Toronto-based robo-advisor firm Wealthsimple Financial Inc. is eliminating its minimum investment account requirement of $500 for clients and will now accept investment accounts of any value.
The change was made possible thanks to Wealthsimple’s affiliation with Toronto-based Canadian ShareOwner Investments Inc. (ShareOwner), which the Wealthsimple acquired in late 2015, according to the firm’s announcement released on Thursday.
ShareOwner’s dollar-based investing service allows investors to acquire fractional shares of an exchange-traded fund, thereby allowing lower investment amounts.
“Clients can receive an optimal, fully diversified portfolio for any account level — whether they’re investing $100, $10,000, or $1 million,” the firm’s announcement states.
This is the second time Wealthsimple has lowered its investment account minimum. The robo-advisor changed the requirement in 2015 to $500 from $5,000, which was the original investment account minimum when Wealthsimple launched in 2014.