Share: 28 replies. For more information please read our policies. In terms of account types, Wealthsimple Trade offers personal (non-registered) accounts, TFSAs or RRSPs—that’s it. TD DI and Questrade both have 2.5% FX fees but they both support holding USD directly so you can use Norbert’s Gambit to convert your money for a low cost. Here’s a comparison of Interactive Brokers Canada with these Canadian discount brokers. Wealthsimple also manages Simple Tax, a free tax return software that works on a “pay what you want” basis. Active self-directed traders can pay to access in-depth streaming market data and research, and they have a lot more investment products and accounts to choose from. Cash withdrawals from ATMs across Canada (with limited reimbursement of ATM charges), Point-of-sale purchases with a Wealthsimple Cash Card; a prepaid Visa card that works like a debit card and can be used wherever Visa is accepted, Compatibility with Apple Pay and Google Pay. Share on Linkedin Here is a quick comparison and more details below. This can be considered a good or a bad thing, depending on your point of view. An honest comparison between Questrade and Wealthsimple Trade. Let’s just say that I’m a skeptic of traditional active investment management and their overall longterm results. Learn how your comment data is processed. Both Wealthsimple Trade and Questrade offer the three most popular investment accounts i.e. Wealthsimple’s Trade app has racked up a 4.6/5 rating on the App Store from 18,600+ reviews. Compare the Best Robo-Advisors in Canada* >. The difference between each portfolio is the ratio between higher-risk investments, such as Canadian, U.S. and international equity ETFs, and lower-risk fixed-income ETFs, such as bonds and GICs. You can learn more about the company in this detailed Questrade review. In addition, Wealthsimple offers a custom Halal portfolios to adherents of the Islamic Faith. Both Wealthsimple and Questrade offer portfolios to meet various levels of risk tolerance e.g. Over the coming months, Wealthsimple Cash will be rolling out more features that could really be a draw for prospective clients. In summary, investors who are new to trading stocks and ETFs on their own would enjoy the clean, intuitive interface offered by the Wealthsimple Trade phone app. I use Wealthsimple for my business and Questrade for my personal investment account. Here are the comparisons for Questrade vs Wealthsimple. Wealthsimple Trade is Mobile only, whereas Questrade is available for both desktop and mobile app Questrade charges you to buy and sell stocks, free for ETFs buy but charges for sell Wealthsimple Trade is not yet enabled for options and mutual funds trading -slipage and 15 min delay so market open a 9h30 can’t do anything before 9h50 If you read something you feel is inaccurate or misleading, we would love to hear from you. Questrade vs Robinhood. We have partnered with Wealthsimple and Questwealth for a promotional offer if you sign up for either service. Here’s a detailed breakdown on how the two brokerage services compare: For some, the draw of commission-free purchases and trades (and no inactivity fee under any circumstances) will be reason enough to choose Wealthsimple Trade, particularly those not interested in specialized investments or account types. Wealthsimple Invest instead offers a portfolio management solution to help grow your savings over the long-term using a diversified and low-fee portfolio that is rebalanced regularly (think set-it and forget-it). Questrade is Canada’s leading discount brokerage and offers … That’s right, $0, and a first in Canada. So far, it’s same-same, right? Both companies offer equally secure online platforms, proper financial oversight, and insurance against company failure. I’m a bit on the fence about Questwealth Portfolio’s investment management style, however, their management fees are an industry-low for the Canadian market. Both of them also help you to save on fees! Wealthsimple vs Questrade vs Big Banks on Investing Accounts – Quick Comparison Wealthsimple is my top choice for automated robo-advisor investing and it offers the only commission-free online discount brokerage service in Canada (Wealthsimple Trade). The minimum account size for Questwealth is $1,000, while Wealthsimple has no minimum balance. Your email address will not be published. If you’re sticking to ETFs and stocks, Wealthsimple Trade will be the cheaper solution with $0 commissions for both buying and selling. We do our best to fact check all our content before it gets published and make updates regularly, but some things may get missed. EQ Bank TFSA Review: Best TFSA Savings Rates in Canada? In addition to their pre-designed ETF portfolios, they also offer DIY investors a commission-free