Do Robo Advisors Pay Dividends?


If you’re a new investor, you’re probably already considering using a robo advisor. These advisors come with plenty of benefits and make it easier for you to manage your investments. However, many investors often wonder if they pay dividends.

Most robo advisors do pay dividends, and they often reinvest the dividends into their investors’ accounts. Investors can receive additional shares, generate more money, and expect to see quarterly dividends from robo advisors.

That said, robo advisors are a great choice if you’re looking to receive dividends from your investments. But if you haven’t seen any returns yet, you may want to research the platform you’re using. To learn more about robo advisors and the dividends they pay out, keep reading!

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Can You Get Dividends From Robo Advisors?

You can get dividends from robo advisors. A majority of robo advisors generate dividends and reinvest them into portfolio stocks on your behalf. This method is more efficient and allows your portfolio to start making more money off the dividends immediately.

If you’ve been using one, you might not have noticed, as most platforms reinvest the dividends as soon as they get them. However, they often earn smaller amounts at a time. It’s best to let your portfolio build-up, so they make more profitable dividends. 

Many investors also appreciate the automatic nature of reinvestment.

Overall, you can significantly benefit from having a robo advisor that helps you earn dividends. You can have them automatically reinvest for you, which many platforms already do with you having to change any of your settings. Most investors prefer this method, although you can have some platforms give you the dividends directly instead.

What Are Robo Advisors?

Robo advisors have become more popular every day in the world of investing. Some examples include SoFi Invest, Welathfront, Ellevest, Betterment, and Acorns. However, you can find plenty of different platforms with features to suit your needs.

Robo advisors are virtual platforms that use automatic financial planning to invest your money. There’s very little human input into where your investment goes. However, these advisors use algorithms to determine where your funds will make the most money. Anyone can benefit from using them!

Robo advisors can work with both large and small amounts of funds, allowing you to start building your portfolio right away. They’re very similar to investment management companies, except there’s no human interaction. Many people today prefer the convenience of robo advisors, as these advisors allow them the flexibility of using an app to manage their money.

Robo Advisors Use Algorithms To Employ Reinvestment

Robo advisors use dividend reinvestment in much the same way as investment companies. They buy stock for your portfolio that pays dividends, then dividends enter your portfolio either monthly, quarterly, or yearly. 

From there, the robo advisor disperses the dividends into your portfolio, placing the money where they think it’s the most useful.

Overall, reinvestment through a robo advisor works the same as it would through an investment manager. The only difference is that the robo advisor uses algorithms. These formulas determine where to place your returns- there’s likely little to no people involved, depending on the platform you’re using.

Compound Interests Allow You To Generate Passive Income

According to Nerdwallet, dividend reinvestment allows you to enhance your returns in the long run significantly. Even those directly investing in companies use automatic reinvestment options instead of receiving the dividends as payouts- there are more benefits this way.

When you reinvest, you receive compounding interest on your accounts. Compound interest makes your money grow much faster! Every return earned goes back into your account, where interest applies to it. Over time, you won’t need to put as much of your own money into the stock.

Compound interest is a wonderfully simple way to earn more passive income. If you want to learn more about what this is, I recommend that you watch this quick YouTube video:

Robo Advisors Reinvest Dividends Based on Your Risk Levels

Robo advisors check for multiple situations, allowing them to help you make the most from your dividends.

First, they invest in stocks with reliable dividend yields. Next, the advisor reinvests all dividends received to ensure you get compound interest benefits.

They may also change the stock you own at times through rebalancing. This process allows the advisor to choose better stocks that pay more dividends for you. As everything’s automated, you don’t have to worry about finding high-yielding stock on your own.

Rebalancing is essential to making the most of your returns. The algorithm ensures that your portfolio maintains the correct risk levels while also helping you earn money. Without rebalancing, your portfolio could change over time into something that doesn’t benefit you.

Also, you don’t need to feel anxious over the advisor choosing incorrect stocks- the algorithms they use are highly sophisticated!

Examples of Robo Advisors That Pay Dividends

Today, you can find many Robo advisor platforms that pay dividends online. You shouldn’t need to look far to find them! Here are some Robo platform examples for you to consider:

  • Betterment
  • Acorns
  • Personal Capital
  • SoFi
  • TD Ameritrade
  • TIAA
  • Vanguard Personal Advisor Services
  • M1 Finance
  • Wealthsimple
  • SigFig

There are more advising platforms for you to consider, so please research all the possibilities available to you before choosing a platform. It’s worth noting that Robo advisors don’t always earn the same returns as they did the year before. You’ll want to check out which ones currently have the best levels of returns.

These platforms also check the ex-dividend dates for you, so you don’t have to worry about owning stock and missing out on those returns! Overall, it should give you more peace of mind when it comes to managing your money.

How To Choose Reliable Dividend Yield?

You’ll want to ensure you receive a reasonable dividend yield from your Robo advisor. The dividend yield comes from the total dividend payments per year divided by the price of the stock. You then turn that number into a decimal.

For example, you have an annual dividend return of one dollar, while the stock trades at $25. These numbers would give you a dividend yield of 4% ($1.00/$25= 4%). Many professional investors suggest that you look for dividend yields between 2% and 6%, which would be a good balanced choice.

Can You Withdraw Dividends From Robo Advisors?

Finally, you may also want to know if you can withdraw the dividends or have them sent to you. Depending on the platform you choose, you can have interest and dividends sent to your bank account. However, most automatically reinvest the dividends without your input.

You can withdraw dividends from robo advisors after they reinvest the funds. Many platforms don’t let you remove dividends until they integrate them into your portfolio- it’s best to leave it for compounding interest. You can also check if they’ll send it right to your bank.

You likely have a few different options available to you. And you can find the platform’s policy on their page, so make sure to look! There might be a method that you appreciate more than reinvesting the dividends. 

Author’s Recommendations: Top Trading and Investment Resources To Consider

Before concluding this article, I wanted to share few trading and investment resources that I have vetted, with the help of 50+ consistently profitable traders, for you. I am confident that you will greatly benefit in your trading journey by considering one or more of these resources.

Conclusion

To summarize, robo advisors do pay dividends. However, they often reinvest them without input from you. For many people, this method is convenient while allowing one to benefit from compounding interest. If you want to withdraw the dividends, then robo advisors aren’t always the best option for you.

Overall, you’re sure to enjoy watching your investment accounts grow. With reinvestment, you also will see even faster levels of growth! Make sure to turn on auto-reinvestment in your robo advisor apps.

BEFORE YOU GO: Don’t forget to check out my latest article – ‘Exploring Social Trading: Community, Profit, and Collaboration’. I surveyed 1500+ traders to identify the impact social trading can have on your trading performance, and shared all my findings in this article. No matter where you are in your trading journey today, I am confident that you will find this article helpful!

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    Navdeep Singh

    Navdeep has been an avid trader/investor for the last 10 years and loves to share what he has learned about trading and investments here on TradeVeda. When not managing his personal portfolio or writing for TradeVeda, Navdeep loves to go outdoors on long hikes.

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