Wealthsimple investing comes in three forms (self-directed trading, Automated Investing and managed portfolios), and this review covers the managed side: the robo-advisor many Canadians still call Wealthsimple Invest. It sets out what the service charges at each client tier, what the Classic, Summit, Income and Halal portfolios hold, where cheaper options like XEQT and Questwealth win, and who should skip it. Fees and features come from Wealthsimple’s pricing page, its managed-investing fee schedule and its portfolio pages, checked September 23, 2026; the Summit and Halal sections were re-checked against Wealthsimple’s Summit page and help centre on October 7, 2026.
Wealthsimple managed investing at a glance
| Feature | Core | Premium | Generation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Management fee | 0.50% a year (better on this row) | 0.40% a year | from 0.4% down to 0.2% a year |
| Total Wealthsimple assets needed | $1 in assets | $100,000 | $500,000 |
| Rebalancing, dividend reinvesting, auto-deposits | Included | Included | Included |
| Tax-loss harvesting | Not included | Included (better on this row) | Included |
| Asset location | Not included | Not included | Included (better on this row) |
| Portfolio line of credit rate | 4.95% | 4.45% | 3.95% |
Sources: Wealthsimple pricing page and the Wealthsimple Investments Inc. Managed Investing Fee Schedule, checked September 23, 2026. Fund MERs and sales tax are charged on top of the management fee.
Per Wealthsimple’s pricing page (September 2026), Core clients pay 0.50% a year, Premium clients (anyone with $100,000 or more at Wealthsimple) pay 0.40% a year, and Generation clients ($500,000 or more) pay 0.4% at $500,000, falling to 0.2% only at $10,000,000 or more. Every tier gets automatic rebalancing, dividend reinvesting and weekly, bi-weekly or monthly auto-deposits. Tax-loss harvesting starts at Premium, and asset location, which places each holding in the account type where it’s taxed least, is Generation-only. The line-of-credit rates in the last row are covered further down.
What is Wealthsimple managed investing?
Wealthsimple managed investing is a robo-advisor: you tell Wealthsimple your goals, timeline and risk tolerance, and it builds, buys, rebalances and reinvests a portfolio for you.
Behind that sentence sit a few specific jobs. Wealthsimple picks a portfolio that matches your answers, invests each deposit, rebalances when deposits, withdrawals, goal changes or price moves push the mix off target, and uses dividends to buy whichever ETFs are underweight. Its pricing page describes the management fee as payment for exactly those tasks.
The name causes most of the confusion. Wealthsimple’s site still lists “Invest” and “Trade” as separate products, but its pricing page and fee schedule call the robo service “managed investing”. So a search for “Wealthsimple vs Wealthsimple Invest” is usually weighing the self-directed app against this managed service. In practice there are three ways to invest at Wealthsimple:
| Self-directed (Wealthsimple Trade) | Automated Investing | Managed investing | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who picks the investments | You | You | Wealthsimple |
| Who keeps the mix on target | You | Wealthsimple, when you deposit or tap rebalance | Wealthsimple, automatically |
| Ongoing cost | $0 commission on listed Canadian and US stocks and ETFs, plus fund MERs | 0.25%, capped at $250 per account per year, plus fund MERs | 0.50% a year at Core, plus fund MERs |
| Suits | Investors with a plan who want the lowest cost | Investors who know what to hold but not the upkeep | Investors who want no investment decisions |
Self-directed trading costs $0 in commission on listed Canadian and US stocks and ETFs, but a Wealthsimple Trade portfolio is only as good as the choices you make in it. The managed service removes those choices, and that’s what the fee buys. For the dollar-by-dollar cost of doing it yourself instead, see Wealthsimple managed vs XEQT.
How much are Wealthsimple managed account fees?
Wealthsimple charges 0.50% a year for Core clients, 0.40% a year for Premium and from 0.4% down to 0.2% a year for Generation, plus the funds’ own MERs.