online brokerage, Wealthsimple Trade, where you can buy and sell thousands of stocks and ETFs. For example, stocks must be priced at a minimum of $0.50 per share and trade an average of at least 50,000 shares daily. Qtrade can also be an option. The quick answer is: only buy as much as you’re willing to loose. Of course, this post won’t be complete without our exclusive promo codes and links to save on either service if you go ahead and open an account. It seems to be working for them and you can definitely take a look at their historical returns as a part of the vetting process. For example, the management fee for both of these robo-advisors is less than 0.5%. Wealthsimple Invest has a tiered fee structure that is based on your account size. The big plus for Wealthsimple Trade is its fees, which are literally impossible to beat: $0 commission on all purchases, sales and trades. On a $100,000 account, this is an extra $200 or so per year. WS forces you to pay the 1.5% on every buy and sell. Anytime you hand over savings to a financial institution, be sure to always do research on who is handling your money. You pay $19.95 USD for precious metals and $9.95 + $1 for options. If a link has an asterisk (*) at the end of it, that means it's an affiliate link and can sometimes result in a payment to MoneySense which helps our website stay free to our users. Questwealth bucks the trend in this regard and utilizes an active investment strategy. Both Questrade and Wealthsimple Trade offer both accounts to invest with, plus non-registered personal accounts. ECN fees apply to some trades. WS has a 1.5% FX fee when you buy USD traded securities. So far, the only investments available through the service are ETFs or stocks listed on the NYSE, NASDAQ, TSX or TSX-V exchanges. (Read our Questrade review for more information.). Share on Email, Your email address will not be published. Now that we have compared their trading platforms, how about the online wealth management service offered by both companies – Wealthsimple Invest and Questwealth Portfolios? I love both services and you can potentially save on fees even further by using our promo links above. Wealthsimple’s managed investment portfolios utilize a passive strategy that is designed to follow Nobel Prize-winning research. Wealthsimple*, on the other hand, entered the brokerage market only in 2019 with a mobile app service called Wealthsimple Trade. Posted on October 29, 2020 by . We are unable to control and are not responsible for any of the content on external sites that we may link to. That fee drops to 0.4% if you deposit more than $100k. Wealthsimple offers you a variety of fund portfolios. For example if I buy 1000$ of US ETF with Wealthsimple I will get a 15$ fee but if I buy them with Questrade I also get a conversion fee so how is it different? For more details read our MoneySense Monetization policy. Questrade recently introduced its robo-advisor service, Questwealth Portfolios, which has one of the lowest management fees among the robo-advisors we have reviewed. Questwealth portfolios offer TFSA, RRSP, RESP, LIF, RRIF, personal non-registered, and corporate investment accounts. Questrade and Wealthsimple Trade were both founded in Canada and are based here in the country. Thank you for explaining the differences. Investors with net deposits of $100,000 or more automatically qualify for Wealthsimple Black, an upper-tier investing package with added perks in addition to its lower management fee. Wealthsimple Canada does not have the option to keep funds in US dollars, so you have to keep converting your money back and forth when trading US equities. Founded in 2014, the company now manages more than $5 billion in assets and also operates in the United States and the United Kingdom. How is it different from Questrade? They also offer a hybrid (savings and chequing) account that will be first of its kind when it’s fully rolled out. Below is a comparison table to better understand the differences. (Having said that, the past performance of Questwealth Portfolios has been at least as good or better than benchmark targets or other robo-advisors.). Questrade also offers trading in RESPs, LIRA, LIF, RRIF, corporate investment, and margin accounts. their robo-advisor service. You can access your Wealthsimple and Questwealth portfolio accounts using any device – computer, tablet, and smartphone. