Justwealth Review 2024: The Best Canadian RESP Robo-Advisor?
Justwealth Review Rating: 4.0/5
Aside from being a low-cost investing alternative, robo-advisors also serve as a “lifesaver” for beginner investors that are unable to build a portfolio by themselves.
In Canada today, there are a good number of popular robo-advisor platforms that many people use for their investments.
You might have heard about the common ones like Justwealth, Wealthsimple Invest, Questwealth Portfolios and Qtrade Guided Portfolios.
The availability of multiple robo-advisors seems not to be the problem. The real issue arises when you try to pick the best one among the numerous ones out there.
That’s why you’re here to confirm whether Justwealth is for you or not. You’re in the right place.
In this article, I will give you a detailed Justwealth review and also present a brief comparison with other popular robo-advisors in Canada.
Let’s get started!
Overview of Justwealth
Before we get deep into this review, let’s take a quick look at the profile of Justwealth in the table below.
| Legal name | Justwealth Financial Inc. |
| Investment platform | Robo-advisor |
| Year founded | 2015 |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Minimum investment | $5,000 (no minimum investment for the RESP accounts) |
| Portfolio types | Global Growth, Canadian Growth, Income, ESG, Education Target Date, and USD |
| Supported accounts | Taxable, RESP, TFSA, FHSA, LIF, LIRA, RRSP and RRIF accounts |
| Management fee | 0.40% to 0.50% depending on the investment balance |
| Management Expense Ratio (MER) | 0.20% on average |
| Assets protection by | CIPF |
| Welcome bonus | Up to $500 with this referral link |
| Best for | RESP investment |
| Recommendable? | Yes |
| Alternatives | Wealthsimple Invest & Questwealth Portfolios |
Now that you have an idea of what Justwealth entails, let’s go into the details of this review.
What is Justwealth?
Justwealth Financial Inc., popularly known as Justwealth is a robo-advisor platform and a Portfolio Manager in all Canadian provinces.
The robo-advisor was founded in 2015 to deliver low-cost personalized investment solutions to Canadian investors.
From its inception to date, Justwealth has successfully proven itself to be one of the best robo-advisors in Canada which earned it several awards.
The strength of Justwealth lies in its offering of multiple investment accounts and access to a robust collection of different ETF portfolios.
However, Justwealth is considered one of the best RESP robo-advisors in Canada due to several reasons we shall explore shortly.
By having a dedicated team of human portfolio managers, Justwealth also provides financial advice and counselling to help fill the gap of automated investing.
How Does Justwealth Work?
Like other robo-advisors, Justwealth helps build and manage a personalized investment portfolio for each of its users.
Justwealth considers your budget, risk tolerance, and investment objective while helping you invest your money automatically.
Once the robo-advisor understands your situation, it will assign a personal portfolio manager to you. Your manager will then match you to any of the 70+ portfolios offered by Justwealth.
After setting up a portfolio for you, the next step will be for you to fund your account with a minimum of $5,000 for non-RESP accounts or any amount if you run an RESP account.
Once you fulfill the minimum investment requirement, the Justwealth portfolio manager will take things up from there by investing your funds and rebalancing your portfolio regularly.
Justwealth Portfolios & Performance
Justwealth has one of the highest numbers of ETF portfolios in Canada. The robo-advisor offers 70+ customized ETF portfolios pre-designed to generate income, grow wealth and/or preserve wealth.
The 70+ portfolios are grouped under six main categories namely:
- Global Growth
- Canadian Growth
- Income
- ESG
- Education Target Date
- USD
Each of the categories listed above is composed of at least 6 sub-portfolios with varying configurations and performance records.
Let’s take a closer look at the portfolios under each of the 6 categories and their performance.
