The market for digital financial advice has expanded so rapidlythat you almost need a financial advisor to navigate the options.

More than two decades into the automated movement, assetsmanaged on digital platforms are poised to skyrocket.

According to the Aite Group, a consultant to the financialservices industry, “robos” will be managing $1 trillion by 2020, orfour times the assets managed at the end of 2017. Other research ispredicting an even rapider ascent.

Less certain--to some--is what that will mean for hundreds ofthousands of investment professionals, whose extinction hasbeen predicted by the most evangelical technologists.

Rob Foregger, co-founder of NextCapital Group, says that is notgoing to happen.

“In our view, ‘human vs. computer’ is a false choice, and afalse debate that’s been hyped in the media,” Foregger toldBenefitsPRO.

That’s a telling perspective. As a cofounder of PersonalCapital, the third largest independent retail robo-advisory thatnow manages more than $6 billion, Foregger has been at theforefront of the digital investing movement.

After leaving Personal Capital, he joined with the founders ofBusiness Logic to launch NextCapital in 2014.

The Chicago-based firm’s managed account platform bearssimilarities to other automated providers. Portfolios arecustomized based on inputs like age and risk tolerance. Money isallocated to passively managed ETFs and mutual funds.

NextCapital receives no third-party payments, assuringnon-conflicted fiduciary advice. Glide paths are administeredthrough proprietary methodology--NextCapital’s is based off itsRetirement Index, which tracks asset allocations among the largesttarget-date funds. Investments are automatically rebalanced inaccord with investor goals.

And it’s all done for a relative pittance—25 basis points,according to the firm’s Form ADV filing.

While that could be interpreted as a salvo to incumbent advisormodels, Foregger says NextCapital is betting its technology canactually improve investment providers’ bottom lines.

“Our focus is on augmenting the human advisor, and helping themscale the number of clients they can deliver fiduciary advice to,”said Foregger.

Earlier this month, NextCapital announced $30 million in SeriesC financing led by Oak HC/FT, a venture capital firm specializingin early and growth-stage health care and fin tech companies.

The cash will be used to grow NextCapital’s institutionalbusiness, says Foregger. Partner firms can onboard the managedaccount platform to deliver automated advice through broker andadvisor channels. Russell Investments, State Street GlobalAdvisors, John Hancock, and Transamerica are among the institutionsusing NextCapital’s software.

What the firm does not do is white label one robo-solution,underscored Foregger, who says the firm is focusing on the 50largest financial institutions.

“We help our partners manufacture their own flavor ofpersonalized, scalable advice,” he said. “Different advicemethodologies, capital market assumptions, asset classes,personalization methods—those configuration points are defined bythe partner, and allow for a radically different experience fromone to the next.”

Partner firms also establish their own price for digital advice.NextCapital charges a one-time implementation and configurationfee, and draws fee revenue from assets managed through itsplatforms. “The pricing structure is designed to be highly alignedwith partner success,” said Foregger.

The company would not supply AUM figures, but a spokespersonsaid revenue has more than doubled since its last funding round twoyears ago.

Going forward, Foregger envisions partnerships with DCIOproviders, broker-dealers, and recordkeepers with proprietaryinvestments; some will want a seamless rollover solution embeddedin the technology; others won’t.

Each entity can brand itself through a bespoke, configurableplatform, something Foregger believes all channels will have to doto compete as trillions migrate to automated platforms in the nextdecade.

“The puck is moving to personalized and scalable advice,” saidForegger, who believes the financial services industry willcontinue to transition from a focus on product manufacturing toadvice manufacturing.

Regulatory initiatives—namely, the Labor Department’s fiduciaryrule—have expedited that evolution. But consumer preference willcontinue to drive the trend, he says, irrespective of whether therule lives or dies.

“The move is still afoot to kill the rule outright,” saidForegger. “Mixed signals are being sent, but the spirit of the ruleis in effect. In general, industry continues to prepare for thefiduciary future. It’s going to be the winning business model.”