Ask Matt: Are 'roboadvisors' for me?

Q: Are "roboadvisors" for me?

A: Here's my bottom line on roboadvisors. They're better than doing nothing with your money. But if you're willing or interested in maximizing your portfolio - you can do better.

Roboadvisors are taking the investment business by storm. These online services that will pick stocks and investments for you - and keep your portfolio in balance - are catching on with people who know they should invest, but don't care to learn how to do it. Just answer a few questions, and roboadvisors like Betterment or Schwab's Intelligent Portfolios will have you set up with a diversified portfolio.

When it comes to ease and simplicity, it's hard to beat the roboadvisors. So if you're the kind of person who probably will never take the time to learn about investing - these services a pretty good option. Roboadvisors usually build a portfolio using relatively low cost exchange-traded funds.

But here's why taking a little bit of time to learn about investing can pay off. If you build your own portfolio - for instance - you can reduce some of the fees these services charge. Betterment, for instance, charges you 0.35% a year with account balances up to $10,000. You can also customize your account more ideally. Schwab's roboadvisor might put a chunk of your portfolio in cash, which pays 0% interest.

Paste BN markets reporter Matt Krantz answers a different reader question every weekday. To submit a question, e-mail Matt at mkrantz@usatoday.com or on Twitter @mattkrantz.