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Since I expect robo-advisers will make great strides in 2015, it’s perhaps fitting that the first full week of the new year kicked off with an announcement that Vancouver-based WealthBar is rolling out it service across the rest of Canada.
WealthBar, which describes itself as the country’s “only full service online adviser,” issued a press release Monday advising that it has registered with each provincial regulator across Canada. The company uses low-cost ETF portfolios to deliver online personal financial planning.
Human advice alongside the “robo” advisor
And while it does use the inevitable term “robo-adviser” in the release, it hastens to clarify that the service also includes “access to a real live financial adviser for less than half the cost of most mutual funds.” This “personal financial adviser” will answer specific questions about investing and insurance and provide help with financial plans.
“We’d like to help all Canadians understand how to save money effectively and efficiently,” says Tea Nicola, CEO and co-founder of WealthBar (and daughter of well-known Vancouver financial planner John Nicola). “It’s about knowing how and when you will reach your goals as well as getting the right advice to make the best decisions whenever personal circumstances change.”
Ms. Nicola says WealthBar’s financial planning tool is free to use for everyone. Currently, anyone who signs up also gets a free planning session with a human financial advisor. “We understand that human touch is still important for good financial planning so we made the advisor a key part of the WealthBar experience right from the beginning.”
For more, see www.wealthbar.com. And for more background on roboadvisers in general enter the term here at the Hub’s search engine on the top right of the main page. (While the release spells it as “roboadvisor” we at the Hub are sticking with MoneySense’s use of the e in adviser and so robo-adviser).
