Personal Capital Pivoted.
Clarity Stayed Focused.

Personal Capital was acquired by Empower Retirement in 2020 for $1 billion. The app rebranded to Empower and shifted focus:

• Old Focus: Free financial dashboard with optional wealth management
• New Focus: Wealth management + advisory services (0.49-0.89% AUM fees)
• Free Tools Still Available: Net worth tracking, cash flow, investment analysis
• Aggressive Upsells: Persistent calls/emails to convert to paid wealth management

If you just want budgeting, transaction tracking, and daily money management — Empower constantly pushes advisory services you don't need.

Empower is great if you have $100K+ to invest and want professional portfolio management. Clarity is for people who need daily money tracking, budgeting, and crypto support.

1. No Wealth Management Upsells

Empower's free tools exist to convert you into a wealth management client. Their revenue model is 0.49-0.89% AUM fees. On a $500K portfolio, that's $2,450-4,450/year.

Clarity's approach: We're a budgeting tool, not wealth management. You pay $99/year for transaction tracking, budgets, and crypto support. No upsells. No advisor calls.

2. Crypto Support

Empower (like most traditional finance apps) doesn't support crypto. If you own Bitcoin, Ethereum, or any blockchain assets, your net worth is incomplete.

Clarity's approach: Connect exchanges (Coinbase, Kraken, Binance) and blockchain wallets. See TradFi + crypto in one dashboard. FIFO cost basis for tax reporting.

3. Better Budgeting Tools

Empower has budgeting features, but they're secondary to investment tracking. The UI prioritizes portfolio analysis, not daily spending.

Clarity's approach: Budgeting is our core feature. Category budgets with rollover, automatic recurring detection, merchant normalization. Designed for people who want to control spending, not just track investments.

4. Automatic Recurring Detection (Not Manual Tags)

Empower shows subscriptions if you manually categorize them. Most people don't, so hidden subscriptions drain accounts silently.

Clarity's approach: We analyze frequency, amount consistency, and merchant patterns. You see every subscription, even ones you forgot about.

If you're using Empower's free tools but don't want wealth management, switching to Clarity takes 10 minutes:

1. Sign up for Clarity's 14-day trial (no credit card required)
2. Connect your banks via Plaid (same provider Empower uses)
3. Add crypto exchanges/wallets (if you have any)
4. Set category budgets (Clarity auto-suggests based on spending)
5. Review transactions — Clarity learns your patterns
6. Check net worth (TradFi + crypto combined)

You can keep using Empower for investment tracking if you like their portfolio tools. Clarity complements it with better budgeting + crypto.

Empower's Free Tools: Net worth, cash flow, investment tracking, retirement planner (free)

Empower's Wealth Management: 0.49-0.89% AUM (minimum $100K portfolio)

• $100K portfolio = $490-890/year
• $500K portfolio = $2,450-4,450/year
• $1M portfolio = $4,900-8,900/year

Clarity's Pricing: $99/year flat (no AUM fees, no minimums)

• Budgeting + transaction tracking
• Banks + crypto support
• Recurring detection
• Cost basis tracking (crypto)
• No upsells, no advisor calls

If you don't need wealth management, Clarity is $99/year vs Empower's constant upsell pressure.

Clarity is focused on budgeting + crypto. We deliberately skip features Empower has:

• Wealth Management: No advisors, no portfolio rebalancing services
• Retirement Planner: Not available (not our focus)
• Fee Analyzer: Empower's investment fee breakdown tool (not our focus)
• Android App: Not available (web + iOS only)

If you need those features, Empower's free tools are great. If you just want budgeting + crypto, Clarity is the better fit.