Wealthsimple vs Edward Jones, IG Wealth or a Financial Advisor

Wealthsimple vs Edward Jones is really a choice between paying for a portfolio and paying for a person. This guide compares Wealthsimple’s managed investing with the advisors Canadians most often weigh it against — Edward Jones, IG Wealth Management (formerly Investors Group), bank branch advisors, Primerica, insurance-company advisors such as those at Manulife, iA and Sun Life, and firms like Raymond James. By the end you’ll know what your current setup costs in dollars, what a human advisor is genuinely worth, and whether switching makes sense for you.

Wealthsimple vs a financial advisor at a glance

Wealthsimple managed investing vs a traditional financial advisor (September 2026)

	Wealthsimple (managed)	Traditional advisor (Edward Jones, IG, bank)
Yearly fee for management or advice	0.50% a year; 0.40% a year from $100,000	Typically 1% to 2% a year in a fee-based account
Fund costs on top	MERs of the ETFs in the portfolio	Fund MERs, which range from less than 1% to more than 3%
How the advisor is paid	Wealthsimple says its advisors don't work on commission	Share of an asset-based fee, trade commissions or trailing commissions
Dedicated human advisor	Only from $1,000,000 in managed accounts	Yes — it's the core of the service
Minimum to start	$1 in assets	Set by each firm and advisor
Products	ETF and private-market portfolios (Classic, Summit, Income); no mutual funds or GICs	Mutual funds, GICs, bonds, stocks, ETFs, insurance and annuities
Registered-account fees (example)	$0 to open an account	Edward Jones: $125 a year per RRSP holding stocks or ETFs
Transfer-out fee (example)	Your old firm's fee reimbursed on transfers of $25,000 or more, up to $150 per account	Edward Jones: $135 for a full transfer
Tax-loss harvesting	Included from $100,000 in assets	Depends on the advisor
Investor protection	securities eligible for CIPF coverage up to $1M per defined account	CIPF if the firm holding your account is a member (check which entity holds it)

In plain sentences: Wealthsimple’s managed fee is 0.50% a year, falling to 0.40% a year once you have $100,000 at Wealthsimple, and you can start with $1 in assets. A traditional fee-based advisor typically costs 1% to 2% a year, and both sides also pay the MERs of the funds they hold. The traditional advisor wins on the human relationship and the product shelf — Edward Jones’ compensation guide lists mutual funds, GICs, bonds, stocks, ETFs, segregated funds, annuities and life insurance — while Wealthsimple sticks to ETF-based and private-market portfolios, and its advice page says it doesn’t offer mutual funds or GICs. Edward Jones charges $125 a year on an RRSP holding stocks or ETFs and $135 to move a full account out; Wealthsimple charges $0 to open an account. Tax-loss harvesting is included at Wealthsimple from $100,000 in assets, and Wealthsimple’s securities are covered by CIPF: securities eligible for CIPF coverage up to $1M per defined account.

How much does a financial advisor cost compared with Wealthsimple?

A traditional fee-based advisor typically costs 1% to 2% a year plus fund expenses, per the Ontario Securities Commission, while Wealthsimple’s managed fee is 0.50% a year or less.

The harder part is that advisors in Canada get paid in three different ways, and the cheapest-looking one isn’t always the cheapest.

1. An asset-based advisory fee (fee-based accounts). You pay a percentage of your balance every year, shown on your statement. The Ontario Securities Commission’s investor site says this fee is typically 1% to 2% a year, negotiated with your advisor. Edward Jones Guided Portfolios and IG’s iProfile work this way. Funds held in these accounts are usually F-series, which Edward Jones’ disclosure says pay no trailer to the dealer, so the advisory fee replaces the commission.

2. A trailing commission hidden inside the fund’s MER. In a commission-based account, you buy A-series mutual funds and never see a separate advice bill. Instead, the fund company pays your advisor’s firm a trailing commission out of the MER for as long as you hold the fund — typically 0.25% to 1.5% a year on your balance, according to the OSC. Mutual fund MERs as a whole range from less than 1% to more than 3%.

3. Commissions and sales charges per transaction. Some funds charge a front-end sales charge of up to 5% of the amount you invest, which the OSC notes is negotiable. At Edward Jones, buying stocks or ETFs in a brokerage account means a commission, and automatic monthly stock purchases cost 2% of the amount invested or $5, whichever is greater; reinvesting dividends into stocks costs 2% of the dividends reinvested.

