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Most people know that they should invest but often don’t know how to get started or what to invest in. And because many financial platforms ignore the emotional component of investing, many people are afraid to get started at all.
Positivly works to change that by bringing emotional intelligence to investing and showing investors that they can build a portfolio that makes them money and also aligns with their values. It serves both investors and financial advisors by bringing them together to form long-term relationships based on an investor’s financial personality, investing goals and values.
Ease of Use – 10
Tools & Resources – 8
Customer Service – 8
Cost – 10
9
Overall
Positivly helps investors find their investing personality and connects them with financial advisors who match your investing personality, goals, and values.
What Is Positivly?
Positivly is an investing advice platform. It helps you learn your investing personality and connects you with a financial advisor. And it helps financial advisors enhance outcomes for their clients.
Positivly was founded by experts in finance, education, philanthropy, happiness and technology to bring emotional intelligence to investing. And the company is an SEC-registered investment advisor as of November 2020.
What Does It Offer?
Positivly offers two primary services to investors:
- First, the company teaches you about your financial personality based on the results of a free assessment. You also receive a few investment ideas based on what others with your personality are investing in.
- Second, Positivly matches you with financial advisors who fit with your personality, investing goals and personal values.
How Does It Work?
First, take the free financial assessment. The assessment includes 21 questions and asks about topics such as:
- Your investing risk tolerance
- Your financial priorities
- How important your personal values are in your finances
- Your investing comfort level and experience
- Your current investable assets
The website then shows you your financial personality results. Positivly bases this on four factors: purpose, security, touch and viewpoints. And these factors measure how important your values are to you when investing, your risk tolerance, your desire for meaningful relationships as it relates to investing and more.
When you complete the assessment, you receive an email with your financial personality. You can also opt to be connected with a financial advisor who matches your personality.
Who Is It For?
Positivly has two target audiences: investors and advisors. It could be right for you if you want to start investing and aren’t sure where to get started. Or it fits if you are already investing but aren’t sure you’re following a strategy that really suits you.
Positivly also partners with financial advisors. As an investor, you may be interested in Positivly if you prefer to hire an advisor to manage your investments. Once you take the company’s free assessment, it matches you with an advisor who fits your personality.
Fees
Positivly is free for investors to use. Take the free quiz and it’ll match you with financial advisors who fit your personality and investment goals. The company makes money from the financial advisors who pay to use its platform.
How’s the Customer Service?
The easiest way to contact Positivly is through the live chat box on its website. A team member is available to chat during the company’s regular business hours of Monday to Friday, 10 A.M. to 7 P.M. Eastern Time. The website also provides links to its social media pages where customers can send the company a message.
Is It Safe?
Positivly is entirely safe to use. The investor assessment is free to take. And it requires only your name and email address. You don’t have to share any financial information with Positivly or connect any of your bank accounts. This means there’s no risk of your personal information being compromised.
Pros & Cons
pros
- Positivly’s investor assessment is entirely free. And it helps you learn your investing style. This includes how important things like security and purpose are to you.
- Positivly matches you with financial advisors who are a good fit based on your assessment results. So you don’t have to start from scratch to find the right advisor.
- Positivly’s approach pairs the financial aspects of investing with the emotional and psychological components. And this helps you find an advisor and investments that are a better fit.
pros
- Positivly doesn’t actually provide investing services. Instead, it simply matches you with financial advisors based on your free assessment results.
Best Alternatives
Positivly takes a unique approach to investing by matching you with an advisor based on a personal assessment that analyzes your financial personality. This approach helps you find advisors who are a good fit from an emotional perspective as well as a financial one.
And while there aren’t many others doing quite what Positivly does, several companies use insights about your financial goals and investing style to provide an investment strategy. A few competitors to consider include:
- Personal Capital: Just like Positivly, Personal Capital matches you with a real financial advisor. But Personal Capital has its own in-house advisors as a part of its wealth management service.
- Betterment: While Betterment doesn’t have actual financial advisors, it matches you with investments based on a personal assessment. Betterment is a robo advisor that builds your investment portfolio based on your financial goals, risk tolerance and other factors.
- Ellevest: One of Positivly’s selling points is that it matches investors to advisors who will help them invest with purpose. Ellevest also helps customers to invest with purpose. It builds a portfolio for you based on your goals and values.
The Bottom Line: Is It Worth It?
If you’re wondering whether it’s worth giving Positivly a try, the answer is: probably. The good news with Positivly is that it’s free for investors. At a minimum, you can:
- Take the free assessment.
- Learn more about your financial personality.
- Get some direction on investments that could be a good fit for your portfolio.
Positivly also matches you with an advisor that fits your financial personality. There’s no commitment or requirement that you sign up, so you don’t lose anything by taking the assessment and learning about the advisors available to you.
