Our bond portfolio currently yields 4.2%
Low-risk, fully liquid, and designed for steady growth on your sitting cash.
A smarter way to invest
Higher yield than cash
Consistently delivering results, our bond portfolio has outperformed the Cash account by about 1%–2% to date.
Always accessible
Unlike with a GIC, enjoy complete flexibility. Withdraw your funds whenever you need them, no lock-ups or penalties.
Lower volatility
Find stability with a portfolio of low-risk bonds, historically proven to hold strong through market downturns.
Chart is for illustration purposes only and does not represent investments made by Wealthsimple’s Bond Portfolio product. Volatility shown is not an indicator of future performance of the individual investment options.
Balance your risk and reward
Boost the earning potential on your sitting cash with a low-risk option — perfect for saving toward a purchase in the next 1–3 years.
Your money, professionally managed
Our in-house investment team analyzes market trends and finds opportunities — so you don’t have to.
Led by experts
Our team of investment managers has 50+ years of combined experience advising and managing institutional investments. That's expertise you can rely on.
Auto-rebalancing
We’ll fine-tune your portfolio whenever you make a deposit, receive dividends, withdraw funds, or update your goals — making sure your investments are always on track.
Coming soon
Bond Ladder
A bond ladder is a strategy for investing in bonds with staggered maturity dates. It offers steady cash flow, flexibility, and reduced risk, helping you stay adaptable in changing markets. Join the waitlist and be the first to find out when it’s available.
Source: Past performance based on the asset-weighted average performance of clients in the Bond ETF portfolio and the Premium tier annualized interest rates for Wealthsimple Cash from July 29, 2024 to January 16, 2025 shown. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Full disclosure here.
The strategy? Simple.
Where you put your money makes all the difference. Our bond portfolio can outperform Wealthsimple Cash — Canada's highest-interest chequing account — by more than 1%. Over time, that really adds up.
Get rewarded as your money grows
Premium or Generation clients with more than $200,000 in assets unlock access to rewards from one of our trusted partners, like Uber, Strava, Headspace, and more.
Where bonds fit in. And stand out.
See how our bond portfolio stacks up against Wealthsimple Cash and High Interest Savings Accounts (HISA).
Bond | Cash | HISA | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product type | Managed investment portfolio | Chequing and savings account | Registered savings account |
| Purpose | Short and medium-term goals | Everyday finances | Short and medium-term goals |
| Current yield | 4.2% for all clients | Core: 2.25%, Premium: 2.75%, Generation: 3.25% | Core: 2.25%, Premium: 2.75%, Generation: 3.25% |
| Management fee | Core: 0.5%, Premium: 0.4%, Generation: 0.2%–0.4% | None | None |
| Transfer limits | 1–2 business days | Instant | 1–2 business days |
Turn your sitting cash into stable earnings
Invest your money with low risk and full flexibility.
Helpful articles to understand bonds even better
FAQs
The bond portfolio can offer a higher yield than just holding onto your extra cash, and it can add up over time if you’re comfortable taking a small amount of risk.
Although you can certainly do worse than holding your money in a Wealthsimple Cash account, investing in our low-risk bond portfolio might perform even better. Over a few years, the probability of outperforming Cash is 80-90%, and the probability of having losses over that period is very low. And even if you happen to underperform Cash once in a while, it typically won't be by much.
Disclosure: The probability of bond portfolio outperforming Cash are modelled using normal distribution of returns, assuming 2% volatility, 0.5 Sharpe ratio, and a 3-year time horizon. Sharpe ratios and volatility assumptions are based on Wealthsimple's forward-looking asset class assumptions, which are derived from historical data and Wealthsimple analysis. Returns are not guaranteed. There is no guarantee of the results described. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Yes. Unlike GICs, you can withdraw your money anytime, without commitment periods or penalties. Just keep in mind that it takes 1-2 business days to process the sale of your bond portfolio.
First, the risk of one company defaulting matters a lot less when you hold a diversified portfolio of bonds, rather than picking a few yourself.
We believe professional, active management has advantages over choosing individual bond ETFs. A good bond portfolio carefully mixes two kinds of risks that balance each other out: the risk that borrowers might not repay their loans (credit risk) and the risk that interest rates might change (duration risk). We change how much of each risk we take on as the market changes, and we do it for two reasons:
- To lower the chance of losing money
- To earn you more interest than you would by just keeping your money in a savings account.
You won’t find those features in an off-the-shelf index ETF, which simply takes the issuance of bonds as they come. So, if the government issues a lot of bonds, you buy those. If risky corporations issue a lot of credit, you buy those. It’s not optimized for spreading out risk or protecting your money when markets aren’t performing in your favour. As a result, you might not earn as much money as you should for the risk you're taking — and if there's a market downturn, you might even lose more money than you'd expect.
The Wealthsimple bond portfolio has two types of fees. And as you might expect from us, they're pretty low.
The first is a management fee. It's what you pay us to take care of your investments. The amount you pay depends on your tier:
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Core: 0.5%
-
Premium: 0.4%
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Generation: 0.2%–0.4%
The second is a Management Expense Ratio (also known as an MER). This goes towards the funds we use in your portfolio and is, on average, about 0.2%.
Tip: We show bond portfolio yield net of ETF MER but gross of Wealthsimple management fees. For example: If your bond portfolio currently yields 4.5% and you’re a Wealthsimple premium client, your net yield after fees, is 4.5% – 0.40% = 4.1%
The Bond portfolio aims to give you reliable returns, but without the drawbacks of other options. Here are some of the advantages:
- Unlike Guaranteed Income Certificates (GICs), you can access your money at any time, because it’s not locked in.
- Compared to High-Interest Savings Accounts (HISAs), this portfolio offers higher expected returns by investing in bonds instead of cash.
- If you’re considering managing your own portfolio of bond ETFs directly, this portfolio saves you the hassle of reinvesting, rebalancing, or adapting to changing market environments, while keeping fees much lower than the average mutual fund.
The interest from the bonds in your portfolio lands in your account every month. We’ll automatically reinvest it so that all of your money is working harder, bringing you closer to your financial goals.
Like all investments, this bond portfolio isn’t entirely risk-free. While it focuses on high-quality, low-risk bonds, bond values may decline if interest rates rise. There’s also some credit risk: during major market downturns, like in 2008 or 2020, the chance of defaults increases, which could lead to minor losses. Our team works hard to keep risks low, but it’s important to remember that returns aren’t guaranteed.
No problem. We have a number of resources to help answer them. A great place start? Right here.