Robo-advisors aim at building wealth gradually over time, following an automated portfolio management process. The number of Robo-advisors is steadily increasing as this wealth management service is quickly becoming popular around the world. Robo-advisors facilitate investing by minimizing research time, removing emotions when selecting investments, and automating the portfolio management process. Furthermore, management fees are relatively lower compared to traditional financial advisors. Among the other services provided, some platforms offer financial planning tools, tax-efficient techniques, access to human financial advisors, Socially Responsible portfolios, and a variety of other services.
At Robo-Advisor Finder, we follow over 80 Robo-advisors worldwide, of which more than 15 offer their services to Canadian investors. That's a lot to check, right? In this article, we'll make it easier for you by mentioning the best Robo-advisors in Canada and why we think they are among the best-automated wealth management platforms.
If you want to know more about Robo-advisors, how they function, what services they provide, and whether or not this type of automated investment is right for you, you can take a look at our article "What is a Robo-advisor?"
While robo-advisors have been popular in the United States for several years, with many financial institutions adding this feature to their services, Canada has lagged behind. Still, there are numerous Robo-advisors available for Canadians that provide innovative services at a very low cost, making investing more accessible to all. In general, when we try to classify Robo-advisors, we look for low pricing, low minimum deposit requirements, and increased portfolio customization. Those factors are undoubtedly among the most important factors for investors to consider when selecting a suitable Robo-advisor.
To list the best Robo-advisors in Canada, we've checked different platforms and evaluated those three main characteristics, and here are the results of our deep dive research.
Founded in 2014, Wealthsimple has three smart wealth management solutions that are available for investors:
Wealthsimple Invest: a Robo-advising service that lets you invest in automatically managed portfolios, with the ability to automatically deposit additional funds, reinvest any dividends received, and access to financial advisors. It also offers socially responsible portfolios targeting ETFs investing in companies with an environmental and social impact, and halal portfolios compliant with Islamic law;
Wealthsimple Cash: a debit card for daily purchases that gives 1% back in cash, stock, or crypto;
Wealthsimple Trade: A commission-free stock and ETF trading application.
Wealthsimple is suitable for all Canadian investors looking for a low-fee Robo-advisor with some additional features and some degree of portfolio customization.
💲Fees: 0.25% on first $100,000; 0.20% after $100,000 per year
💵 Minimum balance: No minimum to open account, but $1,000 to start investing
💁 Access to human advisors: Yes
💬 Supported languages: English and French
Questwealth is the Robo-advisor provided by Questrade Wealth Management Inc., a Canadian investment management firm. The company was founded in 1999 in Toronto and offers pre-built portfolios with different risk tolerance levels: Aggressive, Growth, Balanced, Income, and Conservative. They also have a socially responsible investing option with portfolios having the same set of risk profiles as the standard portfolios.
What is advantageous compared to other Robo-advisors is that Questwealth portfolios have a relatively long track record, and you can check the performance of all portfolios since inception. It also offers tax-loss harvesting and automatic reinvestment of any dividends received. Moreover, you get access to Questrade if you want to self-manage your portfolio with access to stocks, options, and ETFs.
Questwealth is suitable for Canadians looking to invest in automatically managed portfolios at a very low cost.
💵 Minimum balance: No minimum to open account, but $1,000 to start investing
💁 Access to human advisors: Yes
💬 Supported languages: English and French
RBC InvestEase is the robo-advisor platform of Royal Bank of Canada, the biggest bank in Canada in terms of market cap and with over 17 million customers. Following a short questionnaire, they recommend an automatically managed portfolio of diversified ETFs. Their low-cost ETFs seek to track high-quality market indexes, and the mix of cash, fixed income, and equity ETFs depends on your financial goals and risk tolerance. RBC InvestEase does not require any minimum to open an account. However, once your balance reaches $1,000, you can start investing.
RBC InvestEase is suitable for Canadians that are more comfortable dealing with a Robo-advisor backed by a bank.
💲Fees: 0.50% on balances up to $500,000, and 0.40% over $500,000 per year (min $4.99/month)
💵 Minimum balance: $5,000
💁 Access to human advisors: Yes
💬 Supported languages: English
Founded in 2016, Justwealth is another Canadian Robo-advisor that offers a wide range of automatically managed portfolios. They have over 60 different portfolios, targeting different investor profiles, and follow a goals-based approach in their portfolio construction process. Their portfolios include socially responsible investing options, and the fees are very straightforward, 0.50% for accounts with balances below $500,000 and 0.40% on all balances over this threshold. Moreover, their qualified investment professionals offer to provide you with a free review of your current investment portfolio. On the downside, they have a high minimum balance requirement ($5,000) compared to other Canadian Robo-advisors.
Justwealth is suitable for Canadian investors looking for a high level of personalized portfolios while having access to financial planning services.
Justwealth Homepage
#5 Nestwealth (Best for access to financial advisors)
💲Fees: Between $5/month (below $10k) to $150/month (above $325k)
💵 Minimum balance: $100
💁 Access to human advisors: Yes
💬 Supported languages: English
Nest Wealth is a Canadian company founded in 2014, offering wealth management solutions for individual investors, financial advisors, and financial institutions. Based on your personal risk tolerance, your objectives, and your current financial situation, they develop a customized ideal asset allocation that includes bonds, equities, and real estate ETFs. A portfolio manager will reach out to make sure you are comfortable with the answers given in the risk questionnaire, and you’ll be able to adjust the allocation and the cash target in your portfolio to meet your short-term liquidity needs. Then, they work on managing your portfolio by automatically rebalancing and ensuring low management costs.
Unlike most Robo-advisors, Nest Wealth charges a flat monthly fee based on your account balance and ranges from $5 per month for accounts below $10,000 to $150 per month for accounts above $325,000.
Nestwealth is suitable for Canadian investors looking for automated portfolios while having unlimited access to portfolio managers.
Nestwealth Homepage
Best Robo-Advisors in Canada Compared
Best Robo-advisors in Canada
Final Thoughts
Overall, Robo-advisors are ideal for investors looking for "set and forget" investment solutions. However, with the growing number of Robo-advisors in Canada, it is becoming increasingly difficult for investors to select the one that best suits their needs.
To make things easier, we've compiled a list of Canada’s five best Robo-advisor options. However, many more companies might also suit your needs, so we encourage you to check our full list of Robo-advisors. In general, we suggest you visit their websites, read about how they implement their investing strategies, compare the fees charged, and verify that the company is regulated.
Remember, if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below.
A reminder that the above should not be construed as investment advice and should be considered information only. Investors should do their own research and due diligence about the services and opportunities best suited for their risk, returns, and impact strategy.
How much money do I need to invest with a Robo-advisor?
Most Robo-advisors have a very low minimum balance requirement to start investing (you can find Robo-advisors that allow you to start investing starting at $5).
Do Robo-advisors beat the market?
No, most Robo-advisors invest in ETFs and work on matching the performance of a particular market benchmark. So, they tend to closely replicate the market's performance rather than beat it.
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