The Truth about Money, From Our Clients (And Aubrey Plaza)

It's probably best to start by watching this:

Welcome to our newest installment of “Investing for Humans.” The second in a series of commercials and videos made by the Wealthsimple creative team and directed by Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Errol Morris. (You have to check out his new Netflix show Wormwood; it's masterful.)

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This time we started with a few hundred Wealthsimple clients from across North America. (Plus a few well-known people like Aubrey Plaza and Paper Boi from "Atlanta" — just because you’re well-known doesn’t mean you don’t have interesting money problems.) We gathered these clients, interviewed them, Skyped with them, asked them extremely personal questions about money, and found out their Wealthsimple stories. It's the kind of thing businesses are always hiring big, expensive consulting firms to do: find out what our clients think about money! And us!

But instead of ending up with a really boring report delivered by a guy who's great at PowerPoint, we wanted to end up with a series of commercials and videos that would reveal how real people succeed at money. Part One of Investing for Humans was about finding out the real, unspoken anxieties people have about money. And Part Two is about how clients have used Wealthsimple to help them solve those worries. (Hey, it's all unscripted. We believe these people. It's Errol Morris — an intrepid seeker of truth!)

You can see the new Investing for Humans ads starting Sunday during the Golden Globes. You'll see us everywhere — online, on billboards, and commercials during the NFL playoffs and TV premieres — all the big moments when we think actual humans will be watching TV.

What will you see if you tune in to the Golden Globes Sunday to see these spots for the first time? (Or any of those big TV moments in the coming weeks?)

You might see Aubrey. Or maybe here on YouTube. Or you might see Wealthsimple client Anubha discussing how empowering taking control of your finances can be:

Or the actor Brian Tyree Henry talking about how part of the reason he wanted to become an actor was so that he could spoil his mom.

Or Anna, a client, explaining about how investing isn't about betting on stocks, it's about faith in human progress.

Or you might see Alex Karpovsky — who was 37 and broke before he was cast in HBO's “Girls” — talking about how you can tell a lot about where you are financially by what you do with an unopened pistachio. Naturally.

Errol Morris also shot a series of short documentary Money Diary films with Aubrey Plaza, Alex Karpovsky, Brian Tyree Henry and the actor and filmmaker Mark Duplass. Each is a look at the story of a fascinating creative life, as told through the prism of that most delicate subject: money. We think they’re pretty honest and empowering — we hope you will, too. See them all here.

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Wealthsimple

Wealthsimple uses technology and smart, friendly humans to help you grow and manage your money. Invest, save, trade, and even do your taxes in a better, simpler way.