How WealthBar Democratizes Goal-Driven Investing

All types of investors can access to wealth-building opportunities that outperform the broader market, Neville Joanes, CIO and portfolio manager at WealthBar, a fintech that specializes in online investing, said in an interview with Benzinga. 

About WealthBar

Founded in 2013 by Tea and Chris Nicola, WealthBar is a financial advice and portfolio management tool for Canadians. 

“Anyone across Canada can sign up and access our platform. With that, they receive financial advice from a certified financial planner, and then they receive an investment portfolio that has been curated by one of our portfolio managers,” Joanes said. 

The product combines automated investing with human financial advice.

The fintech offers numerous customized portfolios tailored for investors of all wealth types.

In 2018, WealthBar was acquired by CI Financial, a global asset and wealth management advisory service. The acquisition improved back-office capabilities and business efficiency, Joanes said. 

Despite the acquisition, WealthBar’s mission remains the same, he said: the firm democratizes investing through innovation, "providing Canadians with comprehensive financial advice that includes financial planning, as well as investment management."

The Platform

The tool is goal-driven: small and large investors leverage the easy-to-use platform to specify their objectives and risk-based outcomes.

The portfolios derive their growth from market-based and alternative assets. 

WealthBar's Private Balanced Portfolio uses a strategy that has historically beat the S&P 500 since 2000, according to the company.

The WealthBar Growth ETF Portfolio has outperformed the S&P/TSX Composite Index since 2015.

Joanes attributes this high performance to the diversification of the portfolios.

WealthBar’s Private Investment Portfolio exposes members “to real estate, mortgages, private lending, private debt [and] alternative strategies,” the CIO said. 

WealthBar also provides investment assessments, as well as estate and tax planning.

Pricing

WealthBar's pricing is based on assets under management, the CIO said. 

WealthBar’s fees vary and are better-suited for investors with more capital: fees start at 0.6% and scale down to 0.35%.

Investors receive on-demand access to planning tools and financial experts who help members build, track and meet their financial goals.

Within the financial planning tool, members “set how much they are planning to save on a regular basis, and, from that, it will give them a projection as to how much they will save and have when they enter retirement,” Joanes said. 

The WealthBar experience is all-encompassing and interactive. It offers intuitive charts and adjustable parameters that enable “if, then” scenarios.

The Vision

WealthBar is a go-to for connected wealth-building experiences, the CIO said.

The platform aims to build relationships with customers and develop a goal-driven approach to investing.

"We move them away from thinking about the returns of the portfolio and have them start thinking about what their retirement [and] financial goals look like."

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