Pure Benchmarks · Comparison

Empower (Personal Capital) vs Vanguard Personal Advisor: Fees, Minimums and Advisors

Short answer

Vanguard Personal Advisor charges a gross 0.35% a year for all-index portfolios, reduced by a fund-revenue credit to roughly 0.30%, with a $50,000 minimum and an advisor available when you need one. Empower’s Personal Strategy, the managed service that grew out of Personal Capital, charges 0.89% from $100,000 up to $1 million and 0.79% on the first $3 million for Private Client clients, with dedicated advisors from $250,000 and individual stocks in place of some ETFs at the higher tiers. Empower’s free Personal Dashboard is a separate net-worth tracker, not the managed service.

Searches for Personal Capital versus Vanguard still come up years after the rename, because both companies sell the same kind of product: an automated portfolio with human advisors attached. The two are priced very differently and put different things inside the account. This page compares the published fees, minimums, advisor access and holdings side by side, read from each provider’s own pages.

Vanguard Personal Advisor vs Empower Personal Strategy

	Vanguard Personal Advisor	Empower Personal Strategy
Advisory fee	0.35% gross all-index, 0.40% active and index, less a fund-revenue credit; about 0.30% to 0.31% net all-index, per Vanguard	0.89% from $100,000 to $999,999; Private Client 0.79% on the first $3 million, then 0.69%, 0.59% and 0.49%
Minimum	$50,000	$100,000 Investment Services, $250,000 Wealth Management, $1 million Private Client
Advisor access	Automated management with an advisor available when you need one	Advisory team at the entry tier; two dedicated advisors from $250,000
Holdings	Vanguard ETFs and mutual funds	ETF portfolio at the entry tier; at least 70 individual US stocks plus ETFs at higher tiers
Higher tier	Personal Advisor Select: 0.30%, $500,000 minimum, dedicated CFP advisor	Private Client from $1 million
Free tool	—	Empower Personal Dashboard, free net-worth tracking

Read from investor.vanguard.com and empower.com on October 6, 2026. Neither provider shows an as-of date on its fee page. Fund expense ratios are charged on top of every advisory fee shown.

Personal Capital is now Empower

Empower acquired Personal Capital in 2020 and launched its Personal Wealth division in March 2023, when the Personal Capital app became the Empower Personal Dashboard. The managed wealth service is now sold as Personal Strategy by Empower Advisory Group. The free dashboard and the paid management service are separate products, which is a common source of confusion in comparisons.

What the fee difference is in dollars

On a $250,000 account, Vanguard Personal Advisor at roughly 0.30% net costs about $750 a year, while Empower at 0.89% costs about $2,225. On $500,000, Vanguard’s Personal Advisor Select tier at 0.30% costs about $1,500 with a dedicated planner, against about $4,450 at Empower’s 0.89%. Fund expense ratios sit on top of both.

What Empower charges more for

From $250,000 Empower assigns two dedicated advisors, and its higher tiers replace part of the US stock allocation with at least 70 individual stocks, which it presents as a way to manage taxes more precisely than holding a fund. Those are real differences in service and structure. Whether they are worth the higher rate depends on what they produce in your account over time.

What Vanguard Personal Advisor provides

Vanguard Personal Advisor builds portfolios from Vanguard ETFs and mutual funds and pairs automated management with access to an advisor when you need one, rather than an assigned planner. Clients who want a dedicated certified financial planner move to Personal Advisor Select, which requires $500,000 and charges 0.30%.

Fees are known in advance, results are not

A fee comparison settles what each service costs. It does not show which one left a client better off, which depends on risk level, timing and every change made along the way. Pure Benchmarks, our own product, connects advised accounts and ranks them against verified investor portfolios in the same risk category, so the result can be measured rather than assumed from the price.

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Frequently asked questions

Is Personal Capital the same as Empower?

Yes. Empower acquired Personal Capital in 2020 and moved it under the Empower name in 2023. The free app is now Empower Personal Dashboard and the managed service is Empower Personal Strategy.

Which is cheaper, Empower or Vanguard Personal Advisor?

Vanguard Personal Advisor. Its gross all-index fee is 0.35%, about 0.30% after Vanguard’s fund-revenue credit, against Empower’s 0.89% below $1 million and 0.79% on the first $3 million for Private Client.

What is the minimum for Vanguard Personal Advisor?

$50,000. Personal Advisor Select, with a dedicated certified financial planner, requires $500,000.

What is the minimum for Empower’s wealth management?

$100,000 for Investment Services, $250,000 for Wealth Management and $1 million for Private Client.

Is the Empower Personal Dashboard free?

Yes. Empower states that the dashboard and its financial tools, including net-worth tracking, are free. The managed Personal Strategy service is the part that charges an advisory fee.

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This page is an information baseline for comparison only. It is not investment advice and not a recommendation to buy, sell, replace, or transfer any specific asset, account, or firm. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All figures shown are illustrative.