I recently spoke with two executives at Jemstep, Kevin Cimring, cofounder and chief operating officer, and Suzanne Pallo, senior director of marketing, about their site, which launched in October and is self-described as "Morningstar meets eHarmony."
"There's a massive void in the market for ordinary investors who need advice as to where to put their money," Cimring said. "Jemstep was created to tackle that problem head-on by using technology and creating an online application that's free and accessible 24/7 to the ordinary investors to optimize their portfolios."
Jemstep rates mutual funds based upon a Jemscore, which is a 1-100 ranking based on how well a fund meets the user's profile. Jemstep's recommendations are non-biased and are based solely upon the perceived fit between a user's goals and mutual funds and ETFs, Cimring says.
Investors can use Jemstep whether their investments are self-directed or they are working with a broker, though Jemstep focuses on long-term investors rather than day-traders.
"Our investment universe is so daunting today with so many options, consumers don't know which way to turn. People are left in a state of analysis paralysis," said Cimring. Pallo suggested that people think of Jemstep as a health check for their portfolios that takes less than five minutes to complete.
The service is free. You begin by providing your first name, zip code, and an e-mail account, then setting a password.
Jemstep asks your investment goals: retirement, college savings, large purchase, building wealth.
You can specify a different goal for each account or a single goal for all of your investment accounts.
