Wealthfront looks to make sure millennials never have to talk to an actual financial planner

Wealthfront has a mission: To make sure millennials never have to talk to a real-life financial planner ever again.

The investing robo-advisor is expanding into financial planning with an interactive feature that lets its clients find answers to retirement questions from the app — not a finance professional.

Through Path, its new financial planning feature, Wealthfront hopes to replace financial advisors at Goldman Sachs for couples in their 30s and 40s. Unlike firms like Goldman, Wealthfront doesn't require a $1 million minimum from clients. And Wealthfront thinks its software gives better and more convenient advice than an advisor ever could.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

"Meeting with a financial advisor twice a year is disconnected, impersonal and slow. That's why we challenged our team to build the first fully mobile financial planning experience that was more personal, connected and instant than any financial advisor could ever be," Wealthfront co-founder Dan Carroll said. "This is a model that fits into our clients' ever changing lives and is a model that they demand and trust."

Path monitors all of a user's accounts and assets, including 401(k)s, college savings accounts, checking accounts and mortgages. The iOS, Android and web app follows three main factors — current spending, current saving and future retirement age — to advise and shape a client's financial future.

Users — 90 percent of whom are under 50 years old — set their goals for retirement and can play with an interactive graph to figure out what different financial futures would look like. The graph will show what would happen if a client saved an extra $200 a month, for example, or how much more a client would need to save monthly now to reach a new retirement goal. Those are the kind of questions that, traditionally, would require a conversation with a finance expert instead of a few swipes on an app.

Wealthfront is doubling down on software while many of its competitors are seeking a more human approach to robo-advising. Betterment added new subscription tiers for higher net-worth investors that come with human expertise just this week.