What does Voya Financial do?
Voya Financial is a retirement, employee benefits, and investment management company whose services include workplace retirement plans, employee benefits, participant advice, and investment management.
Mainly serves:
- Employers
- Retirement plan participants
- Individual investors
- Institutions
Voya Financial Advisors is an SEC-registered investment adviser and broker-dealer and operates as an affiliate of Voya Financial. The firm has provided investment advisory services since 1994, while its broker-dealer operations date back to 1968 through predecessor firms.
As of December 31, 2025, it reported approximately $3.8 billion in non-discretionary assets under management (AUM) and $69.7 million in discretionary AUM.
The main investment products available through Voya Financial Advisors (VFA) include mutual funds, ETFs, fixed-income securities, bonds, stocks, separately managed accounts, model portfolios, Voya-affiliated funds and portfolios, and certain annuity- or insurance-related products.
Key service:
- Plan sponsor services: VFA provides consulting and advisory services to employer-sponsored retirement plans.
- Participant retirement advice: Voya retirement advisors offer Morningstar-powered online advice for point-in-time recommendations and professional management for ongoing managed account services where available.
- Unified managed account programs: VFA offers wrap-fee managed accounts that can combine strategists, mutual funds, ETFs, fixed income, model portfolios, stocks, and bonds into a single account.
- Third-party money manager programs: VFA may recommend unaffiliated managers based on the client’s objectives, account size, risk tolerance, and investment preferences.
- Financial planning and workplace guidance: VFA provides one-time or annual financial planning and consulting.
Investment approach:
Its advisory approach is mainly goals-based and allocation-driven.
VFA’s investment adviser representatives may use asset allocation, fundamental analysis, technical analysis, cyclical analysis, quantitative and qualitative analysis, mutual fund and ETF analysis, and third-party money manager analysis when developing advice or selecting investment programs.
Strategies may include long- or short-term purchases, as appropriate for the client’s objectives, risk tolerance, time horizon, and liquidity needs. For retirement plan participants, Voya’s advice is shaped by the investment options selected by the plan sponsor.
What are the pros and cons of Voya Financial?
Here is a look at the pros and cons of Voya Financial.
Pros of Voya Financial:
- Workplace focus: Retirement, benefits, health accounts, and participant experience can sit in one ecosystem.
- Investment management depth: Voya investment management (IM) offers active public and private market strategies across fixed income, equity, multi-asset, and alternatives.
- Goals-based retirement planning: The disclosed advice process considers factors such as goals, risk tolerance, time horizon, liquidity needs, retirement income needs, and asset allocation, rather than relying only on generic investment selection.
Cons of Voya Financial:
- Fee structure can be complex: Fees vary by service, plan, program, advisor, account type, and investment option.
- Online Advice is limited: Voya’s Online Advice provides point-in-time asset allocation recommendations, but it is not an ongoing management service.
- Investment choices may be constrained: For retirement plan participants, advice is based on the investment options selected by the plan sponsor. For VFA advisory clients, available products and strategies can also depend on the advisory program, product shelf, share classes, and strategist options.
Voya Financial fees: How much does Voya Financial cost?
Voya Financial’s costs vary by service, plan, advisory program, and employer arrangement.
Service or program | Fee |
|---|---|
Online advice | No additional cost |
Professional management | Asset-based participant fee does not exceed 0.65% annually |
Plan sponsor services | Negotiable. Asset-based fees up to 100 basis points, hourly fees up to $500 per hour, or flat fees up to $100,000 per plan per year. |
Third-party money manager programs | Range from 0.75% to 2.50% |
Financial planning or consulting services | Flat or hourly fee, based on the nature and complexity of the services. |
Unified Managed Account Program and Investor Channel Unified Managed Account Program:
Portfolio value tier | Annual total client fee |
|---|---|
First $0 – $250,000 | 2.75% |
Next $250,001 – $500,000 | 2.75% |
Next $500,001 – $1,000,000 | 2.50% |
Next $1,000,001 – $2,000,000 | 2.35% |
Next $2,000,001 – $5,000,000 | 2.10% |
Next $5,000,001 – $10,000,000 | 2.05% |
Next $10,000,001 and over | 2.00% |
Users should also consider fund expenses, ETF expenses, custodial charges, paper statement fees, transaction charges, and others.
