Financial Advice Terms & Conditions
By participating in a financial goal-setting session or financial planning discussion (each, a “Service”) with a representative of Wealthsimple Inc. (“WSI”, “we” or “us”) you agree to the following terms and conditions.
1. Service
The Service will involve either a financial goal-setting session or preparing a financial plan for you based on an analysis of your current situation, goals and objectives. The Service may encompass one or more of the following areas, as applicable:
Financial Goal-Setting Session (available to Premium clients)
A discussion to help you define your financial goals and objectives.
Financial Plan (available to Generation clients)
A financial goal-setting session and a financial plan, which may include one or more of the following:
Savings strategies
Investment education
Personal tax planning
Retirement planning
Estate planning
Insurance analysis
The Service usually includes general recommendations for a course of activity or specific actions to be taken by you. For example, we may recommend that you begin or revise investment programs, create or revise wills or trusts, obtain or revise insurance coverage, commence or alter retirement savings, or establish education or charitable giving programs.
For financial planning discussions, we may, at our option, provide you with a written summary of your financial situation, and our observations and recommendations. For a financial goal-setting session, we usually do not provide you with a written summary of our observations and recommendations, as the process is less formal than our financial planning Service.
2. Eligibility
The applicable Service is available to Premium and Generation clients who do not have a discretionary managed account with us (a “Managed Account”). If you have a Managed Account with us, please contact us to determine which financial planning services are available to you.
3. Client’s Responsibilities
You recognize that the value and usefulness of the Service will depend on the accuracy and completeness of the information you provide, your active participation in the formulation of your financial goals and objectives, and your implementation of the financial advice to attain those goals and objectives. You will provide us with all information and documents we may reasonably request in order to permit a complete evaluation and preparation of recommendations for you. We will rely on the information you provide to us, and we will not be responsible for verifying the information and documentation you provide. We are entitled to rely on such information and documentation. You acknowledge that we may ask for your consent to view account information for services provided by our affiliates, including self-directed trading accounts with our affiliates.
4. No Investment Advice
You understand that we act in the capacity of portfolio manager for clients who have Managed Accounts with us and we will continue to do so. You understand that we are not acting in the capacity of an investment advisor or portfolio manager in connection with providing you with the Service. We will not buy, sell or recommend any security or other investment for or to you, nor will we provide you with investment advice. For greater certainty, you understand that we will not provide you with investment advice regarding any investment accounts you may have, including any self-directed trading accounts you may have with our affiliates.
You are not obligated to use us in our capacity as portfolio manager to implement the financial advice we provide. Nor are you obligated to use the services offered by any of our affiliates to implement the financial advice we provide. You are free to select any investment advisor, portfolio manager, dealer or insurance agent that you wish to implement our financial advice.
If you open a Managed Account, we will be acting in our capacity as portfolio manager with respect to that account. When acting in this capacity, we may earn commissions and fees as set out in the applicable agreement(s) with you related to the Managed Account.
5. No Legal or Accounting Services
You understand that we will not provide accounting or legal advice to you, nor will we prepare any accounting or legal documents for you. We encourage you to work closely with your lawyer and accountant in implementing the recommendations contained in our financial advice.
6. Limitation of Liability
You understand that the recommendations in the financial advice we develop are based upon our professional judgment. We cannot guarantee the results of our recommendations. You at all times will elect unilaterally to follow or ignore completely, or in part, any information, recommendation, or advice given by us as part of the Service.
You understand that there are risks inherent in all financial decisions and transactions and that there is no guarantee your investment objectives will be achieved. You expressly acknowledge and agree that we will have no liability or responsibility whatsoever for any direct, indirect, special, punitive or consequential damages or loss however caused, arising out of your use of the Service.
The financial advice we provide as part of the Service is based on economic and tax factors, as well as your circumstances, at the time we provided this advice. We are under no obligation to update this advice once we have provided you with the completed Service. We offer no assurances or guarantees about the future performance of your financial plan or investments.
7. Collection and Use of Information
Your security and privacy are our utmost concern. We do not sell, rent or otherwise disclose your personal information collected to third parties except as required to deliver the Service.
We may disclose your personal information to our affiliates within the Wealthsimple group of companies (including Wealthsimple Technologies Inc., Wealthsimple Inc. and Wealthsimple Investments Inc.) for the purposes of providing you the Service, as well as to help us develop, enhance, provide and inform you of other services, products, or promotions offered by them (the “Related Services”). Additional terms and conditions and fees may apply to the Related Services.