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Questrade does not currently have a comparable service. But, if you only trade Canadian equities, and don’t ever want to use margin, then the fact that there are no commissions makes Wealthsimple a very good choice in my opinion. personal non-registered accounts, RRSP, and TFSAs. If you want your portfolio to reflect your consciousness about the physical and social environment, both companies also offer socially responsible investing (SRI) portfolios. If you have at least $1,000 to invest, and you don’t mind that the process is not entirely automated, Questwealth Portfolios wins out as the more cost-effective robo-advisor of the two. Dec 11th, 2019 12:17 am #2; martydxb Deal Addict Apr 3, 2010 1794 posts 1135 upvotes GTA . Read “How do I become a money coach in Canada?”, Read Making sense of the markets this week: December 14, Read Strategies for smarter charitable giving, Read Ways to “unlock” retirement savings in a LIRA, Read Making sense of the markets this week: December 7. questrade vs wealthsimple. -2% buy and sell charge on crypto It's important to note that our editorial content will never be impacted by these links. When it comes to comparing Wealthsimple Trade and Questrade, it will depend a lot on what kind of investor you are and what you need from a brokerage. Sign up for a free Wealthsimple Trade Account. Wealthsimple Trade is quickly establishing itself as a serious contender to Questrade. Questrade also has an app hub that gives clients access to useful 3rd party tools like Passiv and Wealthica. This post may contain affiliate links. WealthSimple Trade and Questrade can both be considered discount brokerages and they are both frequently compared for this reason. You will also receive our FREE e-Book! Thanks for letting us know. Wealthsimple versus Questrade (Pros & Cons) When comparing Wealthsimple to Questrade you can see it as the hot new band versus the established classic rock act. Wealthsimple is definitely the leader on the robo-advisor front. questrade vs wealthsimple. Both offer the gamut of account types for their robo-advisor services. Wealthsimple Invest charges a 0.5% management fee. Could you please verify the information on the Currency conversion CAD/USD? His writing has been featured or quoted in The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, MSN Money, Financial Post, Winnipeg Free Press, Wealthsimple and many other personal finance publications. Furthermore, at the point of publication, we do our best to ensure the information we produce is accurate, however, sometimes prices and terms of the products are changed by the provider without notice to us. Wealthsimple and Questrade are both full-featured investment platforms – they both offer a robo advisor as well as a DIY online broker platform, if you’d rather buy the stocks and ETFs yourself. Based on the answers provided, an algorithm recommends a diversified portfolio of low-fee ETFs. There are, however, two major differences between Wealthsimple and Questwealth Portfolios: Here’s how the fees break down, along with a few other similarities/differences: Both robo-advisors are good options for Canadians who want a hands-off, low-fee investing option that minimizes risks and maximizes returns. Also wealthsimple does not offer margin accounts which is a big turn off for new investors. Questrade Wealth Management was one of three early entrants to the Canadian robo advisor space in 2014 (along with NestWealth.com and Wealthsimple). I am leaning towards Questrade but I wonder if they charge the ETF fees mentioned in an RRSP situation. Compare online trading platforms Sign up now to join thousands of other visitors who receive our latest personal finance tips once a week. Questrade has a more versatile platform and is accessible on desktop and smartphone. However, the added features and benefits that come with this platform blow Wealthsimple Trade out of the water and make it worth the fees. And I especially love your conclusion and how you use both services. Not only that but investing gurus like Warren Buffett, John Bogle, and Peter Lynch all advocate for the use of index funds and passive strategies for longterm success in the markets…more so, for everyday investors. We do our best to fact check all our content before it gets published and make updates regularly, but some things may get missed. only new deposits/contributions?!?! More recently, Wealthsimple introduced their Wealthsimple Cash service, a free hybrid account that offers saving and chequing account features that are a pretty rare combination in Canada. Questrade, however, will be the better option for many other self-directed investors, including those who: Compare the Best Online Brokerages in Canada* >. Really? It is a minimal fee and you can read more about it in my Questrade review: https://www.savvynewcanadians.com/questrade-review/, Thank you! MoneySense will always make updates and changes to correct factual errors. Purchasing ETFs is free. Control over your investments on the Invest platform reside with a Portfolio Manager. This comment is about trading equities with