9:24 am
April 6, 2013
Thanks for posting this promo. This is the first time I'm hearing of it. Do you have a link to this promo? Do you know long you have to keep the 100k at Wealthsimple before you receive the Iphone 6?
…
iPhone or Mac. The choice is yours
Choose between the new iPhone 16 or a MacBook Air when you transfer $100,000 or more. Just register by December 13 and initiate your deposits within 30 days of registration.
FAQ, terms, and conditions: Wealthsimple 2024 Apple Promotion
3:19 pm
April 27, 2017
You don’t have to keep $100K in WS cash account.
It's not a bad deal for people who have more than $100K in investments and need an IPhone. Doesn’t have to be taxable either; you can transfer an RRSP or a TFSA.
An IPhone would cost $1130 to buy plus HST, so about 1.3% bribe for residents of Ontario moving $100K to WS.
We’ve seen competition for investment funds heating up over the last year, and its largely thanks to WS poaching clients from the likes of TDDI. Great for the customers.
4:04 pm
January 25, 2024
mordko said
You don’t have to keep $100K in WS cash account.
NOT true.
Read small print.
"Can I keep the reward if I withdraw money?
The minimum balance you need to maintain is:
• your net funding amount at the start of your contribution period (how much you have across all of your Wealthsimple accounts),
• plus the minimum amount necessary to qualify for your applicable reward."
There is an example if you care to read... So yes, you HAVE to keep 100k PLUS whatever is currently on your account. There is a buffer of 5% but it is a peanuts comparing to 100k.
4:16 pm
October 27, 2013
4:27 pm
August 4, 2010
This is a perennial misunderstanding of this sort of promotion. If you have investments (regular, TFSA, RRSP, FHSA) in stocks or ETFs, they can sit at Wealthsimple just as easily as elsewhere, and you get the iPhone as a bonus.
If you are sitting in cash or near-cash, are you going to be doing no only better holding the cash somewhere else, but better to the value of the iPhone (or Macbook) to you. The WS Cash account has been paying 1% under the Bank of Canada rate as a base rate. As a $100K Premium customer, you would be getting 50bps more than that, and if you are willing to arrange a $2000/month direct deposit, they have another 50bps bonus for that. Perhaps you can beat the BoC rate for an entire year by hopping around promo offers, but the MSRP+tax value of the $100K level is something like a 1.3% rate juicing, and probably more since there should be no tax bill for the promo phone.
If the iPhone/Macbook isn't of value, that's a different story. As it also is if you want liquidity on that $100K to move it out, beyond that 5% buffer. It will depend on the individual circumstances, but for stuff that can stay parked for a year, it is an attractive offer.
5:15 pm
April 20, 2019
Agreed Northenraven. The only thing that got my attention is the non taxable gain on the iPhone 16. Still not sure if it’s really worth it to me. I don’t really need a new iPhone. My 12 works well still. I’ve been mulling this over for a week already. Besides, there might even be a better promo in early 2025 for new deposits.
4:40 am
August 4, 2010
Some people apparently sell the iPhone, and capture the value that way. They are also offering MacBook alternatives, although the Air at the $100K promo level is the older generation M2 chip one that Apple is still selling. If you transfer just the $100K and take the Air, that's in some ways something like 1.5% with tax, if you were going to buy one for cash anyway. Different amounts and different people will value differently, and the higher tiers don't work out quite that juicy.
Their last couple transfer offers have been 1% cash, paid out over a year. It doesn't look like from the terms of those, or the current iPhone promo, that people do one promo are excluded from later doing the other, but you'd want to check.
I switched from TDDI to Wealthsimple last year, when they were doing a tiered bonus that maxed out at 0.5% (6 month hold), rather than take the iPhone (I bought an iPhone Se instead). I had enough I managed to get a 0.6% bonus on the entire amount, which was pretty good at that point. Of course, the later 1% offers would have been a bit irritating, but it all worked out, as TDDI did a ridiculous 2% promo recently, and since I wasn't on hold at WS, I moved back, at least for now.
I'd much rather the industry found some way to use their resources to improve things for existing customers, rather than throw huge pots of money at poaching new ones.
5:38 am
April 27, 2017
I took the IPhone offer last year (we got two). And then the 0.5% offer because I liked WS having tested it. So you could take them consecutively without problem - and I got an advance email about the latest phone/laptop offer.
Then I took TDDI’s 2% offer but for different accounts. At that time WS wasn’t providing self-managed joint accounts and Spousal RRSPs so these accounts went to TDDI for an even better bribe. I don’t like TDDI, so once the hold period is done in May the money will be going to WS, hopefully for another bonus.
WS is rewarding the existing customers too. They provide lots of freebees, like financial reviews, airport lounges, Strava and G&M subscriptions.
