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Empower (Personal Wealth, formerly Personal Capital) Review

Depends

Should I use Empower (Personal Wealth, formerly Personal Capital)?

Invest well. Live a little. - empower.com

· 1 month ago

Use the free dashboard for net-worth tracking; it's among the best in class. Skip the paid advisory unless you want managed portfolios and accept high AUM fees — and retirement-plan participants have no say but report rough service.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 20+ public sources; many snippets truncated, and several search hits involve unrelated companies named Empower.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

Free

Financial Dashboard

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesGuess: ~0.89%/yr of assets
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
Wealth ManagementGuess: ~0.89%/yr of managed assets

Best for

  • Net-worth tracking across all accounts
  • DIY investors wanting a free dashboard
  • High-balance investors wanting human-plus-robo advice

Not for

  • Small-balance investors wanting managed advice — high minimums (Guess: ~$100k)
  • Budget-only users who'll resent advisory upsells
  • Fee-sensitive index investors — advisory fees compound hard
  • Retirement-plan participants expecting responsive service (per Trustpilot)

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Advisory fees on large balances sting; one 4-year user left 'burned' after exiting

medium

Wealth Management minimum ~$100k (Guess) with AUM fee — confirm current pricing before assuming

medium

Consumer dashboard service differs sharply from employer 401(k) service — Trustpilot anger is plan-side

low

Some 'Empower' breach headlines involve unrelated same-named firms — verify entity before panicking

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Ranked best net-worth tracker by ChooseFI; free
  • PCMag: 'one of the best' overall portfolio tools
  • WSJ Buy Side lists it among best financial advisors
  • G2 users consistently praise ease of use

Cons

  • A 4-year user reports getting burned leaving; fee complaints
  • Trustpilot retirement reviewers call it 'criminally run'
  • SEC charged Empower Advisory Group in an administrative order
  • Free dashboard doubles as an advisory sales funnel

Sources & method

- 10 sources - No vulnerabilities found for empower.com itself; SEC enforcement hit the advisory arm, and some breach headlines involve similarly named firms.

official x1review x6security x1news x2
  • SEC administrative proceeding vs Empower Advisory Group, LLC, SEC order finds violations by the advisory arm (details truncated in source); regulatory, not a technical breach.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 3/5

    Rating

  • Free

    Starting price

  • 10

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 3/5. Free dashboard is great; advisory fees draw complaints
  • Ease of use: 4/5. G2 reviewers consistently praise ease of use
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Top-ranked net-worth tracker per reviewers
  • Support quality: 2/5. Harsh retirement-plan service reviews
  • Security posture: 2/5. SEC enforcement against advisory arm
  • 4.7/5 G2 rating 24 reviews (small sample)
  • Yes Free tier Net-worth and portfolio dashboard
  • Guess: ~0.89%/yr of assets Advisory fee Managed portfolios; verify current pricing
  • 2022 Renamed from Personal Capital Rebranded to Empower

Pricing

Financial Dashboard

Free

  • Net-worth and portfolio tracking
  • Retirement planner
  • Budgeting tools

Wealth Management

Guess: ~0.89%/yr of managed assets

  • High minimum (~$100k, Guess)
  • Dedicated human advisors
  • Managed portfolios

Security

No vulnerabilities found for empower.com itself; SEC enforcement hit the advisory arm, and some breach headlines involve similarly named firms.

  • SEC administrative proceeding vs Empower Advisory Group, LLCSEC order finds violations by the advisory arm (details truncated in source); regulatory, not a technical breach.⁷

Alternatives

Compare Empower (Personal Wealth, formerly Personal Capital) with each alternative.

  • Fidelity free tools

    Free portfolio tracking if you want to stay with a broker

Full analysis

Based on 20+ public sources; many snippets truncated, and several search hits involve unrelated companies named Empower.

Best free net-worth tracker around; paid advisory is pricey and SEC-charged. Retirement-plan users report bad service.

Methodology

Based on 20+ public sources; many snippets truncated, and several search hits involve unrelated companies named Empower.

Read how a report is made.

Sources

  1. Empower Review: Best Net Worth Trackerchoosefi.com
    review
  2. Empower Review - PCMagpcmag.com
    review
  3. Empower Review 2026 - WSJ Buy Sidewsj.com
    review
  4. Empower Products | G2 seller reviewsg2.com
    review
  5. empower-retirement.com Reviews - Trustpilottrustpilot.com
    review
  6. Leaving Empower Personal Wealth and Getting Burned - Redditreddit.com
    review
  7. SEC Charges Empower Advisory Group, LLCsec.gov
    security
  8. Empower | Official siteempower.com
    official
  9. Empower renames to bolster engagement with customersempower.com
    news
  10. 3 Empower Alternatives - Rob Bergerrobberger.com
    news

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