1. Justwealth Global Growth Portfolios
This category is composed of 13 different portfolios with varying performances as shown in the table below.
| Portfolio Name | 1-Year Return | Since Inception Return |
| Justwealth Global Conservative Growth Portfolio | 4.24% | 3.59% |
| Justwealth Global Moderate Growth Portfolio | 4.42% | 5.32% |
| Justwealth Global Balanced Growth Portfolio | 5.20% | 6.90% |
| Justwealth Global Advanced Growth Portfolio | 5.32% | 6.27% |
| Justwealth Global High Growth Portfolio | 5.42% | 7.72% |
| Justwealth Global Maximum Growth Portfolio | 7.20% | 9.12% |
| Justwealth Low Volatility Equity Portfolio | 5.21% | 6.37% |
| Justwealth Global Tax-Efficient Conservative Growth Portfolio | 3.85% | 3.87% |
| Justwealth Global Tax-Efficient Moderate Growth Portfolio | 4.29% | 5.45% |
| Justwealth Global Tax-Efficient Balanced Growth Portfolio | 4.64% | 6.58% |
| Justwealth Global Tax-Efficient Advanced Growth Portfolio | 4.96% | 6.74% |
| Justwealth Global Tax-Efficient High Growth Portfolio | 5.17% | 7.85% |
| Justwealth Global Tax-Efficient Maximum Growth Portfolio | 7.03% | 9.51% |
In this Justwealth Global Growth category, the Tax-Efficient Maximum Growth Portfolio has the highest return since inception.
The previous 1-year return has not been that good for all the portfolios under the Justwealth Global Growth category.
However, the Tax-Efficient Maximum Growth Portfolio still managed to have a better result than the rest.
2. Justwealth Canadian Growth Portfolios
A total of 12 portfolios are contained in the Justwealth Canadian Growth category. See them below.
| Portfolio Name | 1-Year Return | Since Inception Return |
| Justwealth Canadian Conservative Growth Portfolio | -6.97% | 3.33% |
| Justwealth Canadian Moderate Growth Portfolio | -5.66% | 5.20% |
| Justwealth Canadian Balanced Growth Portfolio | -3.78% | 6.99% |
| Justwealth Canadian Advanced Growth Portfolio | -2.28% | 6.04% |
| Justwealth Canadian High Growth Portfolio | -1.17% | 8.34% |
| Justwealth Canadian Maximum Growth Portfolio | 2.33% | 9.82% |
| Justwealth Tax-Efficient Capital Preservation Portfolio | -6.99% | 0.90% |
| Justwealth Canadian Tax-Efficient Conservative Growth Portfolio | -6.99% | 3.72% |
| Justwealth Canadian Tax-Efficient Moderate Growth Portfolio | -5.90% | 5.43% |
| Justwealth Canadian Tax-Efficient Balanced Growth Portfolio | -5.85% | 6.46% |
| Justwealth Canadian Tax-Efficient High Growth Portfolio | -4.15% | 7.58% |
| Justwealth Canadian Tax-Efficient Maximum Growth Portfolio | -2.33% | 8.61% |
For this category, the Justwealth Canadian Maximum Growth Portfolio has the highest return since inception. It is also the only portfolio in this category with a positive 1-year return record at the moment.
3. Justwealth Income Portfolios
This category is composed of 10 different sub-portfolios and they are shown in the table below.
| Portfolio Name | 1-Year Return | Since Inception Return |
| Justwealth Conservative Income Portfolio | 3.37% | 1.69% |
| Justwealth Moderate Income Portfolio | 2.78% | 2.58% |
| Justwealth Balanced Income Portfolio | 2.95% | 4.13% |
| Justwealth High Income Portfolio | 3.62% | 5.03% |
| Justwealth Maximum Income Portfolio | 2.99% | 6.20% |
| Justwealth Tax-Efficient Conservative Income Portfolio | 3.15% | 2.07% |
| Justwealth Tax-Efficient Moderate Income Portfolio | 2.34% | 3.20% |
| Justwealth Tax-Efficient Balanced Income Portfolio | 1.36% | 4.09% |
| Justwealth Tax-Efficient High Income Portfolio | 1.31% | 5.08% |
| Justwealth Tax-Efficient Maximum Income Portfolio | 1.21% | 5.87% |
Among all the Justwealth Income portfolios, only the Maximum Income portfolio has an impressive 1-year return and since inception return.
In addition, the Justwealth Maximum Income Portfolio has the highest return since inception among all the portfolios in its category.
