Titan Review 2023

User Experience 

Desktop

The desktop platform works smoothly. It is a basic website that covers all the key information effectively. You can also see the various investment options available without logging in. If you have an account, you can easily choose products to add. The retirement calculators are relatively basic and easy to use on the desktop platform. The website lacks a traditional search bar, but a chatbot and answers function fulfill that need, providing content based on your query. 

Mobile 

The mobile platform largely mirrors the desktop experience, and is easy to navigate. The platform is clearly designed with a mobile-first tilt, so the app and mobile site experience are intuitive and fast. The app has ratings of 4.4 and 4.6 on Google Play and the Apple App Store respectively. 

Customer Service

• Live chat 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Virtual chatbot 
• Email support

Customer service at Titan is limited, but prospective and existing clients can speak with customer service via online chat between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. There is no phone support available at this time; however, Titan’s Investor Relations team is staffed with series 7 and 63-licensed professionals who are available to chat with clients about portfolio construction, investment strategies, and more. Access is available via the Titan app, email, or text chat.

Titan does not provide access to financial planners that can help map out long-term strategies and detailed retirement goals, but it does integrate with some third-party applications. This includes linking to Empower (previously called Personal Capital), which offers free financial planning and personal wealth management services that include the ability to link multiple external accounts, including Titan accounts, to show an investor’s complete financial picture. Titan does not provide integration with Mint.com, but an account at Apex, Titan’s clearing firm, can be linked to directly from Mint.com. Titan does not currently integrate with Quicken or any applications related to crypto positions.

Security 

Titan provides standard security, which includes encrypted websites that utilize two-step authentication and/or biometrics for safe connections. Titan also provides SIPC and FDIC coverage for accounts. On cash equivalents, Titan is able to utilize multiple banks, which provides coverage for up to $5 million, allowing more investor cash to fall under the FDIC insurance umbrella.

Education 

Titan provides educational and research content on its website. It has research and news update articles, as well as a suite of videos on various educational topics. The videos are typically less than two minutes in length and offer introductions to topics such as “what is venture capital,” “what is the stock market,” “what is robo-investing,” and so on. There is separate retirement planning software on Titan Invest, as well as calculators to see future projections.

While it is nice to see educational and other supporting information, the larger brokerage companies typically have much more to offer for investing education and market research and it is often available for free without even opening an account. So, while Titan has some decent content, it is not especially unique. Further, while there is an FAQ section on the Titan website, it was difficult to find the page and more than a few topics don’t have a corresponding FAQ. 

Commissions and Fees

Fees from Titan vary based on the investments chosen. In general, Titan’s fees are high relative to other, more traditional robo-advisors. This is largely because of its active management approach for accounts and also because it provides access to asset classes, such as venture capital and credit strategies, that are not typically offered by robo-advisors.

The fees and minimums for various accounts are as follows:

• Smart Cash has no management fees and just a $5 minimum for getting started and subsequent additions. 
• Automated strategy accounts, which act like more traditional robo-investing accounts that provide a model portfolio and periodically rebalance against the portfolio, have no management fees, but the fund expense ratios are passed through to the investor. This is a low-cost option, as the fund fees are just 0.039% for the “Automatic Stocks” offering and 0.10% to 0.12% for “Automated Bonds.” While these fees are low, other traditional robo-advisors often have more portfolios available and have lower fees and minimums.
• Actively managed stock accounts require a minimum of $500, and have a management fee that begins at 0.90% of AUM per year up to $25,000 in account value, then 0.80% of AUM per year up to $100,000, and a fee of 0.70% on all remaining assets above $100,000. These rates and minimums apply to the Flagship, Opportunities, and Off-Shore actively managed funds. These rates also apply to Titan’s crypto and strategy offerings. These management fees are high relative to more traditional robo-advisors, but if performance outpaces the S&P, the higher fees may be worth paying.

Titan offers additional actively managed, non-proprietary funds. These have different fee structures. For example, the Tactical Private Credit strategy fund has a $2,000 minimum investment, and the same 0.90%, 0.80%, or 0.70% Titan management fee, but there is also a 1% management fee to the external managers, which increases to 15% once a hurdle rate of 6% is achieved. The ARK Innovation Fund only has a $500 minimum investment amount, although management fees are 2.75%.