Wealthsimple. For those who want to get started with their investments right away and don’t have $1,000 on hand, or who feel more secure with the full automation of a true robo-advisor service, Wealthsimple has you covered. Simply put, it has a clean interface and is very easy to navigate for beginners. When you trade Bitcoin there’s a chance you could make—or lose—a lot of money. Questrade offers a web app (IQ Web) that functions across all devices, a mobile app, and IQ Edge which is a desktop downloadable software. Brokerage WealthSimple Trade Questrade; Fees: $0 Annual Fee Their trading platform is not available on desktop and as of this writing, it is totally separate from a Wealthsimple Invest account i.e. Questrade* started making its name as a low-cost provider of brokerage services in 1999, long before the term “fintech” entered the lexicon. Clients can pay $19.95 to $89.95 per month for access to their streaming real-time data. For example, stocks must be priced at a minimum of $0.50 per share and trade an average of at least 50,000 shares daily. When your account exceeds $100,000, Wealthsimple upgrades your account into the Wealthsimple Black category and you receive free access to VIP perks including financial planning sessions, tax-efficient funds, and a lower management fee at 0.40%. Typically, you won’t be selling ETFs in your RRSP anytime soon, so the trading fee should not matter much. Tangerine’s portfolios are created from in-house index funds that seek to replicate indices. You can start trading on your Wealthsimple Trade account with $100. Your email address will not be published. how we make money. And, even then, there are further restrictions. The low-cost ETF portfolios utilized by Wealthsimple are built to cater to investors with varying risk tolerances. (You can find additional details in our Wealthsimple review). – doesn’t support “RRSP withdrawals” One exception to this is when you make a USD trade, you pay a 1.50% currency conversion fee. This can lead to significant savings in currency conversion fees. You can simply look up a stock or ETF symbol, buy or sell it, and be done. Their brokerage service offers access to free ETF purchases and low commissions on stocks, options, and other products. These include: While deposits in a Wealthsimple Cash* account are not protected by the Canadian Insurance Deposit Corporation (CDIC), as is the case at most banks, they are protected (up to $1 million) by the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF). Questrade allows you to trade U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs without the need to convert from USD to CAD. While there are thousands of these assets on the Wealthsimple Trade app, not all Canadian and U.S. stocks and ETFs are listed. A Wealthsimple investment account comes with two options that can help you save and invest faster: Roundup: This feature automatically rounds up your spare change and invests the difference. Over time, the high fees dampen your overall returns and you’d have been better off with a portfolio that simply tracked the market. For more details read our MoneySense Monetization policy. To put this in perspective, on a $100,000 investment portfolio, you will pay $400 in fees per year with Wealthsimple and $200 per year with Questwealth. Plus they have no platform for desktop computers! For accounts below $100,000, the annual fee is 0.50% and this drops to 0.40% once your combined portfolio value exceeds $100,000. Share on Twitter Im trying wealth simple since 2 week Tamar Satov  on February 7, 2020, By  The company offers many other account options and perks that will be discussed below and you can find out more in this guide to Wealthsimple. Open an Account and get $50 in Free Trades, Sign up for a free Wealthsimple Trade Account, How Behavioural Biases Are Killing Your Investment Portfolio, Book Review: The Four Pillars of Investing by William J. Bernstein, Passiv Review: Passive Investing App for Canadians, Wealthsimple Trade: Zero Commission Stock and ETF Trading in Canada, Canada’s Best Credit Cards for Groceries and Food Purchases 2021. Wealthsimple is my top choice for automated robo-advisor investing and it offers the only commission-free online discount brokerage service in Canada (Wealthsimple Trade). Thank you! Interactive Brokers Canada vs. Questrade. Fees. Below, you can read brief reviews of Wealthsimple and Questrade that can help steer you in the right direction of what investment platform is best for your short-term and long-term investing goals. Wealthsimple could be usefull for someone who really put money aside for the real long term really no use to me who want to play with the money once a day. Questrade is the undisputed choice of online brokerage for active traders who want