PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Michael Tertilt AU - Peter Scholz TI - To Advise, or Not to Advise—<em>How Robo-Advisors Evaluate the Risk Preferences of Private Investors</em> AID - 10.3905/jwm.2018.21.2.070 DP - 2018 Jul 31 TA - The Journal of Wealth Management PG - 70--84 VI - 21 IP - 2 4099 - https://pm-research.com/content/21/2/70.short 4100 - https://pm-research.com/content/21/2/70.full AB - Robo-advisors promise efficient, rational, and transparent investment advisory. The authors analyze how robo-advisors determine their users’ risk tolerance and which equity exposure is derived from the individual risk profile. Findings indicate significant differences in the quality of offered investment advice. Robo-advisors usually ask relatively few questions in the assessment of their users’ risk profile, and it is particularly surprising that some of the questions do not seem to have any impact on the risk categorization. Moreover, the recommended equity exposure is relatively conservative.TOPICS: Wealth management, quantitative methods