Titan is an investment platform that combines the low cost, hands-off approach of a robo-adviser with a portfolio actively managed by registered advisers with hedge fund creds. The platform isn’t a hedge fund. It’s an investment adviser that combines...

Titan is an investment platform that combines the low cost, hands-off approach of a robo-adviser with a portfolio actively managed by registered advisers with hedge fund creds.

The platform isn’t a hedge fund. It’s an investment adviser that combines efficient technology with creative investing strategies its founders learned while working for hedge funds and other firms.

The app makes these strategies — otherwise reserved for the ultra-wealthy — available to everyday investors with a low minimum investment, relatively low fees and a platform that lets you manage the whole thing from your phone.

In our Titan invest review, we’ll cover everything you need to know about the app, including how it works, what it costs and how to decide whether it’s right for you.

What Is Titan Invest?

Titan is a mobile investing platform that offers actively managed investment portfolios with human investment advisers for as little as you’d pay for most robo-advisors. It uses hedge fund–like strategies in an attempt to beat the market and offer you higher returns than with traditional investments.

Titan is an SEC-registered investment advisor, similar to in-person firms you might use. But it keeps costs low by using its technology for efficient account management and investing strategies. With lower costs to operate, Titan aims to make its aggressive investment strategies available to everyone, not just the ultra-rich.

Titan was founded by Clay Gardner, Joe Percoco and Max Bernardy, who all had experience working at hedge funds and investment banks. Combined, they bring experience as hedge fund advisers and software engineers.

The trio saw that traditional hedge funds — which use more aggressive and atypical investment strategies for the chance of higher returns — were out of reach for most investors because of astronomical investment minimums. They founded Titan to break through that barrier.

How Does Titan Work?

Titan actively manages your investment portfolio for you using its unique software and hedging strategy. As it manages your account, it’ll send you real-time updates (as messages and videos) explaining movements in the market that drive its investment strategy.

Unlike a traditional hedge fund, Titan doesn’t add your money to a pool with other investors’ and make decisions for the whole fund. Your money lives in your own investment account, and Titan manages your portfolio according to your specific investment goals and risk tolerance.

4 Steps to Start Investing With Titan

Open an account. Transfer a minimum of $100 for your first investment. Titan manages your portfolio actively. Get real-time updates about changes affecting your portfolio.

To get started with Titan, you can create your account online or through the Titan app. You’ll need to transfer a minimum of $100 in capital from a linked bank account to start investing.

Money you transfer into your Titan account goes into a Titan Cash account, a cash management account that holds your money before it’s invested. Titan will invest your money using a combination of four investment strategies based on your account balance, investment goals and risk tolerance.

As it works for you, Titan advisers will keep you updated about what’s going on in the market and how it’s driving the firm’s investment strategy. So you’ll be privy to top-of-class investment research without doing the legwork or spending all day under the glow of a Bloomberg Terminal.

How Titan Invests Your Money

Like the hedge funds it emulates, Titan aims to grow your capital at a high rate of return through  investments in stocks. Unlike many brokerage apps, its portfolios don’t include bonds or exchange-traded funds.

Titan uses the Flagship strategy for all investors, and you can opt into the Crypto strategy, regardless of the size of your account. It’ll let you include the Opportunities and Offshore strategies once you’ve deposited at least $10,000 into your Titan account or made two referrals to the app.

Hedging

What sets Titan apart from competitor investment apps is its use of hedging, which uses a strategy called shorting to protect your portfolio from market downturns.

Shorting means selling a stock at a high price that you expect to rebuy later at a lower price for a profit. The practice is known in the industry as downside protection, or a way to earn money even when stock values drop.

Titan hedges a portion of your portfolio based on your risk tolerance.

When the market’s looking good:

Aggressive: 0% of portfolio value is hedged. Moderate: 5% of portfolio value is hedged. Conservative: 10% of portfolio value is hedged.

When the market’s in a downturn:

Aggressive: 5% of portfolio value is hedged. Moderate: 10% of portfolio value is hedged. Conservative: 20% of portfolio value is hedged.

Fractional Share Trading

Like most investment apps, Titan invests your money in fractional shares, or pieces of a stock rather than the whole thing. That means you can own pieces of highly valuable companies without blowing your whole account balance on a single stock.

Research

Titan differs from typical brokerage apps in two major ways: It’s not solely a robo-advisor, but it’s not a platform for self-directed investing. Instead, the app facilitates a cost-efficient relationship with personal investment advisers.

Because the firm makes your investment decisions for you — based on your profile of financial goals and information you provide and update — it keeps you in the loop on what drives those decisions.

You’ll get notifications when major moves happen in the market, like what did Schwab do last quarter or what’s in the news about Tesla?

This is the information Titan’s team of experts uses to choose where to invest your money, and these updates can help you confirm it’s strategy is in line with your goals.