to save on fees while getting access to robust market data and research capabilities. Enoch Omololu is a personal finance expert and a veterinarian. Wealthsimple is definitely the leader on the robo-advisor front. ECN fees apply when you make liquidity trades i.e. Actually, they do not have a minimum account balance requirement, and you can technically open an account with $1. @V: You pay trading commissions when you are selling ETFs on Questrade (applies to RRSP accounts too). Overflow: You can use this feature to automatically invest excess cash in your chequing account after providing for day-to-day expenses. Please read our, The Canada Emergency Student Benefit For Students and Recent Graduates Who Dont Qualify For CERB or EI, Best 100 Money Quotes of All Time – Live a Meaningful Life. Do you think WS will eventually add the ability to execute pre-market orders? If you’ve decided to try out online investing and have narrowed down your choices to Wealthsimple or Questrade—congratulations! Wealthsimple Trade offers free stocks and ETF price data with a 15-minute delay. -transfert between different in-app account has a 5 day money cool down period With more than $9 billion in assets under management and 50,000+ new trading accounts every year, Questrade is considered to be the fastest-growing independent brokerage in the country. Wealthsimple vs Questrade. There are no trading commissions unless you are converting CAD to USD and you can start trading with as little as $100. Overall, Questrade offers a more robust trading platform for most investors, however, you will need to fund your account with at least $1,000 to get started. In some ways, the Questrade discount brokerage product vs the Wealthsimple Trade online brokerage platform are the mirror image of the robo advisor battle. Fees. purchase $5,000; fees may apply if withdrawn early, $24.95 per quarter, if balance is less than $1,000 or deposits are less than $150 per quarter, Growth, balanced, conservative, SRI, Halal, Aggressive, growth, balanced income, conservative, SRI, TFSA, RRSP, RESP, LIRA, RIF, LIF, personal, corporate, 0.2% (average); 0.25% to 0.4% for socially responsible investments, 0.2% (average); 0.21% to 0.35% for socially responsible investments, $350 (or $375 to $450 for an SRI portfolio), $225 (or $230 to $300 for an SRI portfolio), Approx. We would like to remind our readers to do their own fact checking before making any personal finance decisions. FREE Training Crash Course + Join Our Investing Academy https://bit.ly/theinvestingacademy Today we'll compare Questrade to Wealthsimple! Figure out how much Bitcoin to buy. Wealthsimple’s investing service is well known as a robo-advisor (building an ETF portfolio and rebalancing it for you). By  Read Canada’s climbing debt-to-income ratio: what you need to know, Read You’re not the only one ghosting companies that don’t do digital well, Calculating how much money you’ll need at retirement. Wealthsimple Trade’s stand-out feature is the ability to buy and sell stocks and ETFs for free. “Want to trade U.S. stocks and ETFs. And, Questrade now offers its own highly competitive robo-advisor service in the form of Questwealth Portfolios. Wealthsimple Trade has no fees for buying and selling stocks and ETFs. -5 open days for crypto deposit A traditional equity mutual fund could easily cost you up to $2,230 per year on the same balance. As you can see, Questrade has a more robust platform for investors and is likely a better option for DIY investors. Our goal is to have the most up-to-date information. October 28, 2020 by Leave a Comment. However, if you favor simplicity and low fees, then Wealthsimple Trade could make sense for you. Wealthsimple Trade’s 1.5% currency conversion fee makes investing in U.S. stocks and ETFs very costly. Questrade is the undisputed choice of online brokerage for active traders who want to save on fees while getting access to robust market data and research capabilities. I considered moving my self-directed investing accounts from TD Direct to Questrade before ultimately switching to Wealthsimple Trade. Wealthsimple portfolios are designed to follow a passive strategy. Therefore, for my purposes it’s useless. Again, Wealthsimple Invest has no minimum balance and for Questwealth, you need to fund your account with at least $1,000 before it can be invested on your behalf. Can you only convert it to a RIF upon retirement??? Clients spend a few minutes answering questions online about their age, comfort level with risk and investment goals. These accounts can be opened through Wealthsimple, Questrade, or any of the big banks. Compared to the average 2.23% charged on equity mutual funds, a 0.40% to 0.50% fee plus the ETF MER is big savings. As for Wealthsimple Trade, the only