4. Justwealth ESG Portfolios
The Justwealth ESG Portfolios caters to those who are only interested in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Investing.
Below is a table showing all the six sub-portfolios under the ESG category and their performance records.
| Portfolio Name | 1-Year Return | Since Inception Return |
| Justwealth ESG Conservative Growth Portfolio | 3.27% | -2.22% |
| Justwealth ESG Moderate Growth Portfolio | 5.59% | 0.09% |
| Justwealth ESG Balanced Growth Portfolio | 7.73% | 2.26% |
| Justwealth ESG Advanced Growth Portfolio | 8.71% | 3.37% |
| Justwealth ESG High Growth Portfolio | 9.68% | 4.46% |
| Justwealth ESG Maximum Growth Portfolio | 11.81% | 6.65% |
The records shown above are not encouraging for the Justwealth ESG Portfolios.
Only the Justwealth ESG Maximum Growth Portfolio has had a better return since its inception. However, its 1-year return doesn’t look good either.
5. Justwealth Education Target Date Portfolios
This is the most popular category of portfolios on the Justwealth platform.
The Justwealth Education Target Date Portfolios aim to help Canadian parents save towards their children’s post-secondary education.
Below is a table showing the performance of each sub-portfolio under the Justwealth Education Target Date Portfolios category.
| Portfolio Name | 1-Year Return | Since Inception Return |
| Justwealth Capital Preservation Portfolio | 3.92% | 2.05% |
| Justwealth Education Target Date 2024 Portfolio | 3.41% | 3.94% |
| Justwealth Education Target Date 2025 Portfolio | 3.65% | 4.17% |
| Justwealth Education Target Date 2026 Portfolio | 3.92% | 4.56% |
| Justwealth Education Target Date 2027 Portfolio | 4.19% | 5.10% |
| Justwealth Education Target Date 2028 Portfolio | 4.46% | 5.58% |
| Justwealth Education Target Date 2029 Portfolio | 4.69% | 6.02% |
| Justwealth Education Target Date 2030 Portfolio | 4.93% | 6.45% |
| Justwealth Education Target Date 2031 Portfolio | 5.19% | 6.75% |
| Justwealth Education Target Date 2032 Portfolio | 5.42% | 6.93% |
| Justwealth Education Target Date 2033 Portfolio | 5.71% | 7.19% |
| Justwealth Education Target Date 2034 Portfolio | 6.13% | 7.54% |
| Justwealth Education Target Date 2035 Portfolio | 6.40% | 6.79% |
| Justwealth Education Target Date 2036 Portfolio | 6.74% | 6.72% |
| Justwealth Education Target Date 2037 Portfolio | 7.07% | 9.40% |
| Justwealth Education Target Date 2038 Portfolio | 7.05% | 6.52% |
| Justwealth Education Target Date 2039 Portfolio | 7.05% | 6.36% |
| Justwealth Education Target Date 2040 Portfolio | 7.05% | 0.67% |
The Justwealth Education Target Date 2037 Portfolio has the highest return since inception and a better 1-year return than many other portfolios on the above table.
6. Justwealth USD Portfolios
This category contains 10 different sub-portfolios with the US dollar as their base currency.
Here is a table showing all the sub-portfolios under the Justwealth USD Portfolios category.
| Portfolio Name | 1-Year Return | Since Inception Return |
| Justwealth U.S. Conservative Growth Portfolio | 4.69% | 3.79% |
| Justwealth U.S. Moderate Growth Portfolio | 6.51% | 5.48% |
| Justwealth U.S. Balanced Growth Portfolio | 6.69% | 6.65% |
| Justwealth U.S. High Growth Portfolio | 8.17% | 8.11% |
| Justwealth U.S. Maximum Growth Portfolio | 8.71% | 9.14% |
| Justwealth U.S. Conservative Income Portfolio | 2.99% | 1.74% |
| Justwealth U.S. Moderate Income Portfolio | 2.14% | 2.72% |
| Justwealth U.S. Balanced Income Portfolio | 1.31% | 3.86% |
| Justwealth U.S. High Income Portfolio | 1.53% | 4.55% |
| Justwealth U.S. Maximum Income Portfolio | 2.46% | 5.50% |
If you are to consider the portfolio with the best return since inception, the Justwealth U.S. Maximum Growth Portfolio takes the lead.
