Wealthsimple: A new type of Bank and Investment Portal

David Yin

6 hours ago

I started to use Wealthsimple in Jan. 2025. I have to say it is one of my main banks and investment insutitions. There are so many features I like. They are the important reasons for me to choose Wealthsimple.

Let me show you the features of Wealthsimple.

1) Wealthsimple Cash & Banking

High-interest Chequing and Savings: Earn competitive interest ( typically 1.25% to 2.25% or higher depeding on tier/direct deposit) with no monthly fees, no minimum balance requirements, or no foreign transaction fees.
Wealthsimple Card: A mastercard prepaid/credit card offering 2% cash back on purchases.
Free Transactions: Free unlimited interac e-transfers, direct deposits, bill payments, and ATM fee reimbusement depending on client status.

2) Self-Directed Trading (Wealthsimple Trade)

Commission-Free stocks & ETFs: Buy and sell Canadian and US equities with $0 commission.
Fractional Shares: buy fractional shares of select Canadian and US stocks starting from as little as $1.
USD Accounts & Subscriptions: Option to hold USD balances to avoid FX conversion fees on every trade.
Advanced Trading Tools: Options trading, margin accounts, market/limit/stop-limit orders and real-time streaming market data.

3) Automated & Managed Investing (Wealthsimple Invest)

Robo-advisor Portfolios: Low-cost, professionally managed portfolios built with globally diversified ETFs based on your risk tolerance.
Specialized Portfolios:
- Classic/Growth/Income: Standard Market index-tracking portfolios.
- Private Markets: Access to private equite and private credit for higher-tier accounts
Auto-Rebalancing & Tax Harvesting: protfolios are automatically rebalanced, with automated dividend reinvestment.

4) Wealthsimple Crypto

Regulated Trading Platform: Buy, sell, and store major cryptocurrencies.
Staking Rewards: Earn yield on eligible proof-of-stake cryptocurrencies directly inside the app.
Deposits & Withdrawals: Move crypto into or out of external private wallets.

5) Wealthsimple Tax

Pay-What-You-Want Tax Filing: Direct CRA (NETFILE) integrated tax software that pulls tax slips directly from the CRA.
Automatic Integration: Seamlessly imports stock taades, dividends, and crypto transactions from your Wealthsimple accounts.

I used all above products execpt TAX. Everything in one APP of my smartphone.

Here are my personal experience.

Download the Wealthsimple App from Play Store of my Google Pixel smartphone. Registered the account, open my first checking account in less ten minutes. Got the virtual master card immediately. Link it to the RBC or TD or any major Bank account, to move money to it.

OK, I have a Joint account with my wife. I have Self-Directed trading account. I have RRSP, TFSA accounts.

Client Tiers and Management Fees

Tier	Asset Threshold	CAD Chequing Interest Rate	Key Benefits
Core	Up to $100,000	1.25% (1.75% with $2,000+ monthly direct deposit)	Standard commission-free trading, 0.50% managed portfolio fee, base interest rate on cash.
Premium	$100,000+	1.75% (2.25% with $2,000+ monthly direct deposit)	Reduced 0.40% managed fee, interest rate boosts, free USD accounts, access to financial planning check-ins.
Generation	$500,000+	2.25%	Fees as low as 0.20%–0.40%, dedicated human advisor, private equity access, VIP perks, and higher interest rates.

The biggest burden for most of people is Wealthsimple has no physical branch offices.

How about deposit, cheque handling, Cash?

There are the way for Wealthsimple account holders.

Deposit a cheque I received

Within APP, take photos and deposit it.

Send a Cheque to other people

You can order a physical chequebook. Then fill out a paper cheque manually and give or mail it to the recipient.

In the APP, order cheque enter the recipient’s name, address, memo/ and amount, draw the signature and tap Submit, Wealthsimple will issue and mail the physical cheque directly to the recipient.

Deposit Cash

Go to any Canada Post location, show the QR code and government ID, give your cash or coins, get a receipt. Done.

Get Cash (Withdraw Cash)

Use the Wealthsimple Cash Card, the physical Wealthsimple Mastercard prepaid card, withdraw cash at any ATM in Canada or worldwide. The third-party ATM operator may charge a fee. If you have a higher account like Premium or Generation, Wealthsimple reimbuses these ATM fee up to set limits.

I understand that Wealthsimple does not have a traditional banking license. It operates as a financial technology company and registered investment dealer rather than a chartered bank.

Since it is not a bank, so it is not a direct member of the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation(CDIC).

I believe everyone want his money get protected. So how Wealthsimple make it works.

The Trust Framework & Stacking: Wealthsimple keeps your cash balances held in trust across a network of federally regulated, CDIC-member partner banks.
Coverage Limit: CDIC insures eligible deposits up to $100,000 CAD per beneficiary, per member institution. By spreading your cash across at least 10 different partner financial institutions, Wealthsimple extends your combined eligible CDIC deposit protection up to $1,000,000 CAD.
Investment Protection (CIPF): For self-directed trading or managed investing accounts, protection falls under the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF) rather than CDIC, which covers your securities up to $1,000,000 CAD against company insolvency, but not against market losses.

So, Wealthsimple provides 1M CAD protection on Chequing account(Cash). The regular bank, like RBC, TC, has $100,000 CDIC protection per account category only.