Two thirds believe they’re best served by taking full control of their portfolios, with more than half admitting they’ve turned down advisor recommendations to make independent choices instead.
Although this is more about their own sense of ability rather than a rejection of advisors, their frustration with traditional institutions is evident with almost eight in ten saying Canada’s financial firms are lagging in innovation, citing outdated systems, high fees, and slow adoption of new technology as barriers to building wealth efficiently.
The firm recently urged Ottawa to rein in transfer fees on savings accounts by Canadian FIs, saying that they are costing investors millions of dollars each year.
“Canadians are increasingly ‘nerding out’ on investment and trading strategies to build their wealth. These are strategies and tools that institutional and wealthy investors have been using for decades,” said Tara Kennedy, VP and head of Capital Markets at Wealthsimple. “Today’s retail investor is intentional, curious, and motivated. They deserve modern, intuitive tools to maximize the opportunities within capital markets, and the new updates to our platform are designed to ensure those needs are met.”
The company’s new tools range from zero-commission options to direct indexing and fractional gold ownership, which aim to meet the demand Kennedy references. It follows the addition of margin trading to the platform earlier this year.