Titan beats traditional hedge fund investing with low minimums and low fees, and it competes with other investing apps by offering hands-on portfolio management for fees comparable to most robo-advisers.

Minimum Investments

The most important difference between Titan and a typical hedge fund is the barrier to entry. Traditional hedge funds are accessible only to accredited investors, who have income of at least $200,000 per year or $1 million net worth. Titan drops that restriction.

To invest with Titan, you have to make a minimum initial investment of just $100 and be based in the United States.

A new IRA also requires a minimum initial deposit of $100.

To include the Opportunities and Offshore strategies in your portfolio, you have to have deposited at least $10,000 into your Titan account (or you can make two referrals to the app).

Titan Fees

Similar to most traditional and online Titan charges an advisory fee that depends on the size of your account:

You’ll pay a fixed monthly fee of $5 from your linked bank account until you’ve deposited a net of $10,000. After you’ve deposited more than $10,000, you’ll pay an annual advisory fee of 1% of your assets under management with Titan, paid monthly from your Titan account.

Unlike traditional hedge funds, it does not charge performance fees, which can significantly eat away at your gains. It also doesn’t charge trading fees, commissions or withdrawal fees.

Like most financial services, Titan charges additional fees for some uncommon actions, including:

Debit card transfers: 0.25% Outgoing wire transfer: $25 domestic, $50 foreign Outgoing ACAT transfers $75 Paper statements: $5 per statement IRA termination: $60

Portfolio Mix

Titan invests your money according to your financial and risk profile, which is based on information you’ll share when you sign up, as well as financial information you can update as you go (like your income).

Based on your profile and your deposit amount, Titan invests using a combination of four branded strategies of your choosing: Flagship, Opportunities, Offshore and Crypto. Each portfolio strategy focus on a different type of asset:

Flagship: U.S. large cap stocks. Opportunities: U.S. small cap stocks. Offshore: International emerging and established markets. Crypto: Cryptoassets.

Titan also deploys hedging and shorts to protect your portfolio from downsides.

Socially Responsible Portfolio Options

Titan doesn’t offer any socially responsible investing (SRI) or ESG investment strategies.

Retirement Account Options

Through Titan, you can open a taxable account, an IRA or both. It offers traditional, Roth, SEP or SIMPLE IRAs.

An IRA lets you invest up to an annual max amount ($6,000 as of 2022) in a tax-advantaged investment account. Contributions to a traditional IRA are tax-deferred until you withdraw. Contributions to a Roth IRA are taxed now but not when you withdraw. SEP and SIMPLE IRAs are accounts that follow the rules of traditional IRAs and are designed for self-employed workers.

College Savings Account

Titan doesn’t offer a 529 college savings account plan.

Tax Strategy

Titan doesn’t use tax loss harvesting in its investment strategy, as advisers that trade in ETFs do.

Tax-loss harvesting is a type of rebalancing that offsets your total capital gains by selling similar assets at a loss. Brokers are able to do this with funds like ETFs but not single stocks, as Titan trades.

Automatic Rebalancing

With a typical investment strategy, a robo-adviser, human adviser or you would check in on your portfolio about once a quarter to see whether the proportions of your investments still match your goals and risk profile.

That’s because those proportions can be thrown out of whack when certain stocks grow and others lose value. That could have a big portion of your portfolio invested in one business sector, for example, which increases your risk for loss if that sector tanks.

Rebalancing sells off some assets and buys others to get your portfolio back in line.

Titan doesn’t automatically rebalance your portfolio on a set schedule, but the Titan team handles all portfolio decisions, including rebalancing, for you, so you don’t have to worry about it.

Human Advisor Option

Investing with Titan connects you with an investment team of real, human registered investment advisers, who actively manage client portfolios based on four set strategies.

As a Titan client, you’ll get updates from the firm’s advisers about activity in the world of business and finance that affects their investment decisions. But you won’t have direct access to a dedicated adviser for personalized professional financial advice.

Cash Management Account

Your Titan Cash account is a secure cash management account that holds any money you deposit to Titan until you choose to invest it (manually or automatically).

The Titan Cash account is only used to hold your funds for investment and doesn’t come with banking features, like a debit card or ATM access.

Customer Support Options

While you don’t have a dedicated financial adviser with the firm, you can reach out anytime for assistance from Titan’s investor relations team.

Email the firm at: support@titan.com

Or find the team on social media at:

Twitter: @titanvest Facebook: @titanvest Instagram: @titanvest

The firm doesn’t list a customer service phone number.

Pros and Cons about Titan

These pros and cons may help you decide if Titan is the right investment platform for you.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Titan

We’ve answered some of the mostly commonly asked questions about Titan.

Dana Sitar is a Certified Educator in Personal Finance®. She’s written about work and money for publications including Forbes, The New York Times, CNBC, The Motley Fool, The Penny Hoarder and a column for Inc. Magazine. She founded Healthy Rich to publish stories that illuminate the diversity of our relationships with work and money.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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