The S&P isn't risk-free! The only risk-free asset is US Treasury bonds, because we assume US Treasury can't default on payments. The goal of a robo advisor, fo

The S&P isn't risk-free! The only risk-free asset is US Treasury bonds, because we assume US Treasury can't default on payments. The goal of a robo advisor, for most people, is not to beat the S&P, but to balance risk and reward according to the individual's time horizon and risk profile without any manual intervention. Beating the S&P is a fun game for people who want to spend time on it, but this isn't for the general populace. If you want to beat the S&P and you're okay with above-average risk, but also want a completely hands-off approach, I would suggest 100% PSLDX [1]. It's a hybrid active/passive mutual fund that uses buy derivatives (futures and swaps), collateralized by bonds, to boost S&P returns. The high (1.01%) fee only looks high until you look at the returns; most years, it does 20-30%. Its return in 2019 was 52%. In theory, it should do only slightly worse than the S&P in a bad year. Another interesting futures-based fund is NTSX [2]. It's pretty new, but it's consistently beat the S&P since inception, and did very well in the March dip. [1] https://www.morningstar.com/funds/xnas/psldx/quote https://www.morningstar.com/funds/xnas/psldx/quote [2] https://www.morningstar.com/etfs/arcx/ntsx/quote https://www.morningstar.com/etfs/arcx/ntsx/quote