Wealthsimple Invest is Canada's largest robo-advisor, managing over $20 billion in assets for hundreds of thousands of Canadians. It offers a fully automated investing experience: answer a few questions about your goals and risk tolerance, and Wealthsimple builds and manages a diversified ETF portfolio for you. This review covers fees, portfolio options, performance, and whether it's worth it in 2026.
Wealthsimple Invest is a discretionary portfolio management service. Unlike Wealthsimple Trade (a self-directed brokerage), Invest handles everything: portfolio construction, rebalancing, dividend reinvestment, and tax optimization. You simply deposit money and the platform does the rest.
When you sign up, you answer questions about your investment goals (retirement, education, emergency fund, etc.), time horizon, and risk comfort. The algorithm assigns you one of several pre-built ETF portfolios ranging from Conservative to Growth. You can adjust your risk level at any time.
| Plan | AUM Threshold | Management Fee | Underlying ETF MER | Total Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $0 – $99,999 | 0.50% | ~0.20% | ~0.70% |
| Black | $100,000+ | 0.40% | ~0.20% | ~0.60% |
The total all-in cost is approximately 0.60–0.70% annually. This is significantly lower than traditional robo-advisors at big banks (1.5–2.5%), but higher than a self-directed ETF portfolio (0.20–0.25%). On a $50,000 portfolio, Wealthsimple Invest costs approximately $350/year; a VGRO portfolio self-managed costs approximately $120/year. The $230 difference is the cost of full automation and professional management.
| Portfolio | Equity | Fixed Income | Expected Volatility |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 35% | 65% | Low |
| Balanced | 60% | 40% | Medium |
| Growth | 80% | 20% | Medium-High |
| Aggressive Growth | 90% | 10% | High |
Each portfolio holds a mix of Canadian, US, international, and emerging market equity ETFs alongside Canadian and international bond ETFs. The Growth portfolio (80/20) is the most popular and comparable to VGRO or XGRO.
Wealthsimple was one of the first Canadian robo-advisors to offer ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) portfolios. The SRI portfolios filter out fossil fuels, tobacco, and weapons manufacturers and apply positive screens for companies with strong ESG scores.
SRI portfolios carry slightly higher underlying ETF MERs (~0.25% vs ~0.20% for standard) but are otherwise structured identically. Performance has been broadly similar to standard portfolios over the past five years, though the ESG tilt added performance during the 2020–2021 tech bull market and lagged slightly during the 2022 energy sector surge.
| Factor | Wealthsimple Invest | DIY (VGRO in TFSA) |
|---|---|---|
| Annual cost | 0.60–0.70% | 0.24% |
| Time required | Near zero | 1–2 hrs/year |
| Rebalancing | Automatic | Manual annually |
| Tax optimization | Basic (TFSA first) | Manual |
| Minimum investment | $1 | ~$35 (one ETF unit) |
| Portfolio customization | Limited | Full control |
Wealthsimple Invest makes sense for:
Wealthsimple Invest is likely not worth it for:
Wealthsimple Invest supports all major Canadian registered and non-registered account types:
Wealthsimple Financial Inc. is registered as a portfolio manager with provincial securities regulators across Canada. Client assets are held in custody at National Bank Correspondent Network and are covered by CIPF (Canadian Investor Protection Fund) for up to $1 million per account category in the event of insolvency. Your deposits are held separately from Wealthsimple's own assets and are not at risk if Wealthsimple faces financial difficulty.
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Get KOHO Free →Last updated: March 2026. For informational purposes only. Not financial advice.