Final Verdict

Titan works well and is easy to use, but is it right for you? That depends on what you are looking for. If you want a no-frills robo-advisor with low fees, Titan may not be the best robo-advisor for you. However, if you are looking to have your portfolio actively managed and hedged, or if you want access to private equity, real estate, and credit strategies, Titan may be a good fit because it offers access to these markets to non-accredited investors for less than what actual hedge funds charge. 

Regarding Titan’s actively managed strategies, the performance of the investments needs to be high enough to make up for the higher management fees. Returns on Titan’s funds benchmarked against the S&P were strong through the first six months of 2023, but Titan’s Flagship Fund has returned 10.62% relative to the S&P 500’s 11.33% return since inception on February 20, 2018.  

Is It Safe to Use Titan to Invest?

Yes, Titan is safe to use. The company is registered with the SEC, and is reputable. The safety of the company and the assets invested in the company, however, is not the same as the safety of the investments chosen. The various investing options at Titan span from a traditional portfolio of ETFs to exposure to other markets, including private equity and real estate, so there is a range of potential investment outcomes. 

Is Titan FDIC Insured?

The Titan cash product, which is a higher-yield savings vehicle, provides up to $250,000 in FDIC insurance. Customers that sign up for Titan’s Cash Sweep program receive up to $5 million in FDIC insurance; this higher coverage is achieved by the program manager using partner banks to invest cash. 

Investment accounts are provided with standard SIPC protection against failure of the brokerage firm, up to $500,000, with a maximum of $250,000 in cash. 

What Is the Minimum You Can Invest With Titan?

The minimum investment amount at Titan Invest changes based on the investment vehicle. The Smart Cash product requires just $5. Automated and actively managed accounts require a minimum investment of $500, and some of the specialty funds require at least a $2,000 investment.

Who Is the CEO of Titan?

Clayton “Clay” Gardner is co-CEO and founder of the company. Joe Percoco is the other co-CEO. Clay and Joe were friends at Wharton. Their other partner, Max Bernardy, graduated from Stanford. While working at hedge funds and large banks, they thought it would make sense to provide smaller investors with access to the same trading strategies, including access to alternative strategies, offered by hedge funds. Their platform dream, which also included actively managed funds utilizing strategies used by other hedge funds, evolved into Titan. Gardner is responsible for the portfolio creation and active management strategies for the portfolios.

Methodology

Providing readers with unbiased, comprehensive reviews of digital wealth management companies, more commonly known as robo-advisors, is a top priority of Investopedia. Over a period of two months, our team of researchers, data collectors, and industry experts conducted an exhaustive review process that included in-depth industry research, company survey data collection, and hands-on demonstrations and evaluations of 19 robo-advisor platforms.

We then developed a quantitative model that scored each company to rate its performance across nine major categories and 57 criteria to find the best robo-advisors. The score for each company’s overall star rating is a weighted average of the criteria.

Many of the companies we reviewed also performed live demonstrations of their platforms and services in video calls with our research and editorial teams. Our team of expert writers and editors was also granted access to live accounts so they could perform hands-on testing. Through this all-encompassing data collection and review process, Investopedia has provided you with an unbiased and thorough review of the top robo-advisors.

Read our full Methodology for reviewing robo-advisors.

Separately, our research team conducted a survey of 205 U.S. adults aged 18 to 72 who are current clients of one of 18 robo-advisors. While the information collected did not influence the development of our ratings model, it was instrumental in gathering the valuable insights published in Investopedia’s 2023 Robo-Advisor Consumer Survey.

Participants in our 2023 Robo-Advisor Survey opted-in to an online, self-administered questionnaire from a market research vendor. Data collection took place between Aug. 30, and Sept. 15, 2023, with 11 video interviews conducted with volunteer respondents from Sept. 7, to Sept. 17, 2023. Multiple quality checks, including screeners, attention gauges, comprehension evaluations, and logic metrics, among others, were used to ensure only the highest quality responses were included.