Introducing Exo: your investment co-pilot

The popularity of "robo-advisers" - investment platforms that "automate" the investment process, by setting up a portfolio for users based on a few simple questions about their financial status and attitude to risk has surged in recent years. There are two good reasons for this. Firstly, they take a lot of the complexity out of the investment process. Secondly, they are cheap, certainly when compared with the average "human" financial adviser. Business Insider now expects robo advice technology to account for roughly 10% of global assets under management by 2020. The days of paying over the odds for basic financial advice are now a distant memory for many investors.

The trade-off

So robo advice has unquestionably changed the investment landscape for the better. But there's a trade-off involved. Robo advice platforms might be convenient and easy to use, but they fall short on choice offering off-the-shelf portfolios that simply cannot reflect the unique needs of each individual investor. On the other hand, if you want to have full control over your investments perhaps you want to invest in a specific sector, or avoid particular types of companies then you face paying hefty fees to a wealth manager or other adviser, or you have to take on all the administration and emotional turmoil of managing your money yourself. There is no "in-between" option.

Exo was created to fill this gap in the market, and represents a breakthrough for private investors. Exo was founded by experts with proven experience in investment management, data science and product development. Here's how CEO Lennart Asshoff outlined his vision for the company when speaking to whatinvestment.co.uk recently: "Using the latest advances in quantitative asset management techniques and proven risk management methodology, we are bringing a service historically only available to institutional and private banking clients to the mass market."

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Exo uses algorithms that have been honed over the past 30 years to monitor and finesse your portfolio on a daily basis, continuously managing your risk. This means you don't have to worry about checking your investments every day unless you want to, of course. This helps with one of the biggest stumbling blocks most people run into when directly managing their own portfolios the fact that it's very hard not to act irrationally, especially during times of crisis. We have evolved with a wide range of behavioural biases, such as loss aversion, where we fear losses far more than we value gains. These have proved useful in our evolution as a social animal, but can be lethal for our investments.

This is where Exo comes in. Applying maths rather than emotion to your portfolio makes for smarter decisions and a smoother investment journey. For example, Exo might gradually increase your portfolio's exposure to riskier assets during calmer market times, to improve your chances of positive returns. Conversely, in volatile periods, gradually increasing exposure to safe-haven assets can help to reduce potential losses.

MoneyWeek is written by a team of experienced and award-winning journalists, plus expert columnists. As well as daily digital news and features, MoneyWeek also publishes a weekly magazine, covering investing and personal finance. From share tips, pensions, gold to practical investment tips - we provide a round-up to help you make money and keep it.