You know what you want to own. That's the part you've got handled. The hard part is everything that comes after: every deposit you make, every time the market moves, your portfolio drifts a little further from the plan. So you open the spreadsheet. You do the math. You place the trades. And next month, you do it again.
Automated Investing is for the investor who wants to be the architect, not the construction crew.
The short version: You build a portfolio out of the stocks, ETFs, and direct indexes you choose, and set your target allocations. From there, every deposit gets invested according to your plan, we flag when your portfolio drifts from your targets and calculate the trades to get you back on track, and your non-registered accounts get scanned daily for tax-loss harvesting opportunities. You keep the final say on every trade. The fee is 0.25% per year, capped at $250.
What is Automated Investing?
Automated Investing is a Wealthsimple account where you set your own investment strategy and we handle the work of keeping it on track. You choose what to hold and in what proportion; the system invests your deposits, rebalances toward your targets, and harvests tax losses automatically — but it never trades without your review and confirmation.
Think of it as the middle path between two options that never quite fit. Robo-advisors take the work off your plate but also take away your control. Full DIY brokerage gives you total control but hands you all the operational overhead. Automated Investing keeps the strategy — and the final call — in your hands, and takes care of the execution.
How Automated Investing works
You start by building a portfolio one of two ways:
Start from scratch. Pick from over 14,000 stocks and ETFs, group them into categories that make sense to you — your tech picks, your dividend stocks, your international exposure — and set a target allocation for each. Adjust your weights anytime with no restrictions.
Start with a curated collection or direct index. Not sure where to begin? Choose a pre-built portfolio or a direct index like the Canadian Market, US Market, or US Innovation Index (the top 100 stocks on the NASDAQ). Every collection is fully editable from day one: swap holdings, adjust weights, or layer in your own picks. It's a starting point, not a locked-in decision.
Once your portfolio is set, three things happen on their own:
Every deposit goes to work automatically, invested according to your target allocation. No logging in, no manual trades, no math.
When your portfolio drifts, we calculate exactly what needs to change to get it back on track — and surface it for you. You review and confirm in a few taps; we handle the rest. Nothing fires without your sign-off.
On non-registered accounts, we scan daily for harvestable tax losses and capture them where they exist.
Why does portfolio drift actually matter?
A portfolio that's drifted isn't just untidy — it's taking on more risk than you originally chose, often without you noticing. When one position runs up, it quietly grows into a bigger share of your portfolio than you intended, and your overall risk creeps up with it.
Rebalancing fixes that. By trimming what's grown and topping up what's lagged, it enforces the discipline of buying low and selling high systematically — without requiring you to predict anything or remember to do it on a Sunday night.
Own the index, not the ETF
Direct indexing lets you hold the actual stocks that make up a major North American index directly in your account, instead of buying an ETF that tracks it. The exposure is the same; the difference is what it unlocks.
Two things, specifically:
You can exclude any individual stock, for any reason — an employer conflict, an ethical line you won't cross, or concentration you already have elsewhere — without giving up your broader index exposure.
You can harvest tax losses on individual positions even when the index is up overall. Inside an ETF wrapper, that's impossible: you only see the fund's single price. Holding the underlying stocks makes each position visible and harvestable on its own.
Choose a direct index and you also eliminate the ETF's MER on that portion of your portfolio entirely.
How does tax-loss harvesting work here?
Tax-loss harvesting turns a market dip into a tax advantage. When you add a direct index in non-registered accounts, Wealthsimple scans its holdings daily for positions trading below what you paid. When we find one, we capture the loss — which can offset capital gains elsewhere — and reinvest in a comparable holding so your market exposure stays intact.
Those savings compound over time. Tax-loss harvesting typically boosts after-tax returns by 0.30% to 0.50% per year, assuming you reinvest the savings — enough that, for most non-registered account holders, it more than offsets the management fee entirely. And on US direct indexes, there are no FX fees: you hold the underlying US stocks without the currency conversion cost you'd pay elsewhere.
(Tax-loss harvesting applies to direct indexing in non-registered accounts only.)
What does Automated Investing cost?
One management fee of 0.25% per year, capped at $250 annually. That's comparable to what many low-cost ETFs charge in MERs — except here it also covers automated rebalancing to your selected targets, automatic deployment of new deposits to keep your portfolio tracking to target weights, and tax-loss harvesting. There are no trading commissions and no hidden fees, so you always know exactly what you own and exactly what you pay.
A couple of things worth knowing:
If you choose a direct index, you eliminate the ETF MER on that portion of your portfolio, since you hold the stocks directly rather than through a fund.
For most non-registered account holders, the tax-loss harvesting savings alone more than cover the cost.
You don't have to move everything at once
Partial conversion means you can transfer all, some, or none of your existing self-directed holdings into Automated Investing — in kind, so you're not forced to sell. Start with one account, or one slice of one account, and see how it feels. There's no all-or-nothing requirement.
It works across your non-registered, RRSP, TFSA, and FHSA accounts alike — so the strategy you build can live wherever your money already does. And when you withdraw, the system is built to be tax-aware: it sells overweight positions first, which brings you back toward your targets while keeping your tax hit in check.
Who is Automated Investing for?
It's likely a fit if you:
Have real convictions about what you want to own, but don't want to manually rebalance to maintain them.
Currently track target allocations in a spreadsheet, or know you should and don't.
Are fee-aware and want to know exactly what you're paying for.
Want to mix individual stocks, ETFs, and direct indexes in one consolidated portfolio.
Like the idea of being the architect of your strategy without doing the day-to-day construction.
A clear-eyed word on risk
Automated Investing doesn't change the fundamental nature of investing: your portfolio can go down as well as up, and the holdings you choose are your decisions. Rebalancing and tax-loss harvesting are tools for staying disciplined and tax-efficient — they don't protect against market losses or guarantee any particular return.
Tax-loss harvesting outcomes depend on your own holdings, your gains, and the market; the savings described here are typical for many non-registered accounts but aren't promised for every investor. Any figures from the calculator are illustrative, not a forecast. And because you confirm trades yourself, staying on plan still depends partly on you acting on the recommendations we surface.
Set your strategy in minutes. Keep it on track forever.
You can build your first portfolio — from scratch or from a curated collection — in the Wealthsimple app today. Start with as much or as little as you like.