All information that we may collect through your use of the Services is subject to our Privacy Policy which is available at wealthsimple.com/en-ca/legal/privacy. Our Privacy Policy is incorporated into these terms and conditions by reference and by receiving the Service you hereby agree and consent to our Privacy Policy.
We are responsible for protecting the security of your data and personal information that is in our possession and will maintain commercially reasonable administrative, technical and physical procedures to protect your data and personal information. However, we cannot guarantee that unauthorized third parties will never be able to defeat those measures. You understand and agree that you use the Services at your own risk.
8. Term
These terms and conditions apply to the Service. Our obligations to you regarding the Service terminate once we have provided you with the completed Service.
9. Conflicts of Interest
A conflict of interest generally may arise where: (i) we or a representative have separate business or personal interests that differ from a client’s interest; (ii) we or a representative may be influenced to put their own interests ahead of a client’s interest; (iii) monetary or non-monetary benefits or disadvantages to us or a representative might compromise a reasonable client’s trust; and (iv) there are differing interests amongst clients, resulting in preferential treatment for some in the operation and management of their account and execution of trades. Generally, a conflict of interest is material if the conflict may be reasonably expected to influence either your decisions as a client in the circumstances or us or our representatives’ decisions in the circumstances.
Disclosure regarding conflicts of interest is described in the Conflicts of Interest section of our website, which is available here: wealthsimple.com/en-ca/legal/conflicts-of-interest-policy.
10. General
a) Governing Law: These terms and conditions will be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein. Any legal suit, action or proceeding arising out of or relating to the Agreement shall be instituted in the courts of Toronto, Ontario.
b) Amendments: We reserve the right to amend these terms and conditions at any time, subject to applicable law. You are deemed to accept and agree to be bound by any changes to the terms and conditions when you use the Service after those changes are posted. You agree that we shall not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspensions, or discontinuance of the Service. If you do not agree with any changes to these terms and conditions, you may decline to receive the Service.
c) Assignment: You may not assign these terms and conditions or your rights or obligations hereunder to any third party without our prior written consent; provided however, that no assignment may relieve you of any of your obligations hereunder. Any attempted assignment, transfer or other conveyance in violation of the foregoing will be void. We may assign these terms and conditions or any rights or obligation under these terms and conditions to any third party without your consent and without providing notice to you. These terms and conditions are binding upon and will enure to the benefit of each of the parties, and each of their permitted successors, and permitted assignees.
d) Headings: The headings in these terms and conditions are for reference only and do not affect the interpretation of the terms and conditions.
e) Severability: If any term or provision of these terms and conditions is held to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, such invalidity, illegality or unenforceability will only apply to such provision. The validity of the rest of these terms and conditions will not be affected. These terms and conditions will continue to be carried out as if such invalid or unenforceable provision were not in the terms and conditions. If any applicable law, regulation, by-law, rule, policy or custom (“Applicable Rules and Regulations”) is enacted, made, amended or otherwise changed with the result that any term or provision of these terms and conditions is, in whole or in part, invalid, then such term or provision will be deemed to be varied or superseded to the extent necessary to give effect to such Applicable Rules and Regulations.
f) No Endorsement: Links on our website to other websites are for your convenience only. No endorsement of any independent third party products, services or information is expressed or implied by any information, material or content of or about a third party. Any information, data, opinions, or recommendations provided by independent third parties through links to other websites or otherwise made available are solely those of the independent third party and not of us.
g) Entire Agreement: These terms and conditions contain the entire understanding of the parties with respect to the Service. These terms and conditions in no way limits or restricts any other rights which we may have under any other agreement with you for services unrelated to the Service.
h) No Waiver: No waiver by either party of any of the provisions hereof is effective unless explicitly set forth in writing. No waiver by either party shall operate or be construed as a waiver in respect of any failure, breach or default not expressly identified by such written waiver, whether of a similar or different nature, and whether occurring before or after that waiver. No failure to exercise, or delay in exercising, any right, remedy, power or privilege arising from these terms and conditions shall operate or be construed as a waiver thereof; nor shall any single or partial exercise of any right, remedy, power or privilege hereunder preclude any other or further exercise thereof or the exercise of any other right, remedy, power or privilege.