The headline rate is only part of the bill. The managed-investing fee schedule, published by Wealthsimple Investments Inc., sets out how the rest works:
- Your tier depends on everything you hold at Wealthsimple. The rate is set by the higher of your net deposits or your total assets across your Wealthsimple accounts. The pricing page counts TFSAs, RRSPs, RESPs, LIRAs and non-registered accounts, whether managed or self-directed, plus crypto, savings and chequing balances. The fee itself is charged only on managed accounts.
- It accrues daily and comes out monthly. The annual rate is applied to each day’s closing value, and the total is deducted from your account at the end of the month. If you close the account or withdraw everything, the accrued fee is due right away.
- Sales tax is added. The fee schedule says Wealthsimple’s fees are taxed the same way a store purchase is, so your province’s sales tax comes on top of the quoted rate.
- The Money Market portfolio is exempt. Money held in it isn’t counted when the management fee is calculated.
- Fund MERs come on top. The ETFs inside each portfolio charge their own management expense ratios, which reduce the fund prices rather than showing up as a charge. Wealthsimple says it tries to negotiate MER rebates with outside fund companies and, when it succeeds, shares the benefit with you through the ETF prices. Where a portfolio uses Wealthsimple’s own ETFs, such as those in an SRI portfolio, the fee schedule discloses that Wealthsimple receives part of the MER.
- Currency conversion has its own fee. When a managed portfolio buys or sells US-dollar ETFs, a conversion fee set out in the fee schedule applies. It is lower than the 1.5% that self-directed Canadian-dollar accounts pay on US trades.
The Premium line: why a bigger balance can cost less
Because your whole managed balance moves to the lower rate once you become Premium, crossing $100,000 can shrink your fee in dollars even as your balance grows.
- A managed balance of $95,000 at the Core rate costs $475 a year.
- At $100,000, the fee becomes $400 a year, which is $75 less on a bigger balance.
- The money that tips you over doesn’t need to be in the managed account. Keep the same $95,000 managed, add $5,000 to Wealthsimple Chequing or a self-directed TFSA, and you’re Premium: the managed fee drops to $380 a year, a saving of $95 a year.
If you’re close to the line, consolidating another account at Wealthsimple is the simplest way to cut the fee. When you transfer an account in from another institution, its exit fee is reimbursed on transfers of $25,000 or more, up to $150 per account.
The Generation line works differently. Generation’s fee starts at the same rate as Premium, 0.4% at $500,000, falling to 0.2% only at $10,000,000 or more, so for most people reaching $500,000 adds asset location rather than a lower fee.
What the fee does to a balance over 25 years
A fee charged on your whole balance compounds just as returns do. Whatever the market does, a lump sum that pays 0.50% a year for 25 years ends up about 12% smaller than the same money with no management fee.
| Annual cost layer | Ending lump sum after 25 years, compared with no fee |
|---|---|
| Wealthsimple Core fee (0.50% a year) | about 12% smaller |
| Wealthsimple Premium fee (0.40% a year) | about 9.5% smaller |
| Questwealth fee (0.25%) | about 6% smaller |
| XEQT’s whole MER (0.19%) | about 4.6% smaller |
At the Premium rate the 25-year gap narrows to about 9.5%, Questwealth’s fee costs about 6%, and XEQT’s entire MER costs about 4.6%. Two caveats keep this honest. The Wealthsimple and Questwealth rows are the management fee alone, and each portfolio’s fund MERs come on top, while the XEQT row is that fund’s entire ongoing cost. And money you add later is exposed for fewer years, so a monthly saver’s total drag is smaller than the lump-sum figure.
To project your own contributions, use YieldMaple’s compound interest calculator and lower the return you enter by your fee rate, which turns it into a simple Wealthsimple investment calculator.
Which Wealthsimple portfolios can you choose?
