125,000 customers. It provides you with a personalised investment plan based on a questionnaire you fill out when signing up to their product. It currently offers 7 portfolios which all range in a mix of stocks and bonds.

Benefits of Moneyfarm

• Handles taxes for you: operates under a declarative regime meaning that all your taxes are handled automatically for you.
• Pension plans: they offer an Individual Pension Plan (PIP) making it easy for you to set one up

Downsides of Moneyfarm

• High starting investment: it starts from a minimum of €5,000 which is a lot.
• Complicated product: there are a lot of different options for investors. This makes the whole product bloated and can be difficult to know how to invest your savings.

Summary

Index investing is a tried and tested method to grow your wealth on the long term. We think it's the best way for most people to invest their savings. So we're fortunate that we have a couple of robo-advisors in Italy that make it easy to start index investing.

However, we started Curvo because we weren't happy with the offering. For instance, we wanted to make it much easier to adopt good savings habits through automated monthly investing. And we wanted to make index investing available to young Italians too, by lowering the minimum investment amount to €50.

So with Curvo, we built the robo-advisor that we wish existed when we started investing. And we know we're not alone. If you adhere to our thinking, and you too wish to grow your wealth smartly for your future, check out Curvo!