This past fall, after his upstart automated investment management firm secured a $64 million capital infusion, Wealthfront CEO Adam Nash outlined an ambitious plan to conquer the millennial market for financial advice, if not to alter the course of the entire advisory segment, declaring that "the future [of investment management] is automated."

"We don't believe we'll kill Charles Schwab," Nash wrote in a blog post on the Wealthfront website. "It is a great company, albeit focused on a different customer — the baby boomer. We do believe, however, that we'll force Charles Schwab to become even better."

A week later, Schwab CEO Walt Bettinger went out of his way at the firm's annual IMPACT conference to assure advisors that his own company's soon-to-be-released "robo" online advice platform poses no competitive threat to them. 

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