(New York)

The supposed battle between robo advisors and human advisors has largely fizzled. Evidence indicates that robos are not stealing funds from human advisors, but are instead attracting entirely new ones, increasing the total fee pool overall. However, a new robo has just launched that should perhaps be worrisome. Discount ecommerce retailer Overstock.com, which has a very diversified base of businesses, has just launched a flat fee ($9.95 per month) robo advisor. While the platform itself should not worry advisors, the implication is that much bigger tech players, like Amazon, may soon be involved, which could dramatically change the landscape.

FINSUM: If Amazon, or any of the other huge tech companies, started robo advisors, then there could be a legitimate issue for human advisors.