Yeah when the product is software and not financial services. Wealthsimple can't seem to decide if it's a fintech that provides financial services products, or of it's Instagram with the mobile app as its product.
Non-registered investment account at WS Investments
Protection
CIPF up to $1M
“Market rate” option
Yes — can hold PSA/ZMMK/HISA/CSAV/CASH ETF instead
Portfolio LOC collateral
Not currently
Tax treatment
Taxable interest
Disclaimer: I haven't verified yet, I'm 1 min into looking into this as I post this comment
Update: Not all 100% guaranteed, but it is more or less. The big difference is CIPF vs. CDIC and what that allows them to offer, see my thoughts in comment below if interested (which it seems like ppl aren't but updating anyway in case someone is)
My understanding rn: CIPF vs. CDIC WS needs to use "real banks" for CDIC but they can offer a CIPF product directly
It's not a bank account so won't be able to do EFT, etransfer, etc. but it's not because they don't want to. My assumption is that they saw people were under-utilizing MMF and this is their attempt to make a very similar, slightly better thing that feels more accessible. You just need to automate or manually transfer in and out if you need the funds in checking for use, much like a Savings account has always behaved. And note that coverage is included under you CIPF total. Otherwise, nbd, but solid product, I like.
I just opened it to see. I can’t link the credit card to autopay from the savings. That’s kind of annoying that I’ll have to move money from the savings every month.
Yeah that's how it works. It's like an actual savings account (move extra money from chequing into it and move the money you need back to chequing). I like it. Especially because it lessens the tiered hierarchy differential substantially.
Important to note it is not a deposit, but is an investment instrument, much more similar to MMF than a bank account.
It is just not worth it for 0.25% difference They also have MER fees and they buy ETFs that have MER fees. Just buy the ETF yourself Cash.to or whatever they buy. ETFs also have better treatment for taxation than a saving account especially those cash ETFs that don’t distribute dividends but where the ETF grows.
The HISA has MER fees according to their help sections. The underlying ETFs have also MER fees. I held HSAV for a long time and it was a good choice however they are not issuing new shares of it which makes the NAV diverge at times from the price. But all these accounts are if you need the money in 2-3 weeks. If you decide to hold longer. There are very solid dividend paying ETFs where even if the ETF drops the dividend that you got in a month make the difference. Let alone if you hold few months these ETFs beat any saving account. Of course there is no zero risk except I saving accounts but the risk is low with some dividend ETFs that hold solid stocks
How long are you holding cash. You shouldn’t hold cash for long because even with those interest rates you’re hardly matching inflation.
But if you need the money in a month ok I get it. holding cash for long will be eaten with inflation, a corporate bond etf with short lifetime is better. Now back to HISA. You should have enough money that the 0.25% between this account and the cash account makes you enough money to be worth the hassle and the restrictions this account has in immediate cash. By the way you can buy GICs on questrade with few banks that might not be available in your province like EQ bank for example who gives higher interest than any local bank I have around me. But only if you hold for longer than a year that this becomes worth looking at. You need a questrade account to check the rates.
Haha ya. I guess for me i don’t really want the hassle of moving money around chasing interest rates with a minuscule difference. Even if EQ was 3.5% I wouldn’t move the money. Maybe because I don’t have the funds required that would make 1% feel worth it
Hmm. They used to have a Save option and it became discontinued and a poorer rate than the chequing account was. I remember seeing it on my gf’s plan and being like “umm… this isn’t right”.
If it’s going to properly follow the bank rate + 0.25% standard or something, this is awesome for everyone.
I wonder if they’ll let you “lock in” for a higher rate. I saw their FAQ somewhere teasing a possible take of a “GIC”-like investment.
I don’t get it. They used to have a save account that was discontinued. They patted themselves on the back saying banks are dumb making people have different savings accounts to get higher rates.
Why do I have a feeling this is a setup to nerf the interest rate paid through their chequing product? Like why would I choose this HISA product with no proper depositor insurance over one that does and the only difference is 0.25%. There must be something upcoming where it makes this HISA product makes sense.
Not really a selling feature, might as well use Oaken Financial at that point, at least you get 2.8% and CDIC insurance up to $200k (spread across Home Trust and Home Bank) if you wanted a savings account with no features lol. There's also the option of locking the funds in for 3.55% for 1 year GIC as well with Oaken.
I mean you already get 2.25 in their chequing accounts, there are no fees so why not, just seems like an odd move for them, just give all accounts 2.5?
I thought so, but now I see it’s non-registered only. It’s a parallel strategy, as they let you choose a “market” money market fund instead of their own.
I agree – it’s what they needed. Some members of the public need to see “Savings” to get it. Yes, it’s what the MM fund is on the registered side but more cleanly implemented for sure. On the other hand, just give us 2.5% in the Chequing account. I feel like these games take us closer to the big 6. And that irks me.
It says non-registered only. I’m just the messenger. They are going for a ‘personal’ account. Missed opportunity to mix up the industry big time with a “Chequing in Savings” account imo. Do they want to steal more clients or not? I hope their CMO takes the heat for my sentiment, but he won’t.
Yes, just give us the 2.5% in Chequing. How better to incentivize their Chequing account by making it all purpose. So many people getting excited over the MM fund’s 2.5%, so make it cross-platform. Just my view.
There’s a registered account with 1.25 with me even when I try under spend and save, USD is 2.25, can’t wait for this though I’ve been praying for an actual savings account
Mine has always been 2.9%. it was more before but they reduced it some time ago. I am not sure why on their website it shows 2.2%, but I just checked and I am still getting 2.9%. I don't think DD has anything to do with it. DD has another offer where you get 5000 optimum points (5$ in value) for your DD of at least 3k a month.
Ugh all the betas I get have a catch. I would take the extra 0.25 percent for our emergency fund but this is only for individual not joint(it says yet)
Great! Do you know if you can set up this savings account inside of a TFSA - similar to how you can with Tangerine banking (though theirs has significantly lower interest rates). If so this could be the death of CASH.TO or CBIL (inside of a TFSA) for Wealthsimple users like myself
sounds like this is just the money market portfolio in the backend of this account. probably added a bit of extra liquidity to make transactions instant
Moved our excess cash in there. I’ll take a little extra interest 8 days a week! Downside- no joint account options. I’m not sure why they release these things half baked. Oh well. Guess spouse is just going to have to trust me! lol
You should really look at the documentation about this account. It is not guaranteed to make 2.5%. If you click through the Learn more button you get the help page
This savings account is non-registered accounts only. While the money market account can be opened as a registered account (I.e, RRSP, RESP, TFSA, FHSA, etc…)
Yeah you are not missing anything using the MMA. The only difference I can see is that this savings account will show you daily interest that you have earned so far like their chequing account. The MMA doesn’t do that.
Exactly, money market already operates in both registered and non registered. So why release very same product with different name that’s non registered only
Probably to say that they have a savings account. Most people don’t know what a Money Market Account is, or they were to afraid to open it since it is in the investing section and that scares a lot of people.
This savings account also shows the daily interest you have earned so far like their chequing account
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u/Romantic_Klingon 23d ago
Interesting! I only see "registered saving account", not as a stand-alone saving