I wouldn’t be jumping brokerages just for the sake of the bonus but if you are looking for greener pastures anyway, these are all good deals: risk free and often tax free way to boost returns.
Incidentally, this is missed by people saying “TD stock is too cheap because their Canadian business makes up most of profits anyway”. TD’s growth in the US isn’t happening in the foreseeable and TD’s growth and profits in Canada deal with stiff new competition.
6:01 am
November 18, 2017
6:21 am
April 27, 2017
RetirEd said
Airport lounges, Strava and G&M subscriptions? Are these a sensible part of anyone's portfolio value?This is like being offered a year of avocado toast when buying a condo. It's all in what they take from you. Like the apple toys.
Always take the cash, not the gift card, eh?
I use WS anyway. These perks were given as a freebee to me as an existing customer, which is really nice. Its not much; less than a $1000 worth in my case but a pleasant gesture showing they are not just bribing new clients but are treating the existing ones well. Nobody said these perks are “a part of my portfolio value”.
And honestly, they don’t take much from me. Unlike TDDI, they don’t have any trading charges on their platform. Their non-promo interest on cash is decent too.
5:26 pm
April 20, 2019
Yeah it's all about the net gain after taxes for me these days now. Hopefully they have a better offer in the new year.
I was able to get multiple deposits on the 1% promo recently (even in October) but the net after tax return was not desirable.
Mordko- i do appreciate wealthsimple handing out the small perks at certain investment deposit thresholds. Just remember you are the product -since we get free trades. They make their money on the ask bid spread i suspect. As long as you are not a heavy$ large volume trader should not matter.
6:57 pm
April 27, 2017
They do get money for trades in the form of payments for order flow. Does not impact the spread so makes no difference to clients.
The downside of WS is their slightly irritating pushing of robo, crypto and option trading. Then again, TDDI does the exact same thing under the guise of “educating” investors. Also, lack of NG is a bit irritating but their recent offer of 0% charges when exchanging over $100K mitigates the problem.
5:48 pm
April 20, 2019
4:27 pm
April 22, 2022
One thing to watch with WS transfer bonuses.
At least with the last 1% version they go by actual deposits for a base value.
I had a small trading account with them which I played with during COVID - and it had a loss (i.e current value less than total deposited value). So it was telling me to maintain a balance higher than it had ever been to stay within the 5% and keep getting payments.
Had fun with them on this - wasn't an amount large enough to be a problem - but could be an issue for someone with a larger loss.
5:54 pm
April 27, 2017
thegov said
One thing to watch with WS transfer bonuses.
At least with the last 1% version they go by actual deposits for a base value.
I had a small trading account with them which I played with during COVID - and it had a loss (i.e current value less than total deposited value). So it was telling me to maintain a balance higher than it had ever been to stay within the 5% and keep getting payments.
Had fun with them on this - wasn't an amount large enough to be a problem - but could be an issue for someone with a larger loss.
All their promos that I have seen limit withdrawals and do not penalize for market losses.
Certainly the case with the current promo. Search T&Cs for “withdrawal limit”.
4:35 am
March 30, 2017
thegov said
One thing to watch with WS transfer bonuses.
At least with the last 1% version they go by actual deposits for a base value.
I had a small trading account with them which I played with during COVID - and it had a loss (i.e current value less than total deposited value). So it was telling me to maintain a balance higher than it had ever been to stay within the 5% and keep getting payments.
Had fun with them on this - wasn't an amount large enough to be a problem - but could be an issue for someone with a larger loss.
if you never withdraw any of your initial deposits (stock or cash) AND any income (div or int) generated by that initial deposit, they will not ask for top up due to market value fluctuation. However in the T&C, any income generated will be considered a withdrawal against the initial deposit regardless. That's how it was explained to me in the iphone15 promo. Read the fine print very carefully as different promo may be tweaked differently.
4:15 pm
April 22, 2022
mordko said
They allow to withdraw “ 5% of the minimum cumulative Net Funding Amount required to obtain the Client’s applicable Reward” without penalties.
If you're doing the IPhone its based specifically on the 100k exactly - so you can easily know what the 5% is -- its the same for all - no confusion.
However, with the 1% promo, the 1% was based on whatever amount you transfer -- so its different for everyone and the terminology they used is ambiguous enough to cause at least an apparent problem if you had a previous trading account where the current balance was below the net deposits at the time you signed up for the promo (& before you started the deposits for the promo).
They promise not to penalize you for market fluctuations AFTER you've transferred which is true. However they sent specific documentation indicating I needed to maintain a balance that the combination of accounts had NEVER reached.
To date, they have continued to pay the monthly amount expected, despite still sending contradictory documentation.
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