Control your retirement account with thermostat-like command.
What does “Help” look like?
When you have Help, as defined in the “Help study“, you are getting actual advice on what you should be invested in. Just you. For accomplishing your goals. Taking into account your comfort with risk.
What does “Help” feel like?
You won’t feel alone. You won’t wonder what you should be investing in, and why. You won’t wonder whether you’re paying fees you shouldn’t pay. You won’t wonder whether you’ll be able to retire on time. When you have Help, you are confident.
Of course you would!
*Dollar amounts shown are not a guarantee that those results will be realized. The calculator provided is hypothetical for illustrative purposes only and should not be considered as investment advice. We cannot and do not guarantee the relevance or accuracy with regard to your individual circumstance. We do not guarantee future results, and a diversified managed portfolio is not a guarantee against loss. The calculation assumes an investor using professional help will achieve greater growth compared to a self-managed account, which is dependent on a number of factors. The calculated discrepancy between “Your 401k” and “Your 401k with pro help” is based on Vanguard Advisor Alpha methodology: Advisor potential value in providing behavioral coaching and rebalancing services to client accounts.
The Seven-Year Help Study
You’ll probably be as surprised as we were at the results of this study. This is the largest of its kind we’ve found, but we are certainly looking for other studies to either support or debunk the findings here. At first glance, it hardly seems possible that just by doing one of two or three things differently, the Help plan participants’ accounts returned +3.32% more per year, net of fees, than the non-Help participants’ accounts.
The good news in all of this is that no one needs to wait for their retirement plan to offer these Help services to them. As you’ll read in the report in just the first handful of pages, only one of the types of Help (and the least-effective one, at that) are actually part of the retirement plan. The second and third type of Help are available outside of the Plan.
That means you don’t have to wait for anybody. You can do this right now.

723,000 Retirement Plan Participants.
$55 Billion in Assets.
Accounts Tracked for Seven Years.
The Results Are Truly Surprising…
%
Help users taking right amount of risk
%
Non-Help users taking right amount of risk
%
Help Participants median return average, 7 years
%
Non-Help Participants median return avg, 7 years
$21,886
$17,724
CLEARLY it pays to use Help, when available.
Are you getting the Help you need?
Introducing the 401K TOOLKIT
Risk Number
Comfort Zone
Retirement Road Map
I bet you’re wondering…
Why should I hire you to do this for me?
Is this right for me?
What if things don't turn out the way I'd hoped?
And, of course you do have other options…
Pick the kind of Help you want
Starter
401k Toolkit- Risk Number
- Comfort Zone portfolio
- 1 time per year
- No account minimum
- Roadmap included
Quarterly Comfort
401k Toolkit- Risk Number
- Comfort Zone portfolio
- 4 adjustments per year
- No account minimum
- Roadmap included
Full-Time Comfort
401k Toolkit- Risk Number
- Comfort Zone portfolio
- Monthly adjustments
- No account minimum
- Roadmap included