*** Updated October 2026 to reflect full support for USD assets in Wealthsimple RRIFs ***

I’m currently holding RRIF accounts at three different online providers (QTtrade, Questrade and Wealthsimple)¹. So I am perhaps uniquely positioned to comment on the relative goodness and badness of the support of this kind of account at these three brokers. I also have some experience with BMO Investorline in this regard, but that experience is getting a bit long in the tooth now.

So without further ado, let’s take a look:

Wealthsimple

Wealthsimple now provides support for both RRIFs and (relatively recently) Spousal RRIFs. And as of October 2026, they offer full support for USD assets in the RRIF. You can trade and withdraw in USD without FX fees².

I hold RRIF with Wealthsimple. It started in 2025, when I realized my DPSP couldn’t be immediately converted to a RRIF, and Wealthsimple was offering a shiny new Macbook to win the business. How could a certified cheapskate refuse?

Since I only opened the RRIF in 2025, 2026 was the first year where I’m obliged to take out RRIF-minimum payments. Wealthsimple makes this stupidly easy on many levels:

• They clearly display what your minimum payment for the year is right on the account screen, and they also show how much you have left to go against that minimum
• They make it easy to create a “recurring withdrawal” from the RRIF, which is something I do every month, and I can easily change this whenever I want, although I’m not planning on doing that.
• And — bonus — they support XGRO fractional shares AND the ability to place a sell trade in dollars and cents rather than # of units. This means I can sell EXACTLY the number of XGRO units I need to every month, with no excess dead-money cash floating around.

You have to set up your bank account for EFT withdrawals before this works, of course.

QTrade

I still hold 3 RRIF accounts at QTrade, although I’ve been trying to move them to Questrade since late November. Seems that there is an industry-wide freeze on moving RRIF accounts in the month of December.

QTrade supports USD and CAD RRIF accounts, and they keep them completely separate — different account numbers, even. They are linked, however, because the TOTAL value of the 2 accounts is used to determine your CAD RRIF minimum payment. I’ve only withdrawn RRIF funds in Canadian dollars, because I couldn’t get a straight answer whether I could withdraw USD funds natively to my USD account.

QTrade also supports Norbert’s Gambit, which is important if you want to convert between USD and CAD cheaply.

With QTrade, you have to send in a form to set up your RRIF withdrawals, either monthly/quarterly/annually. And per their fee schedule, if you deviate from this, you owe them $50³.

Once the schedule is in place, the withdrawals happen automatically. You have to make sure you sell your assets in advance of the withdrawal date. What happens if you don’t have enough funds? Not sure, cannot find any documentation that addresses this. There is also no indication online as to what your RRIF minimum payment is; you have to contact support if you want the exact amount.

Questrade

The majority of my RRIF holdings are here. As mentioned above, I’m trying to move 3 RRIF accounts from QTrade to Questrade. The delay from end of November to beginning of January seems like it’s explainable by the aforementioned industry-wide freeze. But since then, I lay the blame fully on Questrade for dragging their feet on getting the right forms in QTrade’s hands.

Questrade supports USD RRIFs, and combines them with CAD holdings. Same account for both, and they do a nice job of providing you with multiple views so you can see your portfolio in either currency.

Questrade also supports Norbert’s Gambit, and I’ve used it multiple times already to convert USD holdings into CAD holdings.

Questrade requires a form to set up RRIF payments, and like anything involving a form at Questrade, you have to sit on top of support to make sure someone actually reads the form.

Like QTrade, Questrade treats RRIF minimum payments as some sort of secret, forcing you to contact support if you don’t know what the value is.

You can also exceptionally get “extra” payments using the “Move Money” menu. I am not sure how withholding tax would work if you did this. It appears that you could also withdraw USD from this menu. The “Move Money” menu is one that seems to be rather fragile — bank accounts previously linked have a habit of disappearing from this screen.

If you don’t have enough money to meet your scheduled monthly/quarterly RRIF payment, Questrade will add the missing amount and recalculate the monthly/quarterly payment. For example, if your annual withdrawal is $1200, then your monthly payment is $100. If you don’t have enough cash in January, then that $100 is added to total and is then divided by 11, meaning that your February-December minimum payments will be $1200/11=$109.09.

The Verdict

I think any of these providers would be a fine choice for your RRIF. If you hold USD assets in your RRIF account, then QTrade has a small edge because unlike Wealthsimple and Questrade, they don’t charge journaling fees when performing Norbert’s Gambit. From an overall ease of use perspective, though, Wealthsimple wins because they offer the most automation (QTrade doesn’t) and allow you to sell dollar amounts of ETFs, unlike Questrade.

1. Mishaps and greed have contributed to this current situation. I don’t condone it. ↩︎
2. See https://help.wealthsimple.com/hc/en-ca/articles/17933575404315-Open-a-RRIF#:~:text=Yes%2C%20if%20you,from%20your%C2%A0RRIF. ↩︎
3. I’ve never had the need, but be forewarned! ↩︎