But don’t stash the money you were planning to invest under your mattress just yet — you can still earn dividends during the pandemic and without the usual stress of playing the market.

How? With the help of Wealthsimple, an automated investment service that uses technology to make the best investments possible based on your financial goals.

Shield your money from the pandemic

Wealthsimple’s cutting-edge technology works to automatically rebalance your investment account and reinvest the dividends — just choose your risk level (Growth, Balanced, Conservative) and Wealthsimple will do the rest.

Last year Wealthsimple updated its portfolios to be more resilient against an economic downturn. Needless to say, that was a great decision.

So far during the pandemic, Wealthsimple’s new portfolios have outperformed all of their old ones — and also Canada’s largest mutual funds. Take a look:

Investment Risk Mutual Funds Wealthsimple Portfolios Difference
Growth -7.0% -4.4% 2.6%
Balanced -4.9% +0.5% 5.4%
Conservative -2.5% +2.8% 5.3%

Thanks to Wealthsimple’s foresight, thousands of Canadians are feeling much more secure about their investments during this challenging time. Plus, people holding the more conservative portfolios saw net gains during a time where the market dropped to stomach-churning lows.

“I know literally nothing about investing except for the fact that for me it’s overwhelming and requires a lot of research and risk,” says Megan Martino, a Wealthsimple investor since 2019. When the pandemic hit, Megan didn’t know what to expect.

“I was worried about the markets, but when my husband and I checked my portfolio it was still up 3%,” she says. “My husband encouraged me to put some more money in and that worked out wonderfully. My savings are up 11% right now.”

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What makes Wealthsimple different

Unlike most big investment firms, Wealthsimple’s main priority is to make you money, not to earn a commission.

Wealthsimple accounts have no minimum balance, which means that whether you’ve got $10 or $10,000 to work with, you can start investing ASAP.

Your fees with Wealthsimple are only 0.5% on your first $100,000 — around three times less than mutual funds, which charge a median fee of 1.94%.

And best of all, Wealthsimple automates the whole investing process, so you won’t have to worry about a thing.

“I still know nothing about investing, but Wealthsimple is taking care of me and helping me grow my savings,” says Megan. “I have literally done nothing and made a bunch of money.”

Smart investing for uncertain times

Don’t let the pandemic scare you away from starting a portfolio. Putting money into a Wealthsimple account right now is the same as buying low on the market. Wealthsimple just makes it much easier to invest at a risk level you’re comfortable with and maximize your returns.

As a Money.ca reader, you can get $10,000 managed for free for a year when you open your first WealthSimple account, so sign up now to take advantage of this special offer.

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About the Author

Shane Murphy

Shane Murphy

Reporter

Shane is a reporter for Money.ca. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English Language & Literature from Western University and is a graduate of the Algonquin College Scriptwriting program.

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