Finance, Personal

Justwealth RESP Review 2023

A smart way of saving toward the post-secondary education of your kids is contributing to a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP). 

Besides tax advantage, RESP also attracts government support on your savings for the post-secondary education of your kids. 

Justwealth is a robo-advisor platform that is popularly known for having one of the best RESP accounts in Canada. 

The Justwealth RESP account gives you access to multiple ETF portfolios that are pre-designed to suit different risk tolerances. 

This Justwealth RESP review covers all you need to know about the account including how it compares. 

Justwealth RESP Review
Photo credit: Mikhail Nilov

About Justwealth

Justwealth Financial Inc. is a popular robo-advisor platform that offers low-cost investment solutions to Canadians. 

The platform was launched in 2015 and has attracted multiple awards that Justwealth has won for its products and services. 

Beyond offering automated investing, Justwealth has a team of portfolio managers that also provide financial counselling to investors on the platform. 

Though Justwealth offers multiple investment accounts, it is more popular for having one of the best RESP offerings in Canada.

In the following section, you will learn more about the Justwealth RESP account and its custom ETF portfolios that help to maximize education savings in Canada.

Justwealth RESP

Justwealth RESP account offers tax-sheltered education through Education Target Date Portfolios.

The portfolios are designed to help maximize your RESP savings and investing with customized risk exposure.

The following are the key benefits of the Justwealth RESP account:

  • Automated investing with robo-advisor
  • No minimum opening balance requirement
  • Low-cost investing with competitive management fees and MER
  • Up to $150 reimbursement of transfer fees when you move an existing RESP of $25,000 or greater to Justwealth

Justwealth RESP Target Date Portfolios

The Justwealth RESP Target Date Portfolios are personalized investment portfolios that are designed with a dynamic risk profile. 

When your kids are much younger to post-secondary school, the portfolios will have higher risk exposure. 

But as your child gets older, the portfolios will switch to a conservative allocation to reduce risk. 

The Justwealth RESP Target Date Portfolios maturity date is matched with the projected date that your child should begin post-secondary education. 

That being said, the following table shows how some of the Justwealth Education Target Date Portfolios performed since inception as of September 30, 2022.

Portfolio nameReturn since inception
Justwealth Capital Preservation Portfolio1.62%
Justwealth Education Target Date 2023 Portfolio3.41%
Justwealth Education Target Date 2024 Portfolio3.72%
Justwealth Education Target Date 2025 Portfolio3.91%
Justwealth Education Target Date 2026 Portfolio4.28%
Justwealth Education Target Date 2027 Portfolio4.82%
Justwealth Education Target Date 2028 Portfolio5.29%

Click here to learn more about the performance of other Justwealth’s RESP Target Date Portfolios.

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Justwealth RESP Fees

As with other robo advisors, Justwealth charges a management fee and a management expense ratio (MER) in exchange for its services. 

For an RESP account with a balance lower than $500,000, Justwealth charges a management fee of 0.50%. But for accounts that have more than $500,000, a management fee of 0.40% is charged. 

Meanwhile, Justwealth has a fixed minimum management fee of $2.50 per month that applies to all accounts. 

Justwealth  portfolios have underlying ETFs that incur a management expense ratio of 0.20% – 0.25%. 

Putting all these into consideration will make you arrive at about 0.70% – 0.75% in total annual fees for RESP investing with Justwealth. 

As such, Justwealth remains a low-cost alternative to traditional mutual funds that charge up 3% as management fees. 

Is Justwealth RESP Good for You?

If you want to take full control of your RESP investments, self-directed investing might be perfect for you than a robo advisor.

But if you prefer automated RESP investing, the Target Date Portfolios make Justwealth a better choice than other robo advisors in Canada. 

Here are the key benefits that make Justwealth RESP unmatched with other RESPs:

  • A dedicated Education Target Date Portfolios
  • No minimum balance required
  • Hands-off investing and portfolio management
  • Access to a portfolio manager regardless of your account size

Other Justwealth Registered Accounts

Though Justwealth is more popular for its RESP accounts, the platform offers other registered accounts that are worth considering.

The following are the other registered investment accounts that are currently available on the Justwealth platform.

  • TFSA
  • RRSP
  • RRIF
  • LIRA
  • LIF

All your investments with any Justwealth account are managed automatically by a robo-advisor. With this, you don’t have to worry about asset allocation or rebalancing your portfolios yourself. 

How Justwealth RESP Compares

There are many other RESP providers in Canada that support automated investing like Justweath. 

