Robo advisors are increasingly growing in popularity, and these automated services are threatening to take huge amounts of business away from traditional financial advisors.

Multiple different segments of the investing public have already taken advantage of robo advisors for a variety of reasons. Many traditional financial advisors have decided to work cooperatively with robo advisors rather than try to compete with them directly, and this strategy has helped streamline the process and reduce costs.

Millennials use robo advisors because they remove the perceived "guess work" out of investing, which provides a measure of comfort to hesitant millennial investors. And often, robo advisors offer cheaper fees than human advisors, which also makes them attractive to this group.

And retirees and high net worth individuals can often test robo advisors because they have more disposable income.

But which robo advisor should you use?

To help you narrow down the choices, BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has decided to review some of the most popular robo advisors on the market to help you make the most informed decision.

In this article, we'll cover Motif.

• Motif Review Summary
• Fees & Pricing
• AUM, Returns, & Portfolio Performance
• Services Provided
• Competitors
• More Information

Motif Review Summary

Motif is aptly named, as the robo advisor offers investors the ability to invest in themed portfolios, or "motifs." These are essentially bundles made up of a maximum of 30 stocks and ETFs. These motif typically follow specific investing themes or industries, such as biotech, cybersecurity, mining, retail, and more, but customers have the option of customizing their own portfolios. As a result, Motif is a great fit for investors who want to make the transition from traditional human advisors to robo advisors.

• Assets Under Management (AUM): N/A
• Minimum Account Balance: $0
• Fee Range: 0%
• Account Types: Individual, Joint, 401K, Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, Rollover IRA
• Services: Portfolio Rebalancing, Mobile App

Motif Fees & Pricing 

Motif does not have a minimum account requirement, but you must deposit at least $300 to invest in a motif. To trade on margin, you must have a minimum balance of $2,000.

Motif does not charge any management or advisory fees, but it does charge a flat fee of $9.95 per motif trade and $4.95 for a single stock trade. 

Bear in mind, the company's robo advisor comes through a subscription service called Motif Blue for as low as $4.95 a month. 

Motif AUM, Returns, & Portfolio Performance

Motif Blue claims an average annualized return of 16.3% as of October 6, 2016. The robo advisor also notes that its top five performing motifs and their returns are:

1. China Internet: 34.4%
2. Battling Cancer: 36.6%
3. Social Networking: 41.1%
4. Online Gaming World: 49.0%
5. Precious Metals: 59.0%

Motif Features

Motif offers the basic set of features that most other robo advisors do, which makes it an easy entry point for those who want to test out automated investing.

• Portfolio Rebalancing:  The robo advisor will use its algorithms to reinvest your money by automatically rebalancing your portfolio to reduce risk and boost returns.
• Commission-Free Trades: Motif Blue charges no commission on trades from recurring investing and rebalancing, which should ultimately give you more to invest.
• Mobile App: Motif has a mobile app for iPhone and Android devices, but does not yet have one for the iPad or Android tablet.

Motif Competitors

Motif stacks up extremely well compared to its peers in many aspects, but it certainly has some weaknesses when compared to other robo advisors.

The lack of a minimum account requirement should make Motif extremely enticing for new or inexperienced investors (even the $300 required to invest in a motif is reasonable). Betterment and Hedgeable both have no minimum, while WiseBanyan has a $1 requirement. Wealthfront and TradeKing Advisors, meanwhile, carry a $500 minimum, while SigFig requires $2,000. Other companies have even higher minimums, such as FutureAdvisor ($3,000), Schwab Intelligent Portfolio ($5,000), and Personal Capital ($25,000). But none of these touch Vanguard's dollar amount.

With regard to management fees, Motif's relatively cheap but flat fee of $9.95 to trade motifs and $4.95 to trade stocks is extremely attractive. Now let's take a look at some other robo advisors.

SigFig has a 0.25% fee, while Betterment carries a range of 0.15% to 0.35% for their non-Plus and non-Premium accounts. And FutureAdvisor charges a flat 0.5% fee. And Schwab Intelligent Portfolio charges 0.08% for conservative portfolios, 0.19% for moderate-risk portfolios, and 0.24% for aggressive portfolios.

These percentages would lead to a wide range of fees depending on how much you have in your account, so the choice ultimately comes down to the investor. Would you prefer a flat fee, or a percentage based on other factors?

More to Learn

Motif is just one of the many robo advisors on the market, and each has its own strengths and weaknesses.

That's why BI Intelligence spent months putting together the greatest and most exhaustive guide on robo advisors entitled The Robo-Advising Report: Market forecasts, key growth drivers, and how automated asset management will change the advisory industry.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide to the payments industry, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the Complete Robo-Advisor Research Collection, which contains 5 in-depth reports, slide decks, and appendices. >> BUY THE BUNDLE
3. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the fast-moving world of robo advisors.