Wealthsimple’s managed lineup has three families on its public menu (Classic, Summit and Income), plus a Private Market fund, advisor-led Wealth Management for larger accounts, and a Halal portfolio that now appears only in its help centre.
| Wealthsimple portfolio | What it holds | Approximate fund MERs | Wealthsimple fee at Core |
|---|---|---|---|
| Classic | Global stock ETFs, plus bonds and gold at lower risk levels | about 0.08% to 0.12% | 0.50% a year |
| Summit | Public stocks, bonds and gold plus 20% to 30% of the portfolio in private markets | Not published as one figure; private managers’ fees are built into the fund’s returns | 0.50% a year on the public part, 1% a year on the private part |
| Income | Bonds, dividend stocks or a money market fund | Varies by portfolio | 0.50% a year (Money Market: none) |
| Halal | WSHR, gold and non-interest-bearing cash | about 0.24% to 0.56% | Standard tier fee (0.50% a year at Core) |
Per Wealthsimple’s help centre (checked October 7, 2026), Classic portfolios carry fund MERs of about 0.08% to 0.12% and the Halal portfolio about 0.24% to 0.56%, both on top of the 0.50% a year Core management fee. A Summit portfolio pays 0.50% a year at Core on its public part and 1% a year on the 20% to 30% of the portfolio held in private markets.
Classic portfolios
Classic is the standard robo portfolio and what most people mean by a Wealthsimple managed portfolio. Per Wealthsimple’s Classic page, it holds a diversified mix of low-fee ETFs across global stock markets, with a lean toward companies whose traits (investment factors) have historically been linked to stronger long-term returns. Bonds and gold are added to the lower-risk versions, and risk levels run from a conservative option to an equity-heavy growth portfolio. Wealthsimple also picks ETFs with your account type and tax situation in mind. Classic pays the standard tier fee, 0.50% a year for Core clients, and its ETFs carry MERs of about 0.08% to 0.12%, per Wealthsimple’s MER help article.
Summit portfolios
Summit adds private equity, private credit and private infrastructure to a public-market portfolio, in Aggressive, Growth and Balanced versions that Wealthsimple labels high-risk. It has its own fee layers, eligibility rules and withdrawal timing, covered in full in the Summit section below. It is not a free upgrade to Classic.
Income portfolios: Wealthsimple’s cash and bond options
Income portfolios are Wealthsimple’s low-risk choices for money you’ll need in the short or medium term:
- Vanguard Income: bonds plus dividend-paying stocks, built with Vanguard.
- Core Bond: government and corporate bonds.
- Money Market: earns interest on overnight deposits and charges no Wealthsimple management fee.
The first two pay the standard tier fee. There are no lock-ups or withdrawal penalties, though a sale takes one to two business days to process; interest is paid monthly and reinvested, and each Income portfolio needs its own account. One detail matters when you compare them with a savings account: Wealthsimple quotes the Core Bond yield after the funds’ MERs but before its own management fee, so subtract your tier’s rate (0.50% a year at Core) before comparing it with the Wealthsimple Savings account at 2.5% (available to every client, no tiers). The Money Market portfolio has no management fee to subtract, and the Vanguard Income figure is a targeted return that Wealthsimple says is already net of its fee. Wealthsimple describes Income portfolios as managed investment portfolios, and the Core Bond and Vanguard Income portfolios hold funds, which are not eligible for CDIC deposit insurance (CDIC lists ETFs and mutual funds among the products it does not cover). For parking cash, see the Wealthsimple Money Market portfolio vs Savings account comparison.
Private Market fund and Wealth Management
The Private Market fund is a separate way to buy into private markets, with its own minimum investment. Wealth Management adds a dedicated advisor team once you hold $1,000,000 in managed accounts, and its fee replaces the standard management fee. Wealthsimple’s schedule is 0.8% a year, dropping to 0.5% at $10 million or more, and a client who just meets the minimum pays 0.80% a year. That entry rate is double the Generation starting rate, so the advice costs extra. If you’re weighing a human advisor more broadly, see Wealthsimple vs a financial advisor.
What is the Wealthsimple Summit portfolio?
The Wealthsimple Summit portfolio is a managed portfolio that puts 20% to 30% of the portfolio into private equity, private credit and private infrastructure, with the rest in public stocks, bonds and gold.
