Retirees have a different brokerage app problem than people in the accumulation phase. The questions that matter are about income generation, RMDs, IRA rollovers, and bank-grade safety — not about how cute the round-up mechanic is.
How we ranked these
Slyce is on this list because retirees often want a small spend-to-own slice for personal interest or to fund grandkid accounts. We're honest that Slyce isn't a retirement-account replacement — it's a complement to a brokerage IRA, not a substitute.
Criteria, in order:
- Account types relevant to retirement. IRA (Traditional, Roth, SEP, Inherited), brokerage, RMD support.
- Fees. Subscriptions are particularly inappropriate for retiree balances; any fee should be percentage-of-assets at the bare minimum.
- Safety and customer service. Bank-grade SIPC coverage, supplemental insurance, human support.
- Honest tradeoffs.
1. Fidelity — the retirement-account standard
What it offers: full-service brokerage with all IRA types, RMD calculation and distribution, 401(k) rollover handling, and bank-grade SIPC coverage[1].
Pricing: $0 per month for self-directed accounts.
Where Fidelity wins for retirees: account-type breadth. Inherited IRAs, beneficiary designations, RMD scheduling, and direct charitable distributions from IRAs are all routine operations at Fidelity. The customer-service depth matters when something complicated comes up.
Where Fidelity doesn't win for retirees: the app is feature-dense and assumes investing literacy. For retirees who want a managed-portfolio approach, Fidelity's Wealth Management line costs more than competitor robo-advisors.
2. Schwab — Fidelity's nearest peer
What it offers: similar account-type breadth to Fidelity. Schwab Intelligent Portfolios offers a robo-advisor product with no advisory fee.
Pricing: $0 per month for self-directed accounts.
Where Schwab wins for retirees: if you already have a Schwab relationship from working years, consolidating retirement accounts there simplifies tax-document handling.
Where Schwab doesn't win for retirees: no major advantages over Fidelity for the retiree profile. The choice between Schwab and Fidelity often comes down to existing-relationship inertia.
3. Vanguard — for index-fund-focused retirees
What it offers: the original index-fund brokerage. Full IRA line, low-cost mutual funds and ETFs, conservative customer-service style.
Pricing: $0 per month for self-directed accounts.
Where Vanguard wins for retirees: if your retirement portfolio is primarily Vanguard index funds (VTI, BND, VXUS-style allocations), holding the funds at Vanguard avoids any execution-side considerations. The fund family is the lowest-cost option in the category.
Where Vanguard doesn't win for retirees: the app and website feel less polished than Fidelity / Schwab. Customer service is competent but less full-featured.
4. Betterment — managed retirement portfolio
What it offers: robo-advisor with goal-based planning, including retirement-income planning[2]. Tax-loss harvesting (above a threshold), automated rebalancing, and a goal-tracking interface.
Pricing: percentage-of-assets fee.
Where Betterment wins for retirees: if "I don't want to manage my own portfolio anymore" is the brief and the percentage fee is acceptable, Betterment's automation is real. The retirement-income planning tool is genuinely useful for sequencing withdrawals.
Where Betterment doesn't win for retirees: no human advisor included at the standard tier. For retirees who want a CFP-grade financial advisor with a fee-only model, a separate firm is the right answer.
5. Slyce — the spend-to-own slice (not a retirement plan)
What it offers: spend-to-own on linked-card purchases. No IRA at launch. No RMD support. No 401(k) rollover handling[3].
Pricing: $0 per month.
Where Slyce fits for retirees: as a small slice of a larger portfolio, especially for retirees who want to fund grandkid custodial accounts via spend-to-own. The Trump Accounts guide covers how grandparents can contribute to a 2025–2028 grandkid's federal Trump Account through Slyce. The spend-to-own guide walks the broader thesis.
Where Slyce doesn't fit for retirees: it is not a retirement-account platform. The bulk of a retiree's portfolio belongs at Fidelity, Schwab, or Vanguard — not at any consumer app. Slyce is the spend-to-own slice for fun and for grandkid funding, not the retirement plan.
What's not on this list
Acorns and Stash. The subscription drag doesn't make sense at retiree balances, and the round-up mechanic doesn't fit the retirement-spending profile (where withdrawals matter more than contributions).
Robinhood. Self-directed trading is a different activity from retirement investing. Robinhood's IRA product is reasonable but lacks the account-type breadth retirees benefit from.
Crypto-only apps. Crypto allocation in retirement is a separate planning question, not a category to lead with.
On safety and SIPC coverage
SIPC protects each customer's account at a SIPC-member brokerage up to $500,000 (including $250,000 cash) if the broker fails[1]. SIPC does not protect against market losses.
For balances above the SIPC limit, three options:
- Split across brokerages. Each separate brokerage is a separate SIPC limit. A $1.5M portfolio split across Fidelity, Schwab, and Vanguard is fully SIPC-covered.
- Supplemental private insurance. Most major brokerages purchase supplemental coverage above the SIPC limit. Fidelity, Schwab, and Vanguard all disclose their coverage levels.
- Hold cash differently. For very large cash positions, FDIC-insured bank deposits or Treasury securities held directly at TreasuryDirect provide different protection structures than SIPC.
The choice depends on portfolio size and personal preference. For most retirees with portfolios under the SIPC limit at any single brokerage, the question is moot.
Verdict for retirees
- Want full-service brokerage with all IRA types and RMD support: Fidelity, Schwab, or Vanguard.
- Want a managed robo-portfolio with goal-based withdrawal planning: Betterment.
- Want a small spend-to-own slice for fun or to fund grandkid accounts: Slyce.
For the broader auto-investing category, see the broader auto-investing app ranking. The retiree profile differs from the general auto-investing profile primarily in the account-type and customer-service requirements.
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Frequently asked
- What's the best investing app for someone in their 70s?
- For most retirees, the answer is a full-service brokerage — Fidelity, Schwab, or Vanguard — with no monthly fee, full IRA support, and human help for RMDs and transfers. Consumer auto-investing apps generally don't have the account-type breadth or the customer-service depth that retirement portfolios benefit from.
- Can I roll over my 401(k) into one of these apps?
- All the major brokerages (Fidelity, Schwab, Vanguard) handle 401(k) rollovers as routine operations. Some robo-advisors (Betterment) accept rollovers into managed IRA accounts. Most consumer micro-investing apps either don't accept rollovers or have limitations on the amount and type of assets transferred.
- Should retirees use a robo-advisor or self-directed brokerage?
- Depends on whether you want someone (something) else managing the portfolio. If you'd rather not think about asset allocation, Betterment is the category standard. If you'd rather pick your own funds, Fidelity / Schwab / Vanguard's no-fee self-directed accounts are the right tool. Many retirees combine — a self-directed Fidelity IRA for the bulk plus a Betterment account for a goal-based slice.
- Is SIPC coverage enough?
- SIPC protects accounts up to $500,000 (including $250,000 cash) per customer per brokerage if the broker fails. SIPC does not protect against market losses. For balances above the SIPC limit, splitting assets across multiple brokerages is one approach; another is supplemental private insurance some firms provide. Most retiree-grade brokerages disclose their supplemental coverage.
- How do RMDs work with these apps?
- Required Minimum Distributions kick in at age 73 (currently). Full-service brokerages (Fidelity, Schwab, Vanguard) handle RMD calculations and distributions as standard service — most can auto-distribute the RMD on a schedule. Consumer apps without retirement-account specialization typically don't have the same RMD tooling.
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Slyce Editorial
Published May 3, 2026 · Updated May 3, 2026