However, if you are more concerned about the most recent 1-year returns, you might want to focus on the Justwealth U.S. Maximum Income Portfolio.
Justwealth Investing Accounts
Justwealth is one of the few robo-advisor platforms in Canada that support multiple investment accounts including registered and unregistered ones.
Here is a list of investment accounts currently supported by Justwealth for CAD and USD investments.
- Non-registered accounts
- RESP
- LIF
- LIRA
- TFSA
- RRIF
- RRSP
- FHSA
To learn more about the Justwealth RESP account which is the most popular account of the robo advisor, check out this Justwealth RESP review.
Justwealth Fees
Like other Canadian robo-advisors, Justwealth charges all users a management fee and a Management Expense Ratio (MER).
Here is a breakdown of Justwealth management fees and MERs.
- On your first $500,000 balance, Justwealth charges a 0.50% management fee
- For any balance above $500,000, it charges a 0.40% management fee
Important notes: Non-RESP account holders pay an average of $4.99 monthly as a management fee while RESP account holders pay an average of $2.50 monthly.
As for the management expense ratios (MERs), it’s capped at 0.20% annually.
Compared to other Canadian Robo-advisors, Justwealth charges a higher management fee and MER.
Aside from management fees and MER, other service fees apply on the Justwealth platform which are highlighted below.
| Service | Fee |
| Partial account de-registration (RRSP and Spousal RRSP) | $25 + HST |
| Full account de-registration (RRSP and Spousal RRSP) | $50 + HST |
| Partial account transfer out | $50 |
| Full account transfer out | $150 |
Justwealth Referral Bonus
Justwealth is generous when it comes to referral bonuses.
When you sign-up with the robo-advisor with this referral link, you will get up to a $500 cash bonus depending on the balance of your assets.
The following table shows the amount of referral bonus per assets balance.
| Referral Bonus | Assets Balance |
| $50 | $5,000 and $24,999 |
| $100 | $25,000 and $49,999 |
| $225 | $50,000 and $99,999 |
| $500 | $100,000 and above |
Justwealth Pros and Cons
With all that has been discussed so far, it’s easier to identify the following major advantages and disadvantages of Justwealth.
Justwealth Pros
- Dedicated RESP account: With no minimum balance, and lower management fees, Justwealth offers a better RESP account than many other robo-advisors in Canada.
- Personalized solutions: Regardless of clients’ balance, Justwealth assigns a portfolio manager to each of its investors for expert advice and personalized support.
- Multiple accounts: Justwealth supports multiple investment accounts including registered and taxable accounts to help achieve multiple investment goals.
- Multiple portfolio options: With over 70 ETF portfolios, the robo-advisor has enough options for investors to choose from.
- Tax-loss harvesting: Justwealth is one of the few robo-advisors in Canada that helps investors save cost on their unregistered accounts by offering tax-loss harvesting.
- Generous welcome bonus: You will get up to a $500 welcome bonus when you sign up on Justwealth with this referral link.
Justwealth Cons
- Higher fees: Among all the Robo-advisors in Canada, Justwealth is currently one of those with the highest management fees and MERs.
- Minimum balance requirement: Besides the RESP accounts that have no minimum required balance, all other Justwealth accounts need a minimum of $5,000 investment to get started.
- Limited access: Besides having no mobile app, Justwealth operates only within the ten provinces of Canada. Investors living in Canadian territories can’t access the robo-advisor at the moment.
Is Justwealth Safe and Legit?
Justwealth is safe and legit. The custodian of Justwealth is CI Investment Services Inc., a Canadian broker that is registered as a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF).
This means that assets invested with Justwealth are automatically protected by CIPF up to $1 million.
As for data protection, Justwealth has partnered with various firms to protect the data of its clients on its platform.
Also, Justwealth uses Extended Validation SSL technology to encrypt every piece of information passed between the Justwealth server and your internet browser.
All these security measures and operational standards should be enough to give you confidence that Justwealth is safe and legit.