Wealthsimple’s Investment Research team picks the private funds, which outside managers such as LGT Capital Partners and Sagard run, according to Wealthsimple’s “Open a Summit portfolio” help article (last edited October 2, 2026). YieldMaple checked that article and Wealthsimple’s Summit page on October 7, 2026. Summit comes in three risk levels, all labelled high-risk. The Aggressive version holds 70% equities and 30% private markets, Growth holds 60% equities, 12.5% bonds, 2.5% gold and 25% private markets, and Balanced holds 48% equities, 29% bonds, 3% gold and 20% private markets. A Conservative result on the suitability assessment isn’t eligible, so those clients are offered Classic instead.
| Summit version | Asset mix (Wealthsimple help centre) | Blended Wealthsimple fee at Core | Blended Wealthsimple fee at Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aggressive | 70% equities and 30% private markets | 0.65% a year | 0.58% a year |
| Growth | 60% equities, 12.5% bonds, 2.5% gold and 25% private markets | about 0.63% a year | 0.55% a year |
| Balanced | 48% equities, 29% bonds, 3% gold and 20% private markets | 0.60% a year | 0.52% a year |
How much does a Wealthsimple Summit portfolio cost?
A Summit portfolio costs a Core client about 0.65% a year in Wealthsimple fees in the Aggressive version, before ETF MERs and the private managers’ own fees.
That blended figure comes from two Wealthsimple fees, per its help centre: the standard 0.2% to 0.5% management fee, depending on total Wealthsimple assets on the public part, and 1% a year on the private part. A third layer sits inside the private fund. Sagard charges a 1.25% management fee plus a 15% performance fee on returns above a 5% hurdle on private credit, and LGT Capital Partners charges a 1.5% management fee plus a 12.5% performance fee above an 8% hurdle on private equity. Wealthsimple says those manager fees are built into the fund’s net returns, so they never appear as a line on a statement. Across the three versions, Core clients pay a blended 0.65% (Aggressive), about 0.63% (Growth) or 0.60% (Balanced); at Premium the same versions cost 0.58%, 0.55% and 0.52%.
In dollars, a hypothetical $20,000 in Summit Aggressive at the Core rate pays Wealthsimple about $130 a year, compared with $100 a year in a Classic portfolio. That’s $30 a year more, before either portfolio’s fund costs.
Wealthsimple’s own marketing uses a lower number. Its Summit disclaimer page bases a fee-savings estimate (dated October 21, 2025) on 0.44% a year, compared with 1.85% for a mutual fund. The 0.44% matches the Aggressive mix at the lowest Generation rate, 0.44%, and Generation’s rate reaches its floor only at the top of this schedule: 0.4% at $500,000, falling to 0.2% only at $10,000,000 or more. Most clients pay more than the figure in that estimate.
Who can open a Wealthsimple Summit portfolio?
Wealthsimple’s help centre requires at least $10,000 in liquid assets and $10,000 in net worth and a Balanced, Growth or Aggressive risk result, and says students and unemployed clients aren’t eligible.
The same help article lists non-registered accounts, TFSAs and RRSPs as the accounts that can hold Summit, with no FHSA, RESP, RRIF or LIRA option. Any amount can be deposited, but the private part starts only once net deposits reach $3,500 in net deposits, and withdrawals that take the balance below that level can remove it again. Existing Classic clients with a non-registered account, TFSA or RRSP can switch to Summit in the app, subject to the same checks.
Wealthsimple’s public Summit page lines up with those rules: its qualifications list reads $10,000 in investable assets, $3,500 to unlock private markets and a 3+ year horizon. The help article was edited on October 2, 2026, and the version YieldMaple saved on September 30 set higher bars for both the asset test and the private-market threshold. A separate Wealthsimple help article on switching portfolios still quoted the older, higher asset test on October 7, so the suitability check in the app is the final word on whether an account qualifies.
How fast can you withdraw from Summit?
The public part of a Summit portfolio settles in two to three business days, but the private part pays out only through monthly redemption windows, typically 30 to 60 days later.