products available are stocks and ETFs. When I think of alternatives to Interactive Brokers Canada, Questrade, Qtrade, and Wealthsimple Trade come to mind. Note that Questwealth also charges 100 basis points (1%) in fees when they need to buy or sell US dollars to trade ETFs in your account. Questrade will give you a $50 credit in free trades when you sign up for a new account or enter the promo code SAVVY50 during signup. Same goes for investors who want a Halal portfolio provided by a robo-advisor. Questwealth utilizes an active management style. © 2020 Enoch Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. I find that if you want to go full diy investing, QT is the way. Inbuilt ETF management expense ratios (MER) apply to any ETF in your portfolio on both platforms. We will update this as soon as we can. Simply set it up and they take care of the rest, year after year. Questrade offers popular investment products including ETFs, stocks, GICs, mutual funds, options, initial public offerings, and bonds. Both services also offer socially responsible investment (SRI) versions of each portfolio, which support companies that prioritize environmental and social concerns and have a positive record on human rights and corruption. For Questwealth, you can invest up to $10,000 … When your account exceeds $500,000, you also get personalized in-depth financial reports, financial planning, and 50% off a Medcan Health Plan. Questrade is one of the most popular discount broker products in Canada. To understand how much each service costs, you must look at both the overall management fee, which is a percentage of the total amount of money you have invested, as well as management expense ratios (MERs), which are charged on each individual ETF. questrade vs wealthsimple. It’s an extremely easy way to invest without having to get caught up in stock market “knowledge”, but it does come with a fee. For a Questrade trading account, you need a minimum balance of $1,000 to start trading. Research over the years has shown that trying to beat the market rarely works and while mutual fund managers get paid to time the market and beat their benchmark indices, they very rarely do so. Share on Reddit I like all your articles, they’ve been very helpful, Your email address will not be published. Wealthsimple Trade’s stand-out feature is the ability to buy and sell stocks and ETFs for free. But choosing between the two can be tricky. Share this article RRSP Season 2021 – Contribution Deadline of March 1, 2021. Our goal is to provide the most relevant and up-to-date information as possible, but, as with all things you read on the internet, we recommend you digest our content critically and cross-reference with your own sources, especially before making a financial decision. Another alternative to the Robinhood app is our preferred online brokerage for Canadians: Questrade Brokerage. Its pricing plan is easy to comprehend with just two levels—Wealthsimple Basic and Wealthsimple Black—at 0.50% (on your first $99,000) and 0.40% (above $100,000), respectively. Required fields are marked *. WealthSimple vs. Questrade. I personally use both services and the result of my Wealthsimple vs. Questrade comparison is that both financial institutions offer Canadian investors access to some of the best investment platforms in the country. -no auto-deposit, -closing that account is gonna take at least – “doesn’t support RRSP transfers from other financial institutions” This Questrade vs. Wealthsimple comparison will explore the various services they offer, their fees, investment strategies, investment products you can trade, account options, perks, and their pros and cons. He has a master's degree in Finance and Investment Management from the University of Aberdeen Business School and has a passion for helping others win with their finances. Both Questrade and Wealthsimple have made a notable impact on the Canadian financial market as solid alternative investing options. Also they don’t give you margin. So, whether you want a conservative, balanced, growth, or aggressive portfolio, there’s something for everyone. Questrade vs Wealthsimple: Fees and minimum deposits Questrade and Wealthsimple are both renowned for offering very low fees in comparison to traditional fund managers. It’s important to note that our editorial content will never be impacted by these links. Buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum instantly with Wealthsimple. Wealthsimple Trade vs Questrade (Honest Comparison) - YouTube Wealthsimple Trade’s 1.5% currency conversion fee makes investing in U.S. stocks and ETFs very costly. Wealthsimple Invest offers all the basic accounts including TFSA, RRSP, RESP, RRIF, LIF, LIRA, personal non-registered, and business investment accounts.