In this section, you will see how Justwealth RESP compares to the offerings of two other popular investment platforms in Canada. 

Justwealth RESP vs Wealthsimple RESP

Wealthsimple is one of the best and most popular robo-advisor platforms in Canada.

Launched in 2014, Wealthsimple has over 2 million users with more than $15 billion in assets under management. 

Wealthsimple offers non-registered and registered investment accounts including RESP on its robo-advisor platform called Wealthsimple Invest. 

The Justwealth and Wealthsimple RESP accounts share so many similarities with only a few differences. See the table below for a side-by-side comparison of the two.  

FeaturesJustwealth RESPWealthsimple RESP
Investment methodAutomated Automated 
Minimum opening balanceNoneNone
Portfolio managementPassively managedPassively managed
Management fees0.50% on $500,000 or less – and 0.40% on balances above $500,000 0.50% on $100,000 or less – and 0.40% on balances above $100,000 

With a Wealthsimple RESP account, you can access 10 different ETF portfolios with varying risk profiles that range from conservative to aggressive tolerance.

Though the Wealthsimple ETF portfolios have impressive performance, they are not up to the Personalized Target Date Portfolios of Justwealth RESP accounts. 

Learn more:

Justwealth RESP vs Questrade RESP

Questrade is a well-known online brokerage in Canada that offers access to both self-directed and automated RESP investing. Justwealth only offers access to automated RESP investing on its platform.

With over $30 billion in assets and more than 22 years of being in business, Questrade has a solid reputation in the Canadian investment space. 

The table below shows a side-by-side comparison of the Justwealth RESP vs the Questrade RESP account.

FeaturesJustwealth RESPQuestrade RESP
Investment methodAutomated Self-directed and automated 
Minimum opening balanceNone$1,000
Portfolio managementPassively managedActively managed
Management fees0.40% – 0.50%0.20% – 0.25%

From the above table, Justwealth charges a higher management fee than Questrade. However, the exclusive access to Target Date Portfolios makes the Justwealth RESP worth it.

Also, Questrade RESP has a $1,000 minimum opening balance requirement compared to the zero requirements of Justwealth.

Learn more:

How to Open a Justwealth RESP Account

It’s easy to open a Justwealth RESP account since everything is done online. You only need to visit the official website and click on the “Get Started” button.

If you like, you can open a Justwealth RESP account by phone call. All you need is to book a call using this link and a Justwealth representative will call you to sign up. 

Bear in mind, you must meet the following requirements to open a Justwealth account.

  • Be a Canadian resident
  • Have a Social Insurance Number (SIN)
  • Have an active bank account number 
  • Have a government-issued ID 

When opening a Justwealth account, you will be required to provide some information about your RESP account beneficiaries. 

Final Thoughts on Justwealth RESP Review

This comprehensive Justwealth RESP review shows how Justwealth stands out among other RESP providers in Canada. 

With a dedicated Target Date Portfolio, you can maximize your children’s post-secondary savings through a Justwealth RESP account. 

Is Justwealth RESP for you? Kindly share your thoughts with us in the comment. If you need more clarification or have any questions, drop them in the comment as well.

Before you leave, ensure you navigate to our blog section to learn more about other personal finance deals in Canada.

FAQs on Justwealth RESP Review

Does Justwealth offer RESP accounts?

Yes. Justwealth supports registered investment accounts such as RESP, RRSP, RRIF, LIRA, LIF and TFSA. 

Is Justwealth RESP safe?

Yes. The assets on Justwealth RESP accounts are insured up to $1 million by Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIFP).

Justwealth also employs standard security measures in protecting the information of investors on its platform. 

What is Justwealth RESP minimum balance?

There is no minimum balance requirement for opening a Justwealth RESP account.

However, Justwealth requires a minimum opening balance of $5,000 for all other non-RESP accounts.

Is there a fee for Justwealth RESP?

Yes. Justwealth charges a management fee of 0.40% – 0.50% on RESP and other investment accounts. 

Also, the underlying ETFs on Justwealth RESP accounts incur a 0.20% – 0.25% management expense ratio (MER).

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About John Adebisi

John Adebisi is a CPA, FCCA and MBA holder with a Bachelor's degree in Accounting & Finance. He has over a decade of experience in writing personal and business finance content for audiences across North America, Europe, the UK and Africa. In addition to his writing experience, he also has a strong background in financial research and analysis, giving him a unique perspective of the financial markets. John derives pleasure in helping people make smart financial decisions, and he believes that knowledge and experience can be valuable resources for anyone who wants to learn how to manage their money.

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