Wealthsimple’s help article adds three conditions. Withdrawals always sell the public investments first, and a larger withdrawal needs a second, scheduled request for the private part. Private redemptions aren’t guaranteed and depend on what the fund can pay out. And the value of the private holding can move between the request and the trade window. Summit pays no distributions; earnings are reinvested. Money with a deadline measured in weeks doesn’t match that timing, and Wealthsimple itself points Summit clients who need cash quickly to its portfolio line of credit rather than the private redemption window.
What returns does Wealthsimple Summit target?
Wealthsimple’s Summit page targets up to 10% (Aggressive), 7–9% (Growth) and 6–8% (Balanced) a year, but those are simulated targets, not results.
The page says the figures come from historical simulation and are shown before MERs and Wealthsimple’s advisory fees, though after the private managers’ fees. The disclaimer page describes the Aggressive chart as hypothetical returns from September 2006 to December 2024. No actual after-fee client returns for Summit appear on either page, which is why the benchmarks in the performance section below are the fairer comparison.
Summit fits investors who want private-market exposure, meet the at least $10,000 in liquid assets and $10,000 in net worth test, won’t need the money for years and accept higher blended fees. Classic fits everyone who wants a hands-off public-market portfolio at the plain tier fee.
Does Wealthsimple have a halal portfolio?
Wealthsimple’s help centre still documents a Halal portfolio, but its public site no longer markets one, and YieldMaple couldn’t confirm it is open to new clients.
On October 7, 2026, Wealthsimple’s halal-investing page redirected to its general Invest page, the site map contained no halal or Shariah pages, and the Invest menu listed only Summit, Classic and Income portfolios, the Private Market fund and advisor access. Wealthsimple’s help article on switching portfolios lists Classic, Summit and Income as the portfolios an account can move to, with no Halal option. Yet two help articles still describe the Halal portfolio and its fees, and one of them, the MER article, was edited on October 1, 2026 with its Halal row intact.
What the Wealthsimple Halal portfolio holds
Per Wealthsimple’s “Understanding halal investing” help article (checked October 7, 2026), the Halal portfolio holds three things:
- WSHR, Wealthsimple’s Shariah World Equity Index ETF, for the stock portion.
- Gold, through an ETF holding physical gold that a Shariah advisory firm certified under the AAOIFI standard on gold.
- Non-interest-bearing cash, in amounts that depend on the risk level.
It holds no bonds, because conventional bonds pay interest. Wealthsimple says it has considered Sukuk (Shariah-compliant bonds) but not added them, citing liquidity and risk concerns and the fact that the only workable Sukuk ETF it found is US-listed and priced in US dollars. A third-party Shariah advisory firm screens every holding, and dividend purification figures are published quarterly, 10 to 15 days after distributions.
Costs: Wealthsimple’s MER help article puts the Halal portfolio’s fund MERs at about 0.24% to 0.56%, well above Classic’s about 0.08% to 0.12%, and says Wealthsimple receives part of that MER because the portfolio holds its own ETF. The standard management fee (0.50% a year at Core) comes on top, as with the other managed portfolios.
What does WSHR screen out?
WSHR excludes companies deriving more than 5% of their income from alcohol, tobacco, pork-related products, weapons, conventional banking or insurance, or adult entertainment, per Wealthsimple’s WSHR page, and it also drops companies with excessive debt.
The ETF tracks the Dow Jones Islamic Market Developed Markets Quality and Low Volatility Index, weights companies by risk rather than size, and says its index is certified by Islamic researchers at Ratings Intelligence Partners. Its management fee is 0.5%.
Halal options at Wealthsimple without the managed portfolio
Three routes don’t depend on the managed Halal portfolio staying open:
- Buy WSHR yourself. Wealthsimple’s help centre says WSHR trades on Wealthsimple’s self-directed platform, where listed ETFs cost $0 in commission. The ongoing cost is WSHR’s 0.5% management fee, with no 0.50% a year managed fee on top, but also no gold, no cash buffer and no automatic rebalancing. Wealthsimple’s article suggests speaking with one of its portfolio managers before moving an existing Halal portfolio to self-directed.