My Justwealth Review Rating
I rate Justwealth Financial 4.0 out of 5-stars based on the above review, comparative analysis and the overall rating of the following features:
Justwealth Review Rating Methodology
Overall Rating
For obvious reasons, Justwealth needs improvement in terms of minimum investment requirement, fees and accessibility.
The actively managed strategy of the robo-advisor doesn’t outperform the market in the past years as we see in the above portfolio performance.
Notwithstanding, Justwealth remains the overall best robo-advisor for Canadians looking to invest in their children’s post-secondary education via a dedicated and low-cost RESP account.
Is Justwealth Suitable For You?
Having discussed extensively what Justwealth entails, by now you should be able to decide if the robo-advisor is perfect for you or not.
My recommendation is that you consider choosing Justwealth if you are looking for any or a combination of the following:
- An RESP-specialized robo-advisor
- A robo-advisor with a dedicated team of portfolio managers that give your portfolio a human touch
- A robo-advisor with multiple investment accounts and ETF portfolios
If you find that Justwealth matches your investment needs, then proceed to the following section to learn how to sign up on the platform.
But if Justwealth is not for you, jump to the comparison section to learn about some of the top alternatives.
How to Open a Justwealth Account
Opening a new Justwealth account should take you a few minutes because the process is done entirely online.
To get started, you have to first meet the following requirements needed for opening a Justwealth account.
- Be a resident of any Canadian province (territories are not covered)
- Have a government-issued valid photo ID
- Have your Social Insurance Number and that of your spouse if applicable
- Reach the age of 18 or older
Once you have the above requirements, you can then proceed with the Justwealth account signup process by following these steps.
- Visit the Justwealth website here
- Click on “Get Started”
- Enter your personal details and follow the prompt
Upon successfully setting up a new account, Justwealth will recommend a portfolio for you. You can approve or disapprove of it.
When you approve the recommendation, the robo-advisor will assign you a personal portfolio manager.
The portfolio manager will reach out to you to finalize your portfolio settings before starting investing.
How Justwealth Compares
This Justwealth review will not be complete without a brief comparison with some other popular robo-advisors in Canada.
In this section, we shall compare Justwealth with Questwealth Portfolios and Wealthsimple Invest to help you make an informed decision.
Justwealth vs Questwealth Portfolios
Questwealth Portfolios (formerly Portfolio IQ) is one of the top Justwealth alternatives in Canada with an active management strategy.
Below is a table showing how Justwealth compares with Questwealth Portfolios in terms of portfolios, investment accounts, investment balance and fees.
| Profile | Justwealth | Questwealth Portfolios |
| Supported portfolios | Tax-Efficient Portfolios, US Dollar Portfolios and RESP Target Date Portfolios | Standard ETF and SRI portfolios |
| Supported investment accounts | Taxable accounts and registered accounts like TFSA, LIRA, LIF, RRIF, RRSP, FHSA, and RESP | LIRA, LIF, TFSA, RIF, RRSP, FHSA, RESP, and taxable accounts (including Corporate and Joint accounts) |
| Management strategy | Active | Active |
| Minimum investment | None for RESP accounts. $5,000 for other accounts | $1,000 |
| Management fee | 0.4% – 0.5% | 0.20% – 0.25% |
| MER | 0.20% on average | 0.17% – 0.22% |
As you can see in the above table, the management fee for Questwealth Portfolios is half that of Justwealth.
Also, the minimum investment requirement for Questwealth Portfolios is five times lesser than that of Justwealth.
All these factors simply show that Questealth Portfolios is a low-cost and better alternative to Justwealth.
Justwealth vs Wealthsimple
Wealthsimple Invest is another popular robo-advisor in Canada with a passive management strategy.
