Advisors

ALGORITHMS, THOSE fancy computer calculations that can help you find the closest slice of pizza, are upending entire industries, including money management: They have given rise to a new generation of robo-advisors such as Wealthfront—the company I use to manage my investments.
Why do I trust a computer with my savings? The truth is, humans aren’t very good at choosing investments. Exchange traded funds (ETFs)—low-cost passive funds that own a broad collection of stocks—have emerged as an attractive alternative to actively managed mutual funds.

WALL STREET’S inhabitants have many unpleasant qualities: greed, arrogance, disdain for customers, inflated self-importance, a sense of entitlement. But all this is made worse by another unappealing trait: They’re so damn prickly.
The degree of prickliness is closely correlated with the outrageousness of the fees they charge. I saw this again and again during my decades as a financial journalist. I can’t recall an index-fund manager ever throwing a king-size snit, and it was rare that I got a nasty letter or email from a fee-only financial planner.