Top perks
There's a lot to like about Titan, so here's a quick rundown of the top perks investors should know about.
Unique investment choices
Titan offers actively managed investment choices. The company's goal is to give access to the types of strategies that are typically only available to hedge fund investors. As of February 2024, Titan's investment offerings include:
- Flagship: Titan's large-cap fund that owns 15-20 stocks its managers think will outperform the market.
- Opportunities: Focuses on smaller companies that have high upside potential.
- Offshore: Titan's investment fund that consists of international companies.
The platform also offers several third-party choices, such as:
- Carlyle Tactical Private Credit Fund (CTAC): Invests in income-producing credit assets.
- Apollo Diversified Credit Fund: Aims to produce both income and capital appreciation.
- ARK Venture Fund: Invests in high-potential public and private businesses.
- Apollo Diversified Real Estate Fund: Invests in both private and public real estate funds.
As of February 2024, Titan offers a few additional passively-managed funds. These funds charge zero advisory fees and use algorithms to automatically rebalance the following portfolio options:
- Automated Stocks: An ETF basket mostly tracking the S&P 500.
- Automated Bonds: A diversified basket of bond ETFs.
- Crypto: Passively tracks the iShares Bitcoin ETF.
Potential to beat the stock market
Most robo-advisors aren't trying to deliver homerun investment returns to their customers -- instead, the usual goal is to slowly and steadily grow wealth over time. Titan's portfolio exists to give customers the opportunity (but not a guarantee) for market-beating returns.
Retirement accounts
In addition to standard (taxable) accounts, Titan allows investors to open a traditional or Roth IRA. Investors may also roll over an existing retirement account, including 401(k) and 403(b) accounts, into a rollover IRA. The company plans to support SEP IRAs soon.
Cash management account (Smart Cash)
The Titan Smart Cash account is an FDIC- and SIPC-insured cash management account designed to provide a high-yield savings option for customers. The account moves money between Titan Cash Reserve and money market funds to earn depositors the best tax-adjusted returns. These interest rates are tiered, so the more you deposit, the better your rates. Rates are subject to change at any time, but they are competitive with APYs of high-yield savings accounts. Note that unlike most savings accounts, Titan charges an annual 0.25% fee to cover the cost of managing assets, eating slightly into returns.
Customer support and human advisors
Titan app users can schedule 15-minute calls with registered wealth advisors. It's free. Topics of conversation can range from "Is this a good investment for me?" to "Am I holding too much cash?"Just know you may have to schedule appointments a few days in advance.
What could be improved
High fee structure
Titan's fees are very high compared to most other robo-advisors. For Titan's own investment funds, the company charges tiered fees: the more you invest, the less you pay. But the minimum fee investors will pay for a managed investment account is 0.70% per year. Most robo-advisors have annual investment fees of 0.30% or less.
For the third-party investment funds, the fees can be much more. As an example, the ARK Venture Fund has a total annual management fee of 2.90%. To be fair, this is significantly less than the "2 and 20" fee model most comparable hedge funds that offer similar strategies charge, but it's very high for robo-advisors.
(Some) high minimums
Titan's investment minimums depend on the specific strategy. You'll need $500 just to open an individual taxable or retirement brokerage account. Flagship, Opportunities, Offshore, and Crypto have $100 minimums. The ARK Venture Fund has a $500 minimum investment, and the CTAC fund has a $2,000 minimum.
Riskier investments than other robo-advisors
One of the biggest potential drawbacks that investors need to understand is that Titan's funds can be riskier and more volatile than investments at other robo-advisors. As a general rule, the higher the return potential of an investment (or strategy), the higher the risk. And Titan's actively managed options are no exception.