Wealthsimple RESP review

Supported grants and incentives

• Basic CESG: offered on the Canada.ca RESP promoters list.
• Additional CESG: offered on the Canada.ca RESP promoters list.
• Canada Learning Bond (CLB): offered on the Canada.ca RESP promoters list.
• B.C. Training and Education Savings Grant (BCTESG): offered on the Canada.ca RESP promoters list.
• Quebec Education Savings Incentive (QESI): Revenu Quebec's official RESP provider list includes Wealthsimple Investments Inc., while the Canada.ca promoter list does not track QESI.

Account types

• Family RESP.
• Individual RESP for yourself.
• Wealthsimple's current account-opening page says an Individual RESP for someone else is coming soon rather than generally available.
• Wealthsimple says family and individual RESP structures are available as either a self-directed Trade account or a managed Classic portfolio, subject to current account-specific limits.

Fees

• Managed RESP accounts use an asset-based management fee of 0.50% for Core clients, 0.40% for Premium clients, and for Generation clients starting at 0.40% and as low as 0.20%, according to the managed investing fee schedule.
• Wealthsimple's managed-portfolio MER help page lists approximate underlying MERs of 0.12% to 0.15% for Classic portfolios, 0.21% to 0.23% for SRI portfolios, and 0.25% to 0.50% for Halal portfolios.
• Wealthsimple says managed RESP accounts that receive the CLB have their management fees waived.
• Self-directed trade pricing lists $0 commission for listed Canadian and U.S. securities, $0 account opening, $0 account closing, $0 EFT withdrawals, and $0 outgoing account transfers to another institution.
• For self-directed RESP clients trading U.S.-listed securities from a CAD account, Wealthsimple lists a 1.5% currency-conversion fee.
• Wealthsimple lists a USD account subscription fee of $10 per month plus applicable tax for supported self-directed USD account access.

Transfer process

• Wealthsimple says an existing RESP can be transferred into either a managed or self-directed Wealthsimple RESP, but any RESP type can move into managed while only single-owner or joint-owner family RESPs can move into self-directed.
• Wealthsimple says individual RESP transfers require contacting support and that account owners and beneficiaries must match the relinquishing account or the transfer can fail.
• Wealthsimple says RESP transfers in generally take 4 to 8 weeks because grant and contribution history must be reviewed with the existing institution.
• Wealthsimple's current transfer guide says partial RESP transfers in are not supported.
• Wealthsimple says it automatically reimburses one administrative transfer-out fee for every $25,000 transferred in, usually within two business days after completion, but does not reimburse trading fees, DSC fees, low-load fees, or generic account-closing fees.
• For transfers out to another institution, Wealthsimple says the receiving institution must initiate the request and that full transfers restrict trading until the transfer is completed, rejected, or cancelled.
• For internal Wealthsimple RESP-to-RESP moves, Wealthsimple says self-serve transfers currently require the same beneficiary and exact same owner match, and RESP accounts holding QESI need support assistance.

Withdrawal process

• Wealthsimple separates RESP withdrawals into Educational Assistance Payment (EAP), non-educational contribution withdrawal, and Accumulated Income Payment (AIP) requests.
• For EAP withdrawals, Wealthsimple requires proof of enrolment showing the beneficiary name, school name and logo, program name, study-period dates, and full-time or part-time status.
• Wealthsimple handles EAP and non-educational RESP withdrawals through dedicated DocuSign forms with separate single-owner and joint-owner versions.
• Wealthsimple says non-educational withdrawals return the related government grants to the government and leave corresponding investment gains in the plan unless the account is being closed under the provider's stated options.
• Wealthsimple says AIP requests require all government grants to be repaid first and notes that eligible AIP amounts can be transferred directly to the subscriber's RRSP or spousal RRSP, up to $50,000 if RRSP room is available.
• Wealthsimple says RESP withdrawal requests can take up to 7 business days to process after the required form is submitted.

Neutral comparison notes

• Compared with broker-only RESP providers reviewed so far, Wealthsimple currently offers both managed and self-directed RESP paths under one promoter row.
• Wealthsimple's public pricing is relatively simple on direct transfer-out and trading fees, but total cost still differs materially between managed portfolios, self-directed investing, USD access, and foreign-exchange usage.
• Wealthsimple's current public pages are more explicit than some peers about transfer limitations, especially around partial RESP transfers in, matching owner and beneficiary records, and manual review for complex grant histories.
• Families comparing providers should separate Canada.ca-confirmed federal and B.C. grant support from Quebec handling details, because QESI support is shown on Revenu Quebec's provider list rather than the Canada.ca promoter table.
• Wealthsimple's current public materials show that Quebec-linked RESP servicing can still be more manual than standard cases, because internal RESP moves involving QESI require support assistance.

Investment options noted on official pages

• Managed RESP portfolios use diversified ETF-based portfolios selected by Wealthsimple.
• Self-directed RESP accounts are positioned for stocks and ETFs.
• Wealthsimple says single-owner and joint-owner self-directed RESPs can hold USD if the client has an active USD subscription.

Sources to use