Justwealth Review 2024

Why Justwealth?

As I’ve updated my Justwealth review over the years, they have risen from a solid-but-not-elite option to the best robo advisor in Canada.

How did they do it?

By focusing on what matters.

Frankly, while Justwealth has made great strides in the way their website looks, they still aren’t the most aesthetically-appealing option out there. They aren’t taking your money and paying a giant team of coders to make and update some beautiful app or clever TV marketing campaign. 

Instead, where Justwealth excels is in the nuts and bolts of solid financial management:

1) Great advice from your very own impartial financial advisor (assigned to you when you start at Justwealth).

2) By far the largest selection of robo advisor portfolios available in Canada.

3) Elite portfolio management from professionals with long-term track records within the industry – which has led to increased returns over time. 

4) The only Canadian robo advisor to offer target-date RESP accounts.

Through focusing on the things that are important to Canadians – like better investment returns, more help, and way more options – Justwealth just offers an excellent way to grow your portfolio in a super simple and convenient manner. They don’t waste time and effort on making things fancy for the sake of being fancy.

Justwealth Welcome Bonus

Justwealth currently offers this promo offer to MDJ’s readers. Anyone who signs up using our links, can enjoy the following cash bonus when opening a new account:

• $50 for a deposit between $5,000 and $24,999
• $100 for a deposit between $25,000 and $49,999
• $225 for a deposit between $50,000 and $99,999
• $500 for a deposit of $100,000 or more

Justwealth Investment Performance (Best Returns)

If you want to know more about how robo advisors work and why I think they have a well-deserved place amongst Canadian platforms, check out my article about the best robo advisors in Canada.

Long story short, robo advisors are the quickest and most convenient way to take a part of your paycheque and turn it into an instantly-diversified investment portfolio. The fees are WAY lower than traditional mutual funds and the basic index investing approach using index ETFs is an excellent strategy for the average person to invest.

That value proposition is consistent across basically all of the robo advisors (save for possibly Questrade’s Questwealth robo advisor which uses more active management strategies.

Here’s the thing though, even within broad indexing investment strategies there are some key differences in how the robo advisors invest your money. The big things are pretty close to the same. For example, all robo advisors:

1) Use ETFs which are passively managed. No one within these ETFs is buying and selling individual stocks or bonds “trying to get an edge.”

2) The ETFs that are used are much cheaper to invest in than Canada’s mutual funds – which results in a much, much higher probability that your investments will grow over time.

3) Use one ETF to invest your money into each type of asset. So perhaps there is one ETF for Canadian stocks, one ETF for American stocks, one ETF for emerging markets, one ETF for stocks in developed markets that aren’t Canada and the USA, and maybe one or two ETFs for bonds.

That basic structure doesn’t change when it comes to Justwealth. But – and this is key – what is different is the exact ETFs that Justwealth selects, as well as the amount of each ETF that they hold in your specific portfolio.

Justwealth has said from Day 1 that they are “more FIN than TECH” when it comes to being a fintech company. They have proven that this is true by having a durable competitive advantage when it comes to portfolio composition. 

Most robo advisors are either owned by a big parent company, or have a side deal with a large ETF company. Those deals and ownership structures mean that their robo advisors use exclusively the ETFs put out by the parent company or partner company – even if there is a better ETF available that covers the same asset class.

Justwealth is a fully independent firm, and consequently can choose the best ETF available in each asset class no matter what company has created the ETF. These small advantages – along with superior risk management – has allowed Justwealth to achieve the best after-fee returns of any of Canada’s robo advisors (as you can see below and as reported in the Globe and Mail).

The first thing to note here is just how awful the performance has been amongst those actively managed bank portfolios compared to the robo advisors. This isn’t an accident! The twin issues of terrible active management combined with crazy high fees are going to lead to bank mutual funds ALWAYS losing over a long enough time period.

When it comes to Justwealth’s outperformance vs Wealthsimple (Canada’s most popular robo advisor) Rob Carrick wrote in regards to Wealthsimple that the “Performance of its robo advisor portfolios does not impress.”

The truth is that Wealthsimple has changed their portfolio allocation multiple times, making pretty ridiculous mistakes when it came to bond allocation strategies and adding in gold exposure (amongst other errors). They’re now focusing on cross-selling risky crypto assets and doing all kinds of other useless promotions in their focus on the bottom line.