What is Voya Financial’s minimum account size?
Voya does not disclose a universal minimum for all services. The investor channel unified managed account program generally requires a $1,000 minimum, though this may vary depending on the selected strategist.
The Fidelity Program has a $5,000 minimum but is closed to new clients. Other minimums may depend on the advisory program, plan, or investment strategy.
Who should choose Voya Financial?
Voya may work well for employers and employees who want retirement, benefits, and investment tools through a single workplace-oriented provider.
Voya Financial works well for:
- Employers seeking integrated benefits and retirement administration: Voya emphasizes configurable workplace solutions covering retirement savings, health accounts, and supplemental benefits.
- Participants wanting guided retirement help: Online Advice and Professional Management may suit employees who want retirement projections, allocation guidance, or ongoing managed account support.
- Institutions or advisors seeking Voya IM strategies: Voya investment management (IM) offers broad active strategies across major asset classes.
Who might not benefit as much:
- Users who want simple, transparent pricing: Some fees are plan-specific, negotiated, or available only in plan documents.
- Investors looking for a simple standalone investment account: Voya’s services are mainly built around workplace retirement, employee benefits, plan-based advice, and advisor-supported investment programs. Some investors may find the platform broader and more complex than needed.
- Participants who want broader investment choice: Voya’s retirement-plan advice is based on the investment options selected by the plan sponsor, so participants using VRA powered by Morningstar receive guidance within the plan’s available investment menu rather than across the full investment market.
Voya Financial: Is it secure?
Voya Financial has several account-protection and cybersecurity measures, but its investment and retirement services still involve market risk. VFA is dually registered as an SEC-registered investment adviser and broker-dealer.
Voya’s Secure Accounts for Everyone (S.A.F.E.) guarantee provides account-restoration protection against unauthorized activity for eligible workplace retirement plan accounts and Voya-administered IRAs.
Voya also offers cybersecurity measures, including multi-factor authentication, biometrics, secure emails, time logoffs, ISO 27001 compliance, and annual third-party revalidation.
However, the ADV also discloses past disciplinary matters, including a 2018 SEC cybersecurity-related order and other regulatory actions, which are relevant to a risk review.
Voya Financial: Customer service
Voya provides different support channels depending on the user type. It lists phone support for health account customers, individual investors, financial professionals, institutional investors, retirement consultants, nonqualified deferred compensation, Select Advantage, and Voya Financial Advisors.
Voya for advisory accounts, IARs generally offer to meet at least annually to review performance, changes in goals, and account restrictions.
Voya Financial: what real customers are saying?
Many discussions focus on Voya’s retirement accounts, 401(k) rollovers, distributions, loans, workplace benefits claims, account access, paperwork, and customer service.
One user said, “The more positive comments tend to focus on individual service interactions, retirement-plan tools, and successful account support…”
However, more cautious reviews point to Voya’s workplace retirement accounts, 401(k) rollovers, account transfers, withdrawals, workplace-benefit claims, loan requests, forms, website navigation, and customer support
One user said, “It’s typically a simple form to rollover a 401k; however, their site doesn’t allow access to those forms.” Another said, “I have contacted Voya six times to answer 2 simple questions regarding their own forms and process.” Other comments describe delayed distributions, confusing paperwork, and difficulty reaching staff who can resolve issues.
Voya Financial: Mobile App
Voya has a dedicated official mobile app called Voya. The app is mainly designed for users with Voya retirement, health savings, and investment accounts. Its core functions include viewing and managing eligible Voya accounts, linking outside accounts such as checking, savings, and credit cards, tracking financial goals, accessing personalized guidance, and using retirement-planning tools.
For retirement users, the app can support account monitoring and retirement income modelling through Voya’s digital tools; for workplace-benefits users, available features depend on the employer plan and account type.
Is Voya Financial worth it?
Voya Financial may be worth considering for employers and participants who value an integrated retirement, workplace benefits, and investment management platform.
Its strengths are scale, plan sponsor services, participant advice tools, workplace benefits integration, and Voya IM’s broad investment capabilities.
The main trade-offs are fee complexity and program-by-program variation.
Overall, Voya appears better suited to workplace-based retirement and benefits users than to investors seeking a simple, low-cost, fully transparent standalone investment account.
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