What Wealthsimple charges instead. Wealthsimple’s managed portfolios carry one management fee — 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 MERs of the ETFs inside. Automatic rebalancing, dividend reinvesting and auto-deposits are included at every tier, per Wealthsimple’s pricing page. Wealthsimple’s fee schedule notes that sales tax applies to its fee, as it does to advisory fees elsewhere.

What does each option cost on your balance?

On a $100,000 portfolio, Wealthsimple’s managed fee is about $400 a year, versus $1,000 to $2,000 for a typical fee-based advisor, before fund costs.

This worked example is the comparison most “Wealthsimple vs advisor” pages skip: the yearly fee in dollars at three common balances, using each provider’s published rate and the OSC’s typical advisory-fee range.

What the table says, row by row:

• At $100,000, Wealthsimple’s Premium fee of 0.40% a year costs about $400, and a typical advisor costs $1,000 to $2,000. The gap is $600 to $1,600 every year, and because fees come out of the balance, the growth you lose on that money compounds too.
• At $500,000, Wealthsimple’s Generation fee runs from 0.4% down to 0.2% a year; at the top of that range it costs about $2,000, against $5,000 to $10,000 for a typical advisor.
• At $1,000,000, you can add a dedicated Wealthsimple advisor. Wealthsimple’s fee schedule charges 0.80% a year on that service once your total assets reach $1,000,000, or about $8,000, and it replaces the regular management fee. That’s still below the typical advisor range of $10,000 to $20,000, but the gap narrows sharply once you want a human.

Commission-based accounts hide the same cost inside the fund. Edward Jones’ own mutual fund disclosure illustrates it: a 2% MER costs $20 a year for every $1,000 invested. That works out to $2,000 a year on $100,000, and a trailing commission of 0.25% to 1.5% a year — $250 to $1,500 a year on $100,000 — is the part that goes to the advisor’s firm. Until total cost reporting starts in early 2027 (covering costs up to December 31, 2026), the MER doesn’t appear in dollars on your statement; IG, for example, shows only the dealer’s trailing commission in dollars on its Annual Fee Summary.

The fair reading: on the fee alone, a typical advisor costs two to five times what Wealthsimple managed investing does at most balances, and the real question is whether the advice is worth the difference to you.

Wealthsimple vs Edward Jones: what’s actually different?

Edward Jones gives you a local advisor who reviews your plan with you; Wealthsimple gives you a cheaper automated portfolio, with a dedicated advisor only from $1,000,000 in managed accounts.

How Edward Jones charges. Edward Jones Canada’s compensation guide describes two ways to pay. In a brokerage account you pay per investment — a commission or sales charge on stocks, bonds and ETFs, or a markup when the firm sells from its own inventory, mainly bonds — and A-series mutual funds pay the firm a trailing commission out of their MER. In fee-based programs such as Edward Jones Guided Portfolios, you pay “a simple, transparent monthly fee” based on the value of your assets, and the advisor receives a portion of it. YieldMaple couldn’t find a percentage for the Guided Portfolios fee on Edward Jones Canada’s public pages, so ask for the program brochure, which Edward Jones says describes the fees.

Account fees on top. Edward Jones’ Schedule of Fees lists an annual administration fee of $125 a year for an RRSP, RRIF or locked-in account holding stocks, ETFs, GICs or bonds, and $50 a year for a TFSA, with all annual administration fees capped at $150 per client per calendar year. The schedule notes some of these fees may not apply to Guided Portfolios accounts. Leaving costs $135 for a full external transfer or $50 for a partial one.

Where Edward Jones is genuinely better. You get a named advisor who, in Edward Jones’ words, lives and works in your community, acts as your key contact for all your accounts and reviews your plan as life changes. The product shelf is wider, including GICs, individual bonds, annuities and insurance. And to its credit, Edward Jones’ mutual fund disclosure says it charges no upfront commission on mutual funds and doesn’t sell deferred-sales-charge or low-load units.