- Screen holdings with direct indexing. Automated Investing’s direct indexing lets you exclude individual companies from an index, though it is not a certified Shariah screen.
- Choose every holding yourself in a self-directed account and check each fund’s compliance claims before buying.
The lower-risk Classic portfolios and the Income portfolios hold bonds or other interest-bearing investments, which Shariah screens generally exclude, so neither is a substitute.
Wealthsimple’s socially responsible investing (SRI) page also redirects to the general Invest page. The managed-investing fee schedule and MER help article still list SRI portfolios holding Wealthsimple’s own ETFs, but the public site no longer promotes them either.
What is Wealthsimple Automated Investing and direct indexing?
Automated Investing lets you pick the holdings and target weights while Wealthsimple keeps them on track, for 0.25%, capped at $250 per account per year.
It sits between self-directed trading and managed investing. You build the portfolio from individual stocks and ETFs, from pre-built collections (all-equity, mostly equity, 60/40 and mostly bonds) or from direct indexing, and set a target percentage for each holding. When the mix drifts, you can deposit money and let Wealthsimple buy what’s underweight, or rebalance fully with a tap. The fee cap is reached at $100,000 per account, so above that the cost stops growing; on a single account of that size the fee is $150 a year less than a Premium managed portfolio’s. Wealthsimple lists Automated Investing for TFSAs, RRSPs, FHSAs, LIRAs, LIFs, RRIFs and individual or joint non-registered accounts; RESPs aren’t on that list.
Direct indexing is the piece that gets the most attention. Instead of buying an index ETF, your account holds a subset of the index’s individual stocks. In non-registered accounts, Wealthsimple automatically sells stocks that lose value and replaces them with similar ones, so the loss can offset capital gains elsewhere. Wealthsimple’s direct indexing guide explains why the replacement must be similar but not identical: buying back an identical investment around the sale date can trigger the CRA’s superficial loss rule, which denies the loss. You can also exclude companies you don’t want to own. Wealthsimple says US stocks bought inside a direct indexing sleeve carry no currency-conversion fee, while the usual 1.5% applies to US trades outside it. In a TFSA or RRSP, harvested losses don’t reduce your tax, so the main tax benefit of direct indexing applies to non-registered money.
Can you open a managed TFSA, RRSP, FHSA or RESP?
Yes: Wealthsimple lists its portfolios for TFSAs, RRSPs, spousal RRSPs, FHSAs, RESPs, LIRAs, RRIFs and non-registered accounts, and the management fee is the same in each.
A few account-specific points:
- TFSA and FHSA: contributions still use your CRA room, which means $7,000 of new TFSA room for 2026 and $8,000 of FHSA participation room a year. The Wealthsimple TFSA guide compares self-directed and managed TFSAs.
- RESP: Wealthsimple’s RESP is available as a self-directed or managed RESP, and individual RESPs transfer into a managed Wealthsimple RESP. Grants and contribution rules are in the Wealthsimple RESP guide.
- LIRA and RRIF: a LIRA is available (self-directed and managed), which matters if you’re moving a locked-in pension from a former employer.
- Tax features and account type: tax-loss harvesting only helps in non-registered accounts, so a Premium client whose money sits entirely in a TFSA and RRSP gets no benefit from it.
Moving an existing account in from another institution takes 2–4 weeks on average (RESPs take 6–8 weeks), and the other institution’s exit fee is reimbursed on transfers of $25,000 or more, up to $150 per account. Larger transfers can also earn Wealthsimple’s transfer match of 1% of the net amount transferred on transfers of $25,000 or more, up to $20,000 and paid over 24 months, if you register for the offer first; Wealthsimple’s offer page says managed accounts qualify. The steps are in the Wealthsimple account transfer guide. Opening an account costs $0.
How has Wealthsimple’s managed portfolio performed?