Ben Felix as also written in the Globe and Mail about the mistakes that Wealthsimple has made over the last five years, and details all the tinkering that the company has done (thus indicating that they don’t have faith in their initial “set-it-and-leave-it-alone” investing philosophy).

These returns don’t include the added tax advantages that Justwealth brings to the able in the form of tax-loss harvesting and the fact that they understand the differences in which optimal assets to hold in a registered account (like an RRSP, TFSA, or RESP) versus a non-registered account. 

Is Justwealth Safe?

Yes!

Justwealth is as safe as any financial institution in Canada.

That is to say that they put a tremendous amount of effort into cybersecurity, and your investments are protected from fraud by the Canadian Investor Protection Fund up to a maximum of $1,000,000 per account. Investors are covered up to $1 million for each type of account held at a member firm. CI Investment Services Inc. (formerly BBS Securities Inc.), the custodian used by Justwealth, is a CIPF member firm.

Even better, is that unlike the advisor that you’re likely dealing with down at your local bank or credit union branch, Justwealth is legally accredited as a Portfolio Manager. That title means that they are legally responsible for managing your money in your best interest – and not simply to get the maximum commission from your portfolio. You’d think that this legal status would be standard across Canada, but it’s actually not! In fact, the term “financial advisor” doesn’t really have any legal status at all!

Justwealth Fees

Every robo advisor (including Justwealth) has two layers of fees:

1) The fees that they charge you in order to make money as a company. These are usually called the company’s management fee, and it is expressed as a percentage of the amount of money you currently have invested.

2) The fees that the investment companies that create the ETFs charge you. These fees are also referred to as management fees – or Management Expense Ratios (MERs).

Justwealth’s management fee of 0.40% to 0.50% is very competitive with their competitors – and MUCH lower than what Canadian mutual funds charge!

FHSA accounts are treated the same way as RESP accounts in terms of minimums.

Depending on what portfolio(s) you select for your nest egg, the ETF fee will probably be in the 0.15%-0.25% range. That means the total fees that you’ll pay will be 0.55%-0.75%. That difference vs the traditional mutual funds that your bank or credit union is pedaling adds up in a hurry (as you can see below)!

Justwealth Review: Financial Planning

One of the massive advantages that Justwealth has over most other Canadian robo advisors is that they offer a much more comprehensive financial planning aspect to their services.

Here’s the deal: Most robo advisors will claim that they have some version of financial planning available. From what I’ve personally experienced, and from the feedback I’ve gotten on hundreds of website comments and emails over the last eight years, I know that what that “financial planning” promise actually means in practice can vary widely.

To be fair, every robo has some version of “email us or jump on a chat and we’ll answer your straightforward question about how to use a TFSA or RRSP – or something similar.”

Justwealth takes it to another level though. Right from Day 1 you get a dedicated Personal Portfolio Manager (who has a fiduciary responsibility to you). This person will guide you through tax-efficient portfolios, tax-loss harvesting, and explain any rebalancing moves that have been made within your account.

The only other robo advisor in Canada that offers anything like this is CI Direct (the former Wealthbar) – and they don’t offer nearly the account options or investment returns that Wealthbar does.

There is substantial value in having someone available to answer questions, and who is personally familiar with your needs and portfolio goals. This planning help – along with the sheer ease of getting started – are the main reasons someone might choose to go with a Justwealth portfolio as opposed to DIYing it with an all-in-one ETF.

So what does having a dedicated Personal Portfolio Manager and a support team – with a fiduciary obligation – mean?

It means that when Justwealth assigns you a portfolio manager and team, that team is obligated to put YOU first. Not Justwealth, not anything that may benefit them, but you and your specific needs. Justwealth Portfolio Managers are registered with a provincial Securities Commission as an Advising Representative. This requires a high degree of qualifications, experience, and the duty to act with honesty, care, and in the best interest of your client.

Justwealth vs Wealthsimple

All cards on the table here, I was previously a big fan of Wealthsimple, and as Canada’s largest robo advisor they obviously still have a lot going for them. Their user interface, and the simple beauty of their design is simply the prettiest online platform I’ve ever interacted with. 