The following table shows how Justwealth compares with Wealthsimple Invest in terms of portfolios, investment accounts, investment balance and fees.
| Profile | Justwealth | Wealthsimple Invest |
| Supported portfolios | Tax-efficient portfolios, US Dollar portfolios and RESP Target Date portfolios | Standard ETF portfolios, Halal portfolios and SRI portfolios |
| Supported investment accounts | Taxable accounts and registered accounts (RESP, TFSA, FHSA, LIRA, LIF, RRSP and RRIF) | Taxable accounts and registered accounts (RESP, TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, LIRA and LIF) |
| Management strategy | Active | Passive |
| Minimum investment | None for RESP accounts. $5,000 for other accounts | None |
| Management fee | 0.4% – 0.5% | 0.4% – 0.5% |
| MER | 0.20% on average | 0.13% – 0.16% |
Wealthsimple Invest is one of the few robo-advisors in Canada that support Halal investment portfolios.
Wealthsimple doesn’t also require a minimum investment balance, unlike Justwealth.
Both Wealthsimple Invest and Justwealth support multiple registered and non-registered investment accounts. But the RESP experience at Justwealth is on a special level.
While Wealthsimple Invest and Justwealth have similar management fees, the MER for Wealthsimple Invest is much lower than that of Justwealth
Note that MERs are charged by fund providers, not robo-advisors.
Justwealth vs Qtrade Guided Portfolios (Formerly VirtuWealth)
Qtrade Guided Portfolios (formerly known as VirtualWealth) is Aviso Wealth’s equivalent for Justwealth.
In the following table, we shall see how Justwealth compares with Qtrade Guided Portfolios Invest in terms of portfolios, investment accounts, investment balance and fees.
| Profile | Justwealth | Qtrade Guided Portfolios |
| Supported portfolios | Tax-efficient portfolios, US Dollar portfolios and RESP Target Date portfolios | ETFs, mutual funds and RI portfolios |
| Supported investment accounts | Taxable accounts and registered accounts (RESP, TFSA, LIRA, LIF, RRSP and RRIF) | Taxable and non-taxable accounts (TFSA, RESP, RRSP, RLSP, LRSP, and LIRA) |
| Management strategy | Active | Active |
| Minimum investment | None for RESP accounts. $5,000 for other accounts | $2,000 |
| Management fee | 0.4% – 0.5% | 0.35% – 0.60% |
| MER | 0.20% on average | Below 0.15% |
While both Justwealth and Qtrade Guided Portfolios use an active approach to automated investing, the two robo-advisors differ considerably.
The Qtrade Guided Portfolios cover both ETF, responsible investing (RI) and mutual funds portfolios.
In addition, Qtrade Guided Portfolios has a lower minimum investment requirement and MER than Justwealth.
To make an informed decision, learn more about the Qtrade Guided Portfolios under this VirtualWealth review.
Takeaways on Justwealth Review
The dedicated education portfolios and special RESP accounts of Justwealth have distinguished the robo-advisor from the competition.
In addition, the multiple investment portfolios and investment accounts at Justwealth make the robo-advisor a one-stop shop for automated investing.
However, the $5,000 minimum investment requirement, high management fees and MERs — constitute the major drawbacks of Justwealth.
Nevertheless, if your investment needs and budget fit Justwealth, you can’t go wrong with the robo-advisor especially if you’re looking to invest through an RESP account.
Is Justwealth for yes? If not, what robo-advisor are you going with? Let me know in the comment below.
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FAQs on Justwealth Review
Who owns Justwealth?
Justwealth is a privately-owned company that was co-founded by Andrew Kirkland and James Gauthier.
Is Justwealth’s management fee tax deductible?
The Justwealth management fee is tax deductible on non-registered accounts. The reverse is the case for Justwealth non-registered such as RESP, TFSA, RRSP and RRIF.
What is the Justwealth MER?
Justwealth MER is 0.20% average per year. Note the Management Expense Ratio (MER) is not charged by Justwealth. The fee is charged by the providers of underlying Justwealth ETFs.
Do I pay custody fees or trade fees on Justwealth?
Yes but not separately. The custody fees and trading fees are covered in the annual management fee you pay on Justwealth.
The management fees on Justwealth range from 0.4% to 05% depending on your investment balance.
Justwealth Review
Summary
Notwithstanding its weaknesses, Justwealth remains the overall best robo-advisor for Canadians looking to invest in their children’s post-secondary education via a dedicated and low-cost RESP account.