Wealthsimple doesn’t publish after-fee returns for its Classic or Summit portfolios on the pages YieldMaple reviewed on September 23, 2026; those pages show hypothetical and targeted figures instead.
The Classic page charts a range of annualized returns that Wealthsimple labels hypothetical and illustrative. Summit’s figures are targets from historical simulation, and the Vanguard Income portfolio’s figure is a targeted return from Vanguard’s forecasting model. The one chart based on real clients is on the Income page, comparing the Core Bond portfolio’s average client performance with the chequing account. None of these tells you how a Classic or Summit account did after every fee.
For a benchmark, use published results from comparable portfolios. Over the five years to September 30, 2026, XEQT, an all-stock ETF, returned 13.94% a year. Over the five years to the end of August 2026, Justwealth’s Global Maximum Growth portfolio returned 13.27% a year, net of ETF MERs and a 0.5% Justwealth management fee. Questwealth’s Aggressive portfolio returned 12.68% a year before its own management fee.
If you already hold a Wealthsimple managed portfolio, compare its multi-year return with a benchmark of similar risk. An all-stock fund like XEQT is a fair yardstick only for an all-stock portfolio; a Classic portfolio holding bonds or gold would be expected to trail it in strong stock markets and fall less in weak ones. The fee gap alone is about 0.3 percentage points a year at the Core rate, before the managed portfolio’s own fund MERs.
Can you borrow against a Wealthsimple managed portfolio?
Yes: Wealthsimple’s portfolio line of credit can use managed or self-directed TFSAs and non-registered accounts as collateral, lending up to 35% of eligible value.
Per Wealthsimple’s portfolio line of credit page (September 2026), the rate depends on your tier: 4.95% for Core, 4.45% for Premium and 3.95% for Generation. Wealthsimple’s own example: $150,000 in eligible assets supports up to $52,500 of borrowing. The other terms:
- Eligible collateral: up to 5 non-registered accounts or TFSAs (not margin accounts, FHSAs, RRSPs, RESPs, LIRAs or joint accounts), with at least $1,000 of collateral value per account.
- Credit check: none — no impact on your credit score.
- Minimum payment: none — repay any time. Interest accrues daily and is added to your line-of-credit balance on the first day of each month.
That makes a managed TFSA or non-registered portfolio a source of short-term cash without selling. The catch is that the loan is backed by investments that can fall, so borrowing adds risk the portfolio alone doesn’t carry. The Wealthsimple margin vs line of credit guide covers limits and what happens when markets drop.
Is Wealthsimple managed investing safe?
Wealthsimple Investments Inc., a CIRO investment dealer and CIPF member, holds managed accounts, so securities eligible for CIPF coverage up to $1M per defined account are protected if it fails.
Market losses aren’t covered: CIPF protects against the dealer’s insolvency, not against a falling portfolio. Per Wealthsimple’s relationship disclosure, Wealthsimple Investments Inc. (WSII) is an investment dealer registered in every province and territory, and the managed-investing fee schedule names it as the custodian of managed accounts.
CDIC deposit insurance applies to Wealthsimple Chequing balances, not to managed portfolios. Chequing coverage is up to $100,000 per beneficiary, per CDIC member institution, and up to $1 million, because funds are spread across up to 10 CDIC member institutions (Wealthsimple itself is not a CDIC member). Market risk still applies to every portfolio. Wealthsimple labels all Summit portfolios high-risk, and even Income portfolios can lose value, because bond prices fall when interest rates rise and defaults increase in severe downturns. For a wider look at the company, see whether Wealthsimple is safe.
How does Wealthsimple compare with other robo-advisors and XEQT?
Wealthsimple’s Core fee of 0.50% a year sits mid-pack: Questwealth charges less, RBC InvestEase and Justwealth match it, and CI Direct Investing and BMO SmartFolio charge more.
The published management fees, per each provider’s pricing page in September 2026:
- Questwealth Portfolios (Questrade): 0.25% a year on balances of $250 to $99,999, and 0.20% from $100,000. It wins on price. On $50,000 it costs $125 a year less than Wealthsimple Core, and on $150,000 it costs $300 a year less than Wealthsimple Premium.