That said, they’ve made some pretty big errors over the last few years, including:

• Shifting their focus away from the Wealthsimple robo advisor (known as Wealthsimple Invest) to higher-profit areas like trading cryptocurrency.
• Encouraging customers to trade in risky new areas like private credit and crypto as opposed to keeping things simple with a focus on basic index investing principles.
• Making some really rookie mistakes when it comes to bond ETF selection.
• Including gold in their portfolios (gold is an awful long term investment).
• Not adding more customization to their 3 Wealthsimple Invest options (Justwealth has over 80 unique portfolios available for you).

So given all of those facts, it was simply impossible to keep them in the top spot. Here’s the direct Wealthsimple vs Justwealth comparison:

*5-year return numbers are taken from Moneysense as a neutral 3rd-party comparison

A Peek Inside Justwealth

Justwealth Mobile App Review

Newly released near the end of 2023, the Justwealth App currently has a perfect 5-star rating after 10 reviews in the Apple App Store.

Much like their website, it’s not the fanciest app that you’re likely to see, but you can do the following fairly easy:

• Check the current value of your portfolio.
• See your transactions.
• Add or withdraw funds.
• Set-up an auto-contribution plan for the ultimate convenience.
• Create a new investment account.

How to Open a Justwealth Account

to make sure you get your bonus cash, and 10 minutes later you should be well into the process of selecting which portfolio(s) work best for your cash.

• Your social insurance number.
• Your main chequing/current account information (route and transit number can be found on a cheque or on your online banking profile if you go to the “cancelled cheque” option).
• Photos (both sides) of government-issued ID such as a passport or drivers license.

You’ll then be asked for some information on your employment, finances, and investing experience in order to streamline you into the best possible option for your unique situation. You can e-sign most account forms while onboarding, making the process much faster than it used to be to open an investment account.

Justwealth Types of Accounts

Justwealth offers the typical accounts that you would expect from a robo advisor. These are:

• RRSP
• Spousal RRSP
• TFSA
• Non-Registered account
• RRIF
• FHSA
• RESP
• LIRA
• LIF

*You can also open a US dollar account for some of these options. 

Right now, they are the only online investment manager in Canada that offers Education Target Date Portfolios. They are designed to grow with your child and automatically rebalance as the target date approaches. This means that by the time your child graduates, the money will be ready for them. Another perk of the Justwealth RESP is that there is no minimum requirement to open this type of account. 

As for other Justwealth accounts (with the exception of FHSA accounts), the minimum amount to get started is a hefty $5,000. While this might be fine for someone transferring an account, it’s a large sum for anyone younger and just starting out. This is a big drawback in my eyes, especially when other robo advisors including Wealthsimple have no minimum requirement.

Justwealth Review: The RESP Advantage

Perhaps the product that most put Justwealth on the map was their RESP portfolio. Even though it has been much-commented on by Canadian financial writers, no other robo advisor has rolled out anything similar.

The idea is pretty cool. Essentially, what Justwealth did was take the target date fund idea and adapt it to RESPs. Target date funds are structured so that as investors get closer to retirement, their investment portfolio automatically shifts to less and less risky assets – no need for the investor to worry about what the right balance is or anything else.

Justwealth’s RESP funds are basically the same premise. If it’s still 10+ years before your little one is headed to college or university, then you can afford to take a little more risk in your portfolio, whereas if they’re off to the ivory tower next year, then you probably don’t want to be taking much risk at all. Justwealth will handle that transition with their target date fund.

As you can see above, you simply select the target date that your child will be headed to university, and Justwealth will slowly move you from a portfolio that has more-stock-and-less-bonds to a portfolio that doesn’t include any stocks at all because you’ll be using the RESP money in the next few years.

If my parents would have used this type of account instead of a basic high interest savings account option that was the default at their bank (and which the bank no doubt made a lot of money off of) I would have went to school with thousands of dollars more in my RESP accounts (somewhere around 40-60% due to how well Canadian stocks did between 1995 and 2009).

