Overview
Guided Investing is a great option for those who seek help creating, implementing and managing an investment strategy—but who don't yet need full-service financial planning and investment advice. Guided Investing provides access to our investment team's best thinking through diversified investment portfolio recommendations, trade management and continuous portfolio monitoring and rebalancing. Unlike Self-Directed Investing, you wouldn't be responsible for researching specific holdings, deciding on allocations and rebalancing as your allocations drift off target.
We recommend a model portfolio to you based on an analysis of your risk tolerance as determined by an interactive questionnaire. Included in the questionnaire are questions about your appetite for investment risk, investment time horizon and investing experience. We then generate a recommended investment portfolio based on your responses. Our portfolios have been developed using a combination of investing experience and academic analysis. They're intended to benefit from an asset allocation and diversification approach aligned with your risk tolerance.
Rebalancing is an important aspect of investing a diversified portfolio that seeks to target a certain alignment between asset classes. Over time, some asset classes in a portfolio will outperform others, increasing their weight in the portfolio. When this happens, the portfolio's risk profile changes from your initial target allocation. We monitor this situation for you and make the necessary trades to keep the portfolio in alignment. Additionally, when a portfolio rebalances, the goal is to sell certain assets at higher prices and buy replacements at lower prices, which can help performance over time.
Guided Investing currently supports individual and joint taxable investment accounts, as well as traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs.
Yes. The minimum balance is $5,000 to open a Guided Investing account.
Guided Investing accounts are subject to a monthly fee of 30 basis points, or 0.3%, on the assets in the account. This fee will be automatically deducted from the account on a monthly basis based on the market value of the account assets at the end of the previous month. Some assets within the portfolio, typically mutual funds, have underlying expenses. Also, please note that IRAs with balances below $100,000 are subject to a $50 annual maintenance fee. These fees may impact the value of your account over time.
If you feel you have more complex needs, we have financial professionals who can provide additional advice and planning. To learn more, contact us at 877-269-4932 and choose the appropriate option from the voice menu.
Opening an account
Yes. You must be at least 18 years old and a US citizen with a permanent US address to open a Guided Investing account. The process is fast and easy, and it can be done entirely online in about 5 to 10 minutes. The minimum initial investment is $5,000 per account.
It'll take a few days for your account to be established, and you can check on the status of your account by logging back in to your profile and visiting the Account dashboard. We highly recommend completing the funding process as part of the application process so your money can be invested as soon as possible. Please note that transfers from bank accounts and outside investment accounts typically take 1 to 5 business days.
After you fund your Guided Investing account, we'll purchase securities for your portfolio in line with the investment strategy you've chosen. From here, we encourage you to check back and personalize your experience by uploading photos and nicknaming your account. We'll monitor your portfolio and rebalance as appropriate.
Yes. You can open multiple accounts under one Guided Investing profile.
The main difference between a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA account is the income tax treatment. With a traditional IRA, you fund your account with pretax dollars—this means you can deduct your contribution from that year's tax filing. Your money then grows tax-deferred and you don't pay taxes until withdrawal, preferably after age 59 1/2. With a Roth IRA, you fund your account with after-tax dollars, but your money grows tax-free and you generally don't pay taxes on withdrawals after age 59 1/2. In both cases, withdrawals made before age 59 1/2 incur a 10% penalty.
In addition, with a traditional IRA, you must start withdrawing the money when you reach age 73. This is called a required minimum distribution, or RMD. With a Roth IRA, you can leave the money in for as long as you want, letting it grow as you continue to age. Visit the IRS page on IRAs for more information.
To initiate funding, you'll need to contact your existing retirement account provider to request that funds are transferred to your new Guided Investing account. We'll provide you with specific instructions via email when you submit an account application.
Most actions don't require consent from both customers in a joint account. Either account holder can make deposits, withdrawals, transfers, goals, allocation updates, changes to the linked checking account and beneficiary changes. Both account holders will receive email notifications any time a deposit, withdrawal, transfer or allocation change occurs.
The following actions require consent from both account holders: opening the account and signing the account-opening application, closing the joint account and changing account ownership. To close or change ownership of the joint account, please contact customer service at GuidedInvesting@FirstCitizens.com.
DocuSign is a well-known vendor that provides a cloud-based electronic signature tool to companies who seek to share contracts and other forms with their clients in a secure, paperless environment. DocuSign enables companies and their clients to create, share, sign and track documents. We use DocuSign to send any documents you may need to sign.