Where Wealthsimple is better. The fee is lower and published, there’s no commission on anything you buy, and small regular deposits cost nothing extra — at Edward Jones, an automatic $100 monthly stock purchase would pay the $5 minimum fee each time, or 5% of every purchase. For more on the managed side, see our Wealthsimple managed investing review.

Wealthsimple vs IG Wealth Management (Investors Group): which costs less?

Wealthsimple is likely cheaper: its fee is 0.50% a year or less, while IG Wealth Management (formerly Investors Group) charges fund MERs plus, on iProfile and Series U, a separate advisory fee.

IG’s fees page explains the structure rather than the numbers: it doesn’t list the advisory-fee rate, so ask your IG advisor for it in writing. Fund MERs cover the fund’s management and operating costs, and the portion paid to the dealer — the trailing commission — shows as a dollar amount on your Annual Fee Summary. Advisory fees for iProfile, Series U funds and Azure Managed Investments are charged separately and appear as a year-to-date summary on your statement. If IG’s advisory fee sits in the OSC’s typical range of 1% to 2% a year, the dollar gap to Wealthsimple looks like the table above.

Where IG is genuinely better. IG says it eliminated deferred sales charges and now offers unbundled, fee-based products for all clients, and it sends an annual Fee Summary showing the amounts it collected over 12 months. More importantly, IG offers retirement, tax and estate planning, insurance and mortgages through its advisors, so one relationship can cover all of them — things a robo-advisor doesn’t do. If you’d pay for those services separately anyway, part of IG’s fee is buying them.

Where Wealthsimple is better. If you only need a diversified portfolio that stays rebalanced, Wealthsimple does that for a fraction of a typical advisory fee, with no minimum beyond $1 in assets.

What about Primerica, Manulife, iA, Sun Life and Raymond James?

Each needs a different check: Primerica pairs term life insurance with investments, insurers such as iA sell segregated funds with guarantees, and a group RRSP hinges on your employer match.

Wealthsimple vs Primerica

Primerica’s website describes its approach as “Buy Term and Invest the Difference,” pairing term life insurance with investments. If your Primerica investments are mutual funds, the questions are about the funds. Ask for each fund’s Fund Facts and check the MER, the series and any sales charge — front-end charges can be up to 5% of what you invest. Deferred sales charges were banned for new purchases on June 1, 2022, but the OSC notes that units bought before the ban are still subject to the redemption fee, so check the schedule before selling. If you move the investments, decide about the life insurance separately: an investment portfolio doesn’t replace coverage.

Wealthsimple vs segregated funds from Manulife, iA or Sun Life

If an insurance-licensed advisor, whether at Manulife, iA, Sun Life or elsewhere, put you in segregated funds, you hold insurance contracts wrapped around investment funds, not plain mutual funds. iA’s segregated fund page says you can choose a guarantee of 75% or 100% of your investment at contract maturity or death, and that with a named beneficiary the investments can be protected from creditors under certain conditions. iA also says this protection partly explains why segregated funds carry higher management fees than mutual funds. That’s worth paying for if you need those features — a business owner who wants creditor protection, or someone who wants a guaranteed amount to pass to heirs, for example. For long-term growth money you’ll leave invested for decades, you’re paying for insurance you may never use.

Wealthsimple vs a Sun Life or Manulife group RRSP

If your RRSP is a group plan through work and your employer matches contributions, keep contributing enough to get the full match; no fee saving beats free money. Group plans set their own rules on when money can leave, so read your plan booklet. Once you leave that employer, you can usually move the balance to an individual RRSP — the point where a Wealthsimple RRSP becomes a real option.

Wealthsimple vs Raymond James

If you work with a Raymond James advisor, the same two questions as at Edward Jones apply: is your account fee-based or commission-based, and what did you pay last year in dollars, including fund expenses? Advisor-led firms tend to make the most sense for larger, more complex portfolios where a dedicated advisor handles individual stocks, bonds and tax planning.

Wealthsimple vs a bank branch advisor

At a bank branch, ask the same questions about the mutual funds you were sold: which series you hold, what the MER is and whether a trailing commission is paid out of it. See our Wealthsimple vs the Big 5 banks comparison for the account-by-account picture.

When is a human financial advisor worth the fee?

A human advisor is worth paying when the advice changes decisions worth more than the fee: tax, retirement income, estate, insurance or business questions an ETF portfolio can’t answer.