Justwealth FHSA Account

In 2023 the Federal Government introduced the First Home Savings Account (FHSA) and Justwealth was one of the first robo advisors to offer an FHSA account.  Here’s a quick look at the rules behind the Justwealth FHSA Account:

• Applies to Canadian residents aged 18-71 who didn’t live in a home they (or their spouse) owned in the last four years
• You can contribute up to $8,000 per year, to a maximum contribution of $40,000 over 15 years
• The annual deadline to contribute is December 31st
• You have 15 years from the day you open the account to use your FHSA to purchase your first home
• Contribution room only starts being available in the year you open your account
• Only $8K of unused contribution room carries forward in any year, so you can never have more than $16,000 of contribution room
• Your investment grows tax free as long as you purchase a qualifying first home – if you don’t end up buying a home, you pay tax on the gains, or you can transfer the money to your RRSP without affecting your RRSP contribution room

Justwealth is unique amongst robo advisors in that they already had the perfect solution for FHSA accounts due to their creation of target-date RESP accounts. The principle of adjusting risk in regards to your time horizon is very similar between an RESP and an FHSA.

If you are likely to need the money in 3 years or less, you want to be in extremely conservative investments. If you’re 10+ years away from needing access to your capital, then it is statistically very likely you’d be best served by an account that balances stocks and bonds a little more.

What ETFs Does Justwealth Use?

Justwealth prides itself on using the best ETFs in their portfolio – regardless of which company creates them.

That’s a key distinguishing feature from other robo advisors who often only use in-house ETFs (for example BMO Smartfolio is going to use mostly BMO ETFs) or ETF providers who they have a commission-based agreement with – even if those ETFs aren’t “best in class”.

By looking at your fund’s little information profile (like the Global Growth Portfolio below) you can see exactly what ETFs your money will be invested into as well as the most relevant portfolio metrics such as yield, account compatibility, and MER.

In my opinion, not being limited to specific ETF partners is a major advantage for Justwealth and gives them a credible way to say that they are the only robo advisor that is not handcuffed to some degree in their quest to get the best possible ETF for their portfolio.

Who Is Justwealth?

While Justwealth has been hard at work the past few years to up their technology game (including major updates in 2023 and 2024). Today they employ a Chief Technology Officer, but at their roots, this company is a financial management firm. Their bread and butter is providing the best financial advice possible, and designing the best asset allocation for each of their numerous portfolios.

I snagged a few screenshots from Justwealth’s “about us” page to highlight the backgrounds these folks have.

Both Andrew Kirkland and James Gauthier are old school investment professionals. Andrew is a Certified Financial Planner and Chartered Investment Manager that has over 15 years of experience in the financial industry.

James Gauthier (arguably the fellow most responsible for Justwealth’s outperformance) has been responsible for choosing assets to put in portfolios for over 25 years. In addition to likely being the most experienced asset allocator at any of Canada’s robo advisors, James is also a Certified Financial Analyst. Richard Burton-Williams has an MBA from the prestigious University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

The bottom line is that these aren’t “tech start-up bros”. These are experienced financial professionals who come from decades of helping folks choose the best investments for their specific risk profiles.

Justwealth’s Portfolio Review Service

If you want to take a test run on the kind of customer service and financial expertise that you’ll be getting with Justwealth I recommend checking out their free portfolio review service. As far as I’m aware, they’re the only Canadian robo advisor to offer such an interesting free look at your current investments.

The idea is that you submit a look at your current investments, and in a couple of days you’ll get a report from one of Justwealth’s portfolio managers that outlines how your current portfolio stacks up in the areas of fees, investment diversification, account structure, and tax efficiency.

If you’re a longtime MDJ reader then chances are there won’t be much in there that you weren’t aware of already, but I reckon for most Canadians that have been getting their investments and advice from Canadian banks and credit unions, they might be in for a bit of a shock.

Justwealth Review: Is It Right for You?

As you’ve probably gathered from reading my Justwealth review, I am very impressed with the evolution of the company over the last eight years.

If you are the type that doesn’t mind putting in a few afternoons of reading, and doesn’t mind doing some rebalancing math a few times a year, then I’d probably stick to opening up a DIY online brokerage account and using our best ETFs in Canada list to build your own portfolio.

Most Canadians aren’t “that type” though. Most people just want the simplest, most convenient way to grow their investments – without a bunch of people stealing money from them via high fees and bad investment decisions. If they can get some solid financial planning when it comes to tax efficiency as part of the bargain – even better! 

At the end of the day, that’s what Justwealth offers: The most simple and convenient way to take a piece of your paycheque, and invest it in an evidence-based way for the long-term.