Funding and transferring
You can fund your account with cash via an ACH or wire from a First Citizens bank account. To deposit funds via ACH from your First Citizens bank account, go to the Transfer Money tab within your Guided Investing profile to link your account using our secure portal. Once the link is established, you can set up a one-time transfer or recurring deposits—repeating weekly, biweekly, monthly or quarterly. To fund via wire or a transfer of securities, or TOA, contact your bank or outside brokerage firm. If you wish to fund your account via wire or TOA from an existing First Citizens Investor Services brokerage account, call 877-277-8992 and a member of our team can help you.
No. You can't maintain specific investment holdings in your Guided Investing account. The value of the Guided Investing program is to provide you with a diversified portfolio aligned with your needs and goals and informed by the investment expertise and due diligence oversight of our portfolio managers. Therefore, a crucial part of our process is to invest your money into the proprietary models our investment team has assembled. Not only do we leverage our investment team's best thinking, but the use of proprietary models enables us to rebalance your account in keeping with the objectives established in your account opening process and subsequent annual reviews.
We're ready to help with any technical problems you many run into. You can contact us directly by emailing GuidedInvesting@FirstCitizens.com or by calling 877-277-8992.
Your transferred funds will be invested in the selected portfolio as soon as they settle.
Under the Transfer Money tab within your Guided Investing profile, you can choose to transfer money out of your account. Once we've processed your withdrawal request, it takes up 2 to 5 business days for the funds to settle. The stated balance of your account will always reflect the most current market value, so your withdrawal amount could fluctuate with the market.
For non-IRA accounts, you can withdraw funds from or close your account at any time without penalty. For IRA accounts, there's a $100 fee for transferring holdings in kind to an outside account and a $95 termination fee.
No. There are no minimum or maximum amounts for withdrawals.
An ACH transfer is an electronic transfer of funds between two bank accounts. It's initiated through the Automated Clearing House network so you can send payments quickly. To deposit funds to your Guided Investing account, you first need to link your First Citizens checking account using our secure portal. Once the link is established, you can set up a one-time transfer or recurring deposits, repeating weekly, biweekly, monthly or quarterly.
Managing a portfolio
No. You can't change allocations or add or remove certain securities, but you can update your risk tolerance at any time to explore what other portfolios might look like. We build our portfolios based on an analysis of each client's risk tolerance, which is gathered through an interactive questionnaire. The portfolios are intended to benefit from diversification and are structured to reflect your risk tolerance.
No. You can't replace specific holdings. The portfolios at Guided Investing have been populated with securities subject to our investment team's due diligence processes. The portfolios aren't designed to accept replacement holdings.
No. If you wish to invest in individual companies in addition to using the Guided Investing platform, consider opening a Self-Directed Investing brokerage account through First Citizens Investor Services Inc.
We understand that both your financial outlook and your goals and objectives may change over time. You can review your portfolio at any time, update your risk tolerance questionnaire under your Account Profile tab and explore other portfolio options, including their analysis, benefits and potential drawbacks. Due to the potential risks inherent in trying to time the market—as well as the potential tax consequences of associated trades—we don't recommend changing your risk tolerance solely in reaction to near-term market activity, but rather to changes in your own underlying financial goals and objectives.
Some of your investments may pay dividends or interest. Your Guided Investing portfolio will automatically reinvest any dividends and interest according to the allocations in the model you've chosen. That said, you always have the option to place a sell order to access cash from your portfolio.
The returns listed on your dashboard represents a time-weighted calculation, meaning the performance number presented isn't impacted by the timing of any contributions or withdrawals from your account.
Privacy and security
Your assets are protected up to the SIPC limit of $500,000 in value, including $250,000 in any cash awaiting reinvestment. Unlike traditional bank deposits, which are protected by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, investments are insured through the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, or SIPC. Guided Investing's brokerage products and services are offered through First Citizens Investor Services Inc., or FCIS, a registered broker-dealer, member FINRA and SIPC, and your trades are executed by Pershing LLC, member SIPC. Please note that all securities involve risk and may result in loss.
Your assets belong to you, not to FCIS or Pershing. In the unlikely event that either were to cease operation, you'd be free to move your investments to another investment account of your choosing. Your account is SIPC-protected, which means up to $500,000 per account type is protected against any losses resulting from the failure of the broker dealer or the clearing firm, in this case Pershing LLC.
We take the security of your personal information very seriously. First Citizens Investor Services Inc., or FCIS, partners with a technology vendor called Marstone to provide an online application process, manage your investment profile, facilitate money movement and deliver trade orders to the custodian and clearing house—Pershing—for your account. For more details, please review our privacy and security statement.