But before I paint the whole mutual fund industry as evil, Chris, it bears mentioning that there are low-cost passive and active mutual funds available to retail investors, like TD's e-Funds and those from wholesalers like Steadyhand, Jarislowsky Fraser and Mawer. These may be the sorts of funds you have been considering for your RRSP. It's the typical active fund that is actually pretty passive with high fees and too many people getting paid along the way that ruins it for the rest of the bunch.
I think ETFs are a reasonable way to invest on your own. You can buy a single ETF and own the whole TSX. You can buy another and own thousands of stocks from around the world. It sounds so easy, doesn't it? But in practice, I encounter lots of people whose best intentions turn into inactivity.
Enter the online advisors like the aforementioned WealthSimple and Portfolio IQ. There are about 10 of them in Canada currently offering similar services. Effectively, you open an account in a few minutes online, answer a risk tolerance questionnaire and get a custom ETF portfolio where the online advisor or robo-advisor does all the buying and selling on your behalf.
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