Wealthsimple makes investing simple — that is the point. But simplicity has a cost: when you want to know your real sector exposure, how your portfolio compares to the S&P 500 on a time-weighted basis, or which dividends are landing next month, the app runs out of runway fast. Here is how to fill those gaps for free with a dedicated portfolio tracker built specifically for Canadian DIY investors.
Wealthsimple's app is a well-designed brokerage interface. It shows your account balance, individual position values, basic gain/loss per holding, and a simple total-return percentage. For the vast majority of users, that is more than enough to buy, sell, and hold.
Where it starts to fall short is the analytical layer — the view that answers questions like: Am I actually diversified? What is my real return versus a benchmark? How much dividend income can I expect next quarter? These are not exotic questions. They are the ones every serious DIY investor asks eventually, and answering them requires data that Wealthsimple simply does not surface.
| Gap | What Wealthsimple shows you | What a companion tracker adds |
|---|---|---|
| Sector allocation | Just the ETF tickers you hold — not what is inside them | Decomposes every ETF into its underlying sectors and adds it all up across your accounts |
| Geographic exposure | No breakdown of the US, Canadian, international, or emerging-market fraction of your portfolio | Derives exposure from each ETF's actual top holdings and recurses through fund-of-funds like XEQT or VEQT |
| Performance vs. S&P 500 | A simple return on your current balance | Modified Dietz Time-Weighted Return, benchmarked against the S&P 500 over the same period |
| Dividend income | No forward view of what dividends are coming in | Builds a dividend calendar, estimates annual passive income, and shows yield-on-cost across positions |
If you hold XEQT, VEQT, or a handful of sector ETFs, Wealthsimple shows you those tickers — not what is inside them. You have no way to know whether your combined portfolio is 35% technology or 12% energy without manually checking each ETF's fact sheet and doing the math yourself. A proper companion tracker decomposes every ETF into its underlying sectors and adds it all up across your accounts. See how ETF sector look-through works for a deeper explanation of the technique.
Wealthsimple does not tell you what fraction of your portfolio is US, Canadian, international, or emerging-market exposure. This matters enormously for Canadians who may be overweight the US without realizing it. A good tracker derives geographic exposure from each ETF's actual top holdings — not a generic label — and recurses through fund-of-funds like XEQT or VEQT to give you a true breakdown. This is the only honest way to measure home-country bias in a Canadian portfolio.
Wealthsimple's built-in performance number is a simple return on your current balance. It does not isolate the effect of your investment decisions from the effect of your deposits and withdrawals. Time-Weighted Return (TWR), specifically Modified Dietz, removes that noise so you can see whether your portfolio beat, matched, or trailed the S&P 500 over the same period — accounting for the same cash-flow timing. Without that comparison, you cannot know whether your DIY strategy is actually adding value. The article on time-weighted vs money-weighted return in Canada explains the difference in plain terms.
If you own dividend-paying ETFs or individual stocks, Wealthsimple gives you no forward view of what is coming in. A companion tracker can build a dividend calendar from your current holdings, estimate your annual passive income, show yield-on-cost across your positions, and let you set a passive-income goal with a clear gap analysis. For investors building toward dividend income, this layer is indispensable.
WealthWise is a free, read-only companion tracker designed specifically for Canadian investors using Wealthsimple, Questrade, and Disnat. It connects to your broker accounts via SnapTrade — a regulated, read-only API that cannot execute trades — or you can import via CSV if you prefer not to link accounts.
Once connected, it layers real analysis on top of your live positions:
Many investors are cautious about linking accounts, which is entirely reasonable. WealthWise offers both paths:
| Method | How it works | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Broker sync (SnapTrade) | Read-only OAuth connection; no credentials stored by WealthWise; cannot trade | Investors who want live position data without manual entry |
| CSV import | Upload a standard brokerage export; holdings loaded instantly | Investors who prefer not to link accounts |
Both methods give you access to the same analytical features. The sync path keeps your data current automatically; the CSV path requires a re-upload when your portfolio changes. Details on the sync process are covered in the guide to connecting your broker for portfolio sync in Canada.
A companion tracker does not replace Wealthsimple — it extends it. You still execute all trades inside Wealthsimple. You still manage your TFSA, RRSP, and non-registered accounts there. The tracker is read-only by design: it watches, calculates, and explains, but it never touches your money.
Think of it the way you might think of a spreadsheet you used to maintain manually — except it updates automatically, handles ETF look-through calculations you would never do by hand, and surfaces insights you would not otherwise have the time to compute.
If your entire portfolio is a single all-in-one ETF and you plan to leave it alone for decades, the added analysis may not change your behaviour at all. But if you:
... then a companion tracker pays for itself in clarity the first time you use it. At zero cost, the real question is how long you have been flying without instruments.
No. The broker sync uses SnapTrade, a regulated read-only API. You authenticate directly with Wealthsimple through their own login page; WealthWise never sees your username or password and cannot place trades or move money.
Wealthsimple's displayed return reflects the gain on your current balance relative to your deposits — it is affected by the size and timing of your contributions. Time-Weighted Return (Modified Dietz) isolates the performance of your actual investment decisions from the effect of cash flows, making it the correct metric for comparing your returns to a benchmark like the S&P 500.
Yes. WealthWise supports Wealthsimple, Questrade, and Disnat through SnapTrade sync, and any broker through CSV import. All accounts are consolidated into a single view, and analysis like sector allocation and geographic exposure is calculated across your combined holdings.
Each ETF in your portfolio is decomposed into its underlying sector weights using the fund's actual holdings data. Those weights are scaled by the ETF's share of your total portfolio value and summed across all positions and accounts. For fund-of-funds like XEQT or VEQT, the process recurses through each underlying fund.
Yes. Canadian Depositary Receipts (.NE tickers) are treated as Canadian-dollar wrappers for US-listed securities. Yield and fundamental calculations are derived from the underlying US company's data rather than inconsistent CDR-level data from data providers, which ensures accurate dividend and return figures.
Start with WealthWise for free →Educational content. Figures and rules verified against the official sources above; tax amounts change annually.
Wealth