Wealthsimple Review

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In this Wealthsimple review, we take a closer look at the UK robo-advisor. This will help you to decide if they are the right digital wealth manager for you.

Important Update for 2022 – Wealthsimple recently sold its UK business to rival Moneyfarm. You can read our full Moneyfarm review here.

Who Are Wealthsimple?

Wealthsimple started life back in 2014 with the mission of providing world-class low cost investment advice. At the time of writing, Wealthsimple have over 75,000 customers globally and they manage over £1.4 billion worth of assets.

After seeing massive growth in their Canadian and US business, Wealthsimple then expanded into the UK.

Wealthsimple pride themselves on their advice but also the design, ease of use and security of their platform. This helped them to win the prestigious Webby Award for Best Financial Services/Banking website two years running!

How Does Wealthsimple Work?

Wealthsimple use digital tools and a Nobel Prize winning investment strategy to build a personalised portfolio for their clients.

After you sign up with Wealthsimple, they will ask you some simple questions. This will help them assess your attitude to risk and understand your investment goals. Once they have this information, they can then invest your cash into suitable low-cost index funds. Wealthsimple then continuously monitor and re-balance your portfolio on your behalf.

So, once you’re invested, you don’t have to do a thing!

Example of Wealthsimple funds for a balanced portfolio

As Wealthsimple make use of digital tools and invest your money into low-cost funds, they are able to charge much lower fees than those charged by typical wealth managers. This means world-class investment management doesn’t have to be restricted to only high net-worth investors.

The above being said, many high net-worth individuals are now seeing the benefits of using robo-advisors. As a result, Wealthsimple have a special package for those with over £100,000 to invest. The package is called ‘Wealthsimple Black’. Wealthsimple Black offers even lower fees as well as other perks.

Wealthsimple also now have an upgrade to ‘Wealthsimple Black’ with their ‘Generation’ plan. Generation is for those investing over £500,000 and comes with a dedicated investment advisor.

While you can sign up and manage your Wealthsimple account online, you can still speak with a human investment advisor as and when you feel the need to.

Wealthsimple Fees

One vital part of any Wealthsimple review has to be the area of cost!

The fees Wealthsimple charge are clear and simple to understand.

If you’re investing less than £100,000 (there is no minimum investment amount) then Wealthsimple charge a management fee of 0.7%. Then there is the cost of the underlying funds they invest your money into, which is around 0.2% on average.

If you’re investing over £100,000 then you will be eligible for Wealthsimple’s ‘Black’ account. This account comes with all the features of the basic account but a lower fee of 0.5% + fund costs.

Wealthsimple Basic and Black account pricing and benefits

Let’s also not forget the ‘Generation’ plan mentioned earlier. The fee on this is the same as is charged on the ‘Black’ plan at 0.5% but this comes with a dedicated investment manager.

Wealthsimple Stocks and Shares ISA

So far, we’ve mentioned Wealthsimple’s Basic, Black and Generation Accounts. UK investors will be happy to hear, though, that there is also a Wealthsimple Stocks and Shares ISA and a Wealthsimple Junior ISA. This means you can enjoy the tax benefits that come with investing via an ISA for you and your children.

The ISA allowance set by the government currently stands at £20,000 per year for adults and £4,260 for children. You can invest it all into a Stocks and Shares ISA or you can split it across various ISA types.

You can also transfer an existing ISA over to Wealthsimple in a matter of minutes via their website. Wealthsimple will cover any associated costs.

Do Wealthsimple Offer a Pension?

Wealthsimple also offer a SIPP pension product with no investment minimums. They are currently the only UK digital pension provider to offer unlimited human investment advice at no extra cost. You can also choose to have your money invested in a socially responsible portfolio if you wish. 

It takes minutes to open or transfer a pension to Wealthsimple and you can also arrange to have your employer pay into it too.

Invest on Autopilot via the Wealthsimple Mobile App

Is Your Money Safe?

Wealthsimple use state of the art encryption to help keep your money safe. It’s good to know that Wealthsimple are also fully regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. This means that any money deposited is protected by FSCS protection up to a maximum of £85,000. Obviously this does not cover any losses related to investment activity.

Wealthsimple Alternatives

We appreciate that after reading this review, you may for some reason decide that Wealthsimple aren’t quite right for you. If so, you may want to check out our reviews of some other UK robo-advisors

First you could look at our review of Moneyfarm. Moneyfarm’s fees are more competitive than Wealthsimple’s in most brackets.

Another exciting low-cost robo advisor to launch in the UK recently are InvestEngine.

Are Wealthsimple Right for You?

We hope that this Wealthsimple review has helped you decide whether they are the right choice for you.

By their very nature, robo-advisors like Wealthsimple are not designed to turn you into an overnight millionaire. Robo-advisors are instead designed for those looking for a low fee, hands off way to grow their cash.

Of course, consistent growth cannot be guaranteed but this is Wealthsimple’s aim. While you can – to some extent – choose the level of risk that you are willing to take when using a robo-advisor in the hope of better returns, it’s still best to be realistic in your expectations.

With the above in mind, if your investment goal is to see massive growth over a short period of time, then you might be better off opening a DIY Stocks and Shares ISA and trying to pick your own stocks instead. If on the other hand you are looking for a hands off investment that should produce steady returns with low fees, then Wealthsimple could be a great place to start.

‘With investment comes risk and you may get back less than you invest’.

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