Situations where a good advisor usually earns the money:

• You’re drawing down in retirement. Deciding when to start CPP and OAS, how to convert an RRSP to a RRIF, and which account to withdraw from first can matter more than the fee.
• You own a business or you’re incorporated. Salary versus dividends, investing inside a corporation and succession planning are advice problems, not portfolio problems.
• Your estate or family situation is complicated. Blended families, a disabled dependant, or assets in several provinces or countries need coordinated planning.
• You need insurance products. Segregated funds with guarantees, annuities and life insurance come through licensed advisors, not robo-advisors.
• You’d sell in a crash. If a steep market drop would push you to cash out, an advisor who talks you out of it can be worth more than the fee. Be honest about this one.

Signs you’re paying for advice you aren’t getting: you can’t say what you paid last year in dollars, your “plan” is a fund recommendation and one annual meeting, or questions about fees get vague answers. In that case you’re paying advice prices for a portfolio, and a managed Wealthsimple portfolio does the portfolio part for less.

A middle path: hire an advice-only (fee-for-service) financial planner for a one-time plan, then run the portfolio yourself at Wealthsimple. You pay for the planning once instead of every year.

Does Wealthsimple have financial advisors?

Yes, but a dedicated Wealthsimple advisor needs $1,000,000 in managed accounts; below that, Wealthsimple is a robo-advisor backed by a support team.

The robo-advisor side. Wealthsimple’s managed investing builds a portfolio from its Classic, Summit or Income lines based on your risk tolerance, then handles deposits, rebalancing and dividend reinvesting. Tax-loss harvesting is added from Premium ($100,000 in assets), and asset location from Generation ($500,000). Support is 24/7 chat for everyone, priority phone from Premium and priority email at Generation, per the pricing page. Wealthsimple’s benefits page also mentions guidance from an advisor for Premium clients — useful, but not the same as a dedicated planner.

The dedicated-advisor side. Wealthsimple Wealth Management is built for households with more than $1M, and its advice page describes customized plans, retirement and withdrawal planning, tax-loss harvesting and incorporation advice, regular meetings and an annual review. Fees are 0.9% a year, dropping to 0.5% at $10 million or more, and the service needs $1,000,000 in managed accounts. Wealthsimple says its advisors don’t work on commission and describes them as licensed fiduciaries who must put your interests first. Anyone unsure can book a free 30-minute consultation through the advice page.

One conflict to know about. Wealthsimple’s fee schedule says that when a portfolio holds Wealthsimple’s own ETFs, as the SRI portfolios do, Wealthsimple receives a portion of those ETFs’ MER. The fee schedule doesn’t say how large that portion is. It’s disclosed, but it’s there.

If you’re weighing the robo side against doing it yourself, see Wealthsimple managed investing vs buying XEQT yourself, and our best robo-advisors in Canada roundup compares Wealthsimple with other robo-advisors.

How do you find out what your advisor really costs?

Add the direct fees on your annual charges report to each fund’s MER times your holding; the report’s trailing commissions already sit inside the MER, so skip them.

Use this checklist before any meeting about switching:

1. Find your annual charges report. Your firm sends an Annual Report on Charges and Other Compensation each year, showing in dollars what the firm collected, including trailing commissions. Count its advisory, account and transaction fees, but not the trailing commissions, because those are already part of the MER in step 2. IG’s version comes as an Annual Fee Summary with your statement.
2. Look up every fund’s Fund Facts. Note the MER and the series. A-series usually means a trailing commission is inside the MER; F-series means you pay the advice fee separately.
3. Check for old deferred-sales-charge units. Anything bought under DSC before June 1, 2022 may still charge a redemption fee if you sell now. Ask for the schedule and the dollar amount.
4. List the account fees. Annual registered-account fees (Edward Jones lists $125 a year for an RRSP holding stocks or ETFs) and the transfer-out fee ($135 for a full transfer at Edward Jones).
5. Watch for the new cost report. Under total cost reporting, statements will add the dollar cost of fund expenses, with the first reports arriving early 2027 (covering costs up to December 31, 2026), per IG’s explanation of the rule. Until then, fund costs are only visible as percentages.
6. Ask one question in writing: “What did I pay in total last year, in dollars, including fund expenses?” A good advisor answers it without hesitation.