- RBC InvestEase: 0.50% + sales tax.
- Justwealth: 0.50%, with a minimum account of $5,000 (no minimum for RESPs, FHSAs and RDSPs). It publishes net-of-fee portfolio returns, which Wealthsimple’s Classic and Summit pages don’t.
- CI Direct Investing: 0.60% on the first $150,000, 0.40% on the next $350,000 and 0.35% above $500,000.
- BMO SmartFolio: 0.70% a year on the first $100,000, with ETF fees extra.
- XEQT in a self-directed account: a 0.19% MER and $0 commission at Wealthsimple, with rebalancing handled inside the fund.
Where Wealthsimple wins: the Core plan starts at $1 in assets, the tier counts your non-managed money, tax-loss harvesting arrives at Premium, and managed RESPs, LIRAs and RRIFs sit in the same app as chequing, savings and a line of credit. Where it loses: Questwealth’s fee is half of Wealthsimple’s at both the Core and Premium rates, and a single all-in-one ETF bought yourself costs less again. The full ranking is in the best robo-advisors in Canada; if price is what matters most, compare Questwealth Portfolios on Questrade's site .
Which Wealthsimple option fits your money?
Match the option to the job your money has: long-term and hands-off, short-term, private markets, or holdings you’ve already chosen.
Pick a Classic managed portfolio if:
- you want long-term investing with no fund choices or rebalancing to do,
- you’d like bonds or gold in the mix at a lower risk level,
- you’ll keep auto-deposits running through market drops.
Pick an Income portfolio or the Savings account if:
- the money has a job within the next few years, such as a car, a renovation or a tax bill,
- you compare the Core Bond yield with savings rates only after subtracting your fee tier.
Consider Summit only if:
- you want private-market exposure and accept a high-risk label, extra fee layers and monthly redemption windows,
- you won’t need the money for years.
Pick Automated Investing if:
- you already know which ETFs or stocks you want and at what weights,
- you have a non-registered account where direct indexing can harvest tax losses.
Pick self-directed investing if:
- you’re happy to buy one all-in-one ETF and leave it alone; how to buy XEQT on Wealthsimple walks through it.
Look elsewhere if:
- the lowest robo fee matters more than anything else (Questwealth charges 0.25%),
- you need a halal portfolio and can’t confirm one in the Wealthsimple app.
Before you open a managed account
- Add up what you’d hold at Wealthsimple in total. If it’s near $100,000, move the rest over first so every managed dollar gets the lower fee.
- Choose the account type before the portfolio. Registered room (TFSA, RRSP, FHSA) usually comes before a non-registered account, where tax-loss harvesting is the main extra.
- Check the risk level and MERs of the portfolio Wealthsimple recommends, and ask to change it if the risk doesn’t fit your timeline.
- Turn on auto-deposits. The automation is most of what you’re paying for.
The verdict
Wealthsimple managed investing is a well-built robo-advisor with a broad portfolio menu, and its fee structure rewards people who keep more of their money at Wealthsimple: 0.50% a year at Core, and 0.40% a year from $100,000, with tax-loss harvesting added at that point. For a hands-off investor who would otherwise leave savings in cash or chase the market, that’s money well spent.
It isn’t the cheapest way to own a diversified portfolio. Questwealth charges half as much at the Core and Premium rates, and a single all-in-one ETF in a self-directed account costs less again. Summit’s private-market portfolios add fee layers and liquidity limits most investors don’t need, and anyone who needs a halal portfolio should confirm availability first.
Use it if you want investing on autopilot in a TFSA, RRSP, FHSA or RESP, or you’re a Premium client with non-registered money that benefits from tax-loss harvesting. Skip it if you’ll happily buy and hold one ETF, or if the lowest possible fee is your priority. For the rest of the company’s products, from chequing to tax filing, see our complete Wealthsimple guide.
This review is general education, not financial advice; the right choice depends on your timeline, taxes and tolerance for risk.