What Is Personal Capital (Empower) Used For: Features, Reviews & Alternatives
Wealth management & financial tools.
Editorially updated Oct 5, 2025
The overview
What Personal Capital (Empower) is for
1Core Capabilitie
- Net Worth Tracker: Aggregates balances from linked accounts (checking, savings, brokerage, 401k, mortgage, credit cards) to display current net worth
- Cash Flow Analyzer: Categorizes income and expenses from linked accounts to visualize spending pattern
- Investment Portfolio Dashboard: Displays asset allocation, sector diversification, and performance across all linked investment account
- Retirement Planner Tool: Projects future retirement income and expenses based on current savings, contributions, and investment assumption
- Fee Analyzer: Identifies hidden fees within investment accounts, particularly mutual funds and ETF
2Specialized Workflow
- Investment Checkup: Analyzes portfolio risk and suggests rebalancing opportunitie
- Education Planner: Models college savings goals and projected cost
- Financial Advisor Consultation Scheduler: Interface to book a session with a human financial advisor (for paid service)
- Tax Loss Harvesting Watchlist: Identifies potential tax loss harvesting opportunities within taxable brokerage account
Who it helps
Useful ways to use Personal Capital (Empower)
A practical path
Consolidate Financial Account
Navigate to the Personal Capital (Empower) website, sign up or log in. From the dashboard, locate the 'Link Account' option. Select your financial institution (e.g., Fidelity, Vanguard, Chase) and securely enter your online banking credentials to connect your checking, savings, investment, and credit accounts. Repeat for all relevant financial institution
External signals
Reviews & reputation
Aggregated review score
Users praise Personal Capital (Empower) for its robust account aggregation, comprehensive net worth tracking, and intuitive retirement planning tools. The platform is highly valued for providing a holistic view of finances and identifying hidden investment fees. Some feedback notes the persistent promotion of paid advisory services and occasional connectivity issues with less common financial institutions.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions
1How does Personal Capital (Empower) handle data security and privacy for my linked financial accounts?⌄
Personal Capital (Empower) employs bank-level security measures, including AES-256 encryption for data at rest and TLS 1.2 for data in transit. They use multi-factor authentication and do not store your financial institution login credentials directly; instead, they use read-only access via secure third-party aggregators. Your data is used for analysis and reporting within the platform, not for selling to third parties.
2Is there a cost to use the core financial tracking and planning tools, or is it only for paid advisory services?⌄
The core financial aggregation, net worth tracking, budgeting, and retirement planning tools are available for free. The platform generates revenue primarily through its paid advisory services, where users can opt for personalized financial guidance from a human advisor, which typically involves a percentage-based fee on assets under management.
3Can I link all types of financial accounts, including less common ones like HSAs or 529 plans?⌄
Yes, Personal Capital (Empower) aims to support a wide range of financial institutions and account types. This includes standard checking, savings, credit cards, mortgages, and investment accounts (brokerage, 401k, IRA). It also generally supports Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and 529 college savings plans, though connectivity can occasionally vary by specific institution.
4How frequently does the data from my linked accounts refresh, and can I manually trigger a refresh?⌄
Account data typically refreshes automatically multiple times a day, often every 24 hours or more frequently for active accounts. You can also manually trigger a refresh for any individual account or all accounts from the dashboard by clicking the refresh icon, which is useful for seeing the most up-to-date balances and transactions.
5What if I already have a financial advisor? Can I still use Personal Capital (Empower) for tracking without conflicting with their advice?⌄
Absolutely. Many users leverage Personal Capital (Empower) as a powerful aggregation and analysis tool to complement their existing financial advisor relationship. It provides a consolidated view and analytical insights that can be shared with your advisor, enhancing discussions and helping you both monitor progress towards your financial goals. You are not required to use their advisory services to benefit from the free tools.
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