What this is
Wealthsimple is a Canadian platform for investing and saving, and it's what our team uses. They run an invite program: if you open an account through our link and fund it, you and we both get a cash bonus. The current amount and the conditions are shown on the invite page itself — they change, so read them there rather than taking our word for a number.
That's the whole arrangement. We get a bonus if you sign up. You should know that before you decide, which is why it's here and not in the footer.
Your invite code
How it goes
- 1
Tap the invite link above. It carries the code for you.
- 2
Open your account — ID check, the usual. Takes about ten minutes.
- 3
Fund it. There's a minimum to qualify for the bonus; the invite page states it.
- 4
The bonus lands in both accounts once the conditions are met.
Get a chequing account with no monthly fee
A chequing account with no monthly fee, which is not the norm here. Standard chequing at the Big Five runs roughly $4.95 to $30.95 a month, and the usual way out of it is holding $3,000 to $5,000 in the account at all times — money most newcomers do not have spare in year one, sitting there earning nothing to avoid a fee. Open a No Fee Chequing or High Interest Savings account through this link, deposit at least $100 within six months and keep $100 in it for 30 days, and you get $50. We get $125. Those are Simplii's numbers and they can change; the terms on their page are the ones that count.
Two things before you click. Simplii is CIBC's direct banking brand — this is a Big Five bank without the branch and without the monthly fee, not an alternative to one. And it is not the only account of its kind: Tangerine and EQ Bank also charge no monthly fee and carry the same CDIC protection. The point worth taking from this page is not that Simplii wins. It is that paying a monthly fee for a chequing account in Canada is optional, and a great many newcomers pay one for years without ever being told that.
Sending money home
Today's mid-market rate
loading…This is the benchmark, not an offer. No provider will give you this rate — they all take a margin below it, and the size of that margin is the real cost of the transfer. Compare what a service says your recipient actually gets against the figure above.
Remitly is one of the services we hold an account with for sending money home. Through this link you get $10 off a first transfer of $50 or more, and we receive $35. Those amounts are set by Remitly and change — the current terms are on their page, not ours.
We are not telling you it is the cheapest, because on this corridor no single service always is — it moves with your amount and the day. Run the five-minute comparison in the guides against Remitly before you commit to anything, including this link. If something else wins for your transfer, use that instead; a referral bonus is worth far less to you than a lower margin paid every month.
Getting paid for what you already know
Ethos is an expert network: it pays professionals for advisory calls and project work in their own field, and increasingly for helping AI labs with work only a practitioner can do. Joining is free and experts are paid, never billed. This is a referral link, and here we have to break the pattern of this page — Ethos does not publish the terms of its referral programme, so unlike every other link here we cannot quote you a number. Assume we may receive something if you join through it. If there is a bonus on your side, it will be stated on their page and their page is the one that counts.
Before you click, settle a question no platform will ask you: are you allowed to work? Advisory and consulting engagements are self-employment, and self-employment sits outside a closed work permit. Working without authorisation can cost you the application you are waiting on. Check IRCC's guidance or pay for an hour with an RCIC first. Two smaller things after that — this is a matching platform, not a job, so there is no guaranteed volume and it should never be counted on as income; and the engagements almost certainly will not count as the skilled work experience your nomination needs.
If investing isn't your thing right now
Genuinely fine — a referral link is a poor reason to open a financial account you weren't already considering. If you still want to help, passing this page to someone who is looking does more for us than a signup you'd regret.
Plain disclosure. This page is from the pnpscore team. It is not a Wealthsimple page. We don't work for Wealthsimple and we aren't affiliated with them beyond being customers using their referral program. The link above is a referral link and we receive a bonus from it.
Not financial or immigration advice. We aren't licensed advisors. Investing carries risk, including losing money. What worked for us is not a recommendation for you — read Wealthsimple's own terms and decide for yourself.