Best managed investment accounts (compared)

With so many options available to investors, finding the best managed investment accounts can sometimes feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. If you’re keen on investing but don’t want the hassle of choosing assets and monitoring everything yourself, a managed investment account can be an affordable alternative.

Gone are the days when you’d have to pay through the nose for an expertly managed portfolio. You don’t even have to sit down with a wealth manager or pick up the phone. You can arrange this service right at your fingertips on your phone, tablet, or computer.

In this article, we’ll run you through the best managed investment accounts available. We’ll explain what makes them valuable, the benefits, how they compare, and also if there are any drawbacks.

How the best managed investment accounts compare

Best managed investment accounts reviewed

eToro was founded in 2007. It’s famous not only for allowing investors to buy and sell financial instruments but also for its social (copy) trading features. Today, it’s one of the most well-known social trading brokers, with over 40 million users worldwide, and it has been listed on the Nasdaq since May 2025.

However, most people don’t know that eToro also offers a range of Smart Portfolios built and rebalanced by eToro’s analysts, with no portfolio management fees (other fees apply). There are more than 65 portfolios to choose from, with themes ranging from utilities to artificial intelligence, and the minimum investment is $500 per portfolio.

We think eToro is one of the best managed investment accounts available because there is no fee to open or hold an account, no inactivity fee, and no management fee on the Smart Portfolios, which is hard to beat. Keep in mind that a $5 fee applies to withdrawals from the USD account. The main downside is that you don’t get any guidance in picking your ready-made portfolios, and you’ll have to decide which ones you want.

Interactive Brokers was founded in 1978 and is one of the world’s largest investment brokerages. Interactive Brokers (IBKR) is listed on the Nasdaq, joined the S&P 500 in August 2025 and has a proven history of reliability through all sorts of economic turmoil.

IBKR is a highly comprehensive brokerage platform with access to thousands of assets in global markets. We’ve selected Interactive Brokers as one of the best managed investment accounts because its Mutual Funds Marketplace offers more than 50,000 funds from over 500 fund families, including Vanguard, BlackRock, PIMCO, Invesco and Schroders.

More than 20,000 of these funds have no transaction fee. For the rest, clients outside the US pay €4.95 per trade (or the currency equivalent), while US clients pay $14.95 or 3% of the trade value, whichever is lower. IBKR does not charge custody fees on funds. Alongside the huge range of managed mutual funds, there’s also the option to create a model portfolio, although you might need a financial advisor to set this up.

Worth knowing: with IBKR you are choosing the funds yourself, so this is managed investing in the sense that a fund manager runs the money, not in the sense that someone builds the portfolio for you. If you want the second thing, the robo-advisors on this list are closer to it. If you’d like to learn more, check out our full Interactive Brokers review.

M1 Finance is a relatively new investment platform, founded in 2015 to shake up the portfolio management market. Although it lacks other options, we think it’s one of the best managed investment accounts available because it has low fees and an excellent app.

On top of the Expert Pies, you can also create your own if you don’t want someone else managing your investments. Another reason M1 Finance is a top pick is that, alongside the managed investment accounts, you can keep all your finances under one roof if you want. It offers a high-yield cash account, retirement and custodial accounts, crypto and margin loans through M1 Borrow. It does not offer mutual funds.

Two caveats. M1 charges a $3 monthly platform fee, waived once you hold $10,000 or more across your M1 accounts, so smaller balances pay $36 a year regardless of size (new users get a 90-day grace period). And M1 is open to US residents only.

Wealthfront was founded in 2008 as a mutual fund analysis company but decided to pivot into asset management with an innovative tax-loss harvesting service. It listed on the Nasdaq in December 2025 (ticker: WLTH) and, in May 2026, managed about $95 billion for more than 1.4 million clients. Today, it offers a comprehensive service to investors and savers looking to invest in stocks, bonds and funds.

We selected Wealthfront as one of the best managed investment accounts because it offers a personalised robo-advisor service with a simple ongoing fee of 0.25%. The minimum deposit of $500 is higher than at some other managed platforms, but it’s not unachievable for those investing long-term.

The basic strategy behind Wealthfront’s managed investment accounts is using different types of index funds across a range of assets to help you build wealth. Along with the robo-advisor service, Wealthfront also has a Stock Investing Account that lets you buy individual stocks from $1, with no commissions and no advisory fee. The added option of a cash account that earns interest is useful if you want to keep some funds aside.

As with the other US robo-advisors here, Wealthfront is open to US residents only.

Betterment started in 2010 and is one of the two largest independent robo-advisors in the United States, alongside Wealthfront. It offers a full suite of services, including robo-advisor investment portfolios, retirement accounts, and cash accounts (checking and saving).

In terms of its service, Betterment has a similar offering to Wealthfront. We picked Betterment as one of the best managed accounts available because it’s a good way to automate your investments while still keeping some control. If you don’t want to choose one of the pre-made portfolios, you have the option to customise one to your preferences.

There’s no minimum deposit. The Digital plan costs $5 a month, and switches automatically to 0.25% a year once your balance passes $24,000 or you set up recurring deposits of $200 a month or more. Note which way round that works: on small balances the flat fee is the expensive option, since $60 a year on a $5,000 portfolio is 1.2%.

If you want human guidance, the Premium plan gives you unlimited access to certified financial planners for 0.65% a year, with a $100,000 minimum. Betterment also charges a flat fee to transfer an investing account out to another provider.

How much a managed account costs in practice

Percentage fees and flat fees behave very differently depending on how much you invest. The table below shows the yearly platform or advisory fee on two balances. Interactive Brokers is left out because it charges per fund trade rather than a yearly fee.

On small balances, flat monthly fees weigh the most: M1’s $3 a month is 0.72% a year on $5,000, and Betterment’s $5 a month is 1.2%. Above $10,000 at M1, or $24,000 at Betterment, the picture changes, and a 0.25% fee becomes the main cost.

Bottom line

The best managed investment account for you will depend on your investing style. Knowing whether you want the lowest fees, the biggest choice of investments or the slickest interface will help determine the right brokerage. Where you live narrows the list first, though: three of the five options here are open to US residents only.

Although it can cost a little more for a managed investment account, the fees you’ll pay are much lower than past charges for accessing expert management from skilled advisors. Here’s a quick summary of our top picks for the best managed investment accounts available:

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