Once you have the total, compare it with the table above. If you’re paying well over $400 a year per $100,000 and can’t name what the planning did for you, that’s your answer.

How do you switch from a financial advisor to Wealthsimple?

Open the same account types at Wealthsimple, then request the transfer from Wealthsimple’s side so the money moves directly between institutions — never withdraw it yourself.

1. Open matching accounts. TFSA to TFSA, RRSP to RRSP, FHSA to FHSA. Wealthsimple accepts transfers of non-registered (individual and joint), TFSA, RRSP, spousal RRSP, FHSA, RRIF, spousal RRIF, LIRA, LIF, pension, RESP, business, and margin accounts.
2. Start the transfer in the Wealthsimple app. Wealthsimple contacts your old firm; you don’t need to ask your advisor to send anything. Withdrawing yourself is a mistake: an RRSP withdrawal is taxable income, and a TFSA withdrawal is only added back to your contribution room on January 1 of the following year, so re-depositing it the same year can put you over the limit.
3. Choose in kind or cash. Wealthsimple’s transfers page lets you move investments as they are or as cash. Anything Wealthsimple can’t hold has to be sold and sent as cash. Its advice page says it doesn’t offer mutual funds or GICs, so ask Wealthsimple before you start whether your funds can move in kind.
4. Mind the tax in non-registered accounts. Selling inside a TFSA, RRSP or FHSA isn’t taxed, but selling in a non-registered account can trigger capital gains. Moving in kind avoids selling where it’s possible.
5. Check exit costs first. Look for DSC redemption fees and the transfer-out fee. At Wealthsimple, transfer-out fees are reimbursed on transfers of $25,000 or more, up to $150 per account, and the account needs to stay funded for 90 days.
6. Expect a few weeks. Most account transfers take 2–4 weeks; RESPs take 6–8 weeks. Our guide on how a transfer to Wealthsimple works covers the steps in detail.

Who should pick Wealthsimple, and who should keep an advisor?

Pick Wealthsimple if you mainly need a low-cost diversified portfolio; keep an advisor if you’ll actually use planning on taxes, retirement income, insurance or an estate.

Pick Wealthsimple managed investing if:

• You want a diversified portfolio that’s rebalanced for you, and your main question is “what should I invest in?”
• You’d rather pay 0.50% a year or less than a typical 1% to 2% a year
• Your finances are straightforward: a salary, a TFSA, an RRSP and maybe an FHSA

Pick Wealthsimple self-directed if:

• You’re comfortable buying one all-in-one ETF and holding it — then you skip the management fee too, paying $0 commission

Keep Edward Jones, IG or another advisor if:

• You use the planning: retirement income, tax, estate, business or insurance decisions
• You value meeting a named advisor in person and would stay invested because of that relationship
• You hold segregated funds or insurance products for their guarantees, or old DSC units whose redemption fees haven’t expired

Consider Wealthsimple Wealth Management if:

• You have $1,000,000 in managed accounts and want a dedicated advisor at 0.9% a year, dropping to 0.5% at $10 million or more, without commissions

Consider a hybrid if:

• You want a real plan but not a yearly advice fee: pay an advice-only planner once and invest at Wealthsimple

The verdict

For most Canadians whose main need is investing, Wealthsimple’s managed portfolios do the portfolio job for a fraction of the cost: 0.50% a year or less, against the 1% to 2% a year a typical advisor charges. On $100,000, that’s roughly $600 to $1,600 a year you keep.

Edward Jones, IG Wealth Management and other full-service advisors earn their fee when they do real planning you’d otherwise get wrong or pay for separately — retirement income, tax, estate, insurance and business decisions — or when a trusted relationship keeps you invested through a crash. If you’re getting that, stay. If you’re paying advice prices for a fund and an annual check-in, switching is one of the easiest ways to cut your investing costs.

This page is general education, not financial advice. The right choice depends on your situation, and a fee-only planner or your current advisor can help you apply it. For every other Wealthsimple question, start with our complete Wealthsimple guide.

Read next

• Wealthsimple managed investing vs buying XEQT yourself
• Wealthsimple managed investing review
• Best robo-advisors in Canada
• How a transfer to Wealthsimple works
• Wealthsimple Canada: complete independent guide