Reading the Managed Investing Fee Tiers

My RRSP lives in Managed Investing, so the management fee is the number I think about most. I recently went back to Wealthsimple's Managed Investing page to see how the fee structure is laid out today, and I figured it was worth writing up what I found.

How the tiers are laid out

As the page presents it, fees depend on how much you hold with Wealthsimple in total, not on the account alone. At the time of writing, it lists three levels:

• Core, starting at $1 in assets: 0.5% on managed investing accounts
• Premium, at $100,000 in assets: 0.4%
• Generation, at $500,000 in assets: somewhere between 0.2% and 0.4%

The page also describes a few portfolio styles. Classic is the low-fee diversified one with an adjustable risk level, and that's the one I picked. Summit leans on private market investments and has a higher starting amount, which is not where I'm at. There are also lower-risk options meant for shorter-term goals.

My take

What I noticed is how a fee that sounds small, like a 0.1% gap between tiers, is a percentage of the whole balance, so it adds up over the years. For me, that's less a reason to chase a tier and more a reason to know where I stand. I check my total once in a while and look at what tier I'm in, rather than assuming.

I also like that the same page lists the account types it works with (TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, RESP and others), so I can see where the fee applies. The page doesn't go into rebalancing details, so what I know about that comes from using it myself: it has simply happened in the background for me.

Fees and tiers can change, so my notes here are a snapshot, not a promise. The page itself is the place to confirm current numbers.

If you're curious to try it, the card above has the same $25 welcome offer I signed up with.