Formerly known as Mylo, Moka is a saving and investment app with a mission to help Canadians meet their financial goals. This works predominantly by automatically rounding up every purchase you make to the nearest dollar and investing the spare change to help your money grow. With the Moka app, you don’t have to be an investing guru to successfully invest and grow your money, making it perfect for the newbie investor or those who aren’t particularly savvy with saving. Rather than making financial sacrifices to invest, Moka helps you develop saving habits effortlessly.
Once you set up your account, everything is handled for you, making this a completely hands-off way to start saving and investing your money. Since launching in 2017, Moka now boasts over 750,000 downloads by Canadians all across the nation.
Let’s take a closer look at Moka to help you determine if this tool is right for you to help you achieve your financial goals.
How Does Moka Work?
The entire process is incredibly simple. You’ll first need to create a Moka account and connect your bank account to the app. Then, you’ll be asked a few questions about your current financial situation. The app’s algorithms, along with all financial and transactional data, will be used to provide customized recommendations to help you make better decisions with your money.
Each purchase made using your debit or credit cards will be rounded up to the nearest dollar, and the extra change is invested. For instance, if you buy a sandwich for $5.49, it will be rounded up to $6.00, with the extra $0.51 invested. This process repeats itself, and every Monday, all roundups from the week before are withdrawn from your chequing account and invested into your diversified Moka investment account. Funds can be withdrawn at any time.
Moka also comes with TFSAs, RRSPs, socially responsible investing (SRI), next-day withdrawals, and monthly perks.
Features To Consider When Choosing To Work With Moka
Goal setting. Moka will ask you to establish a savings goal for you to work toward.
Roundups. This is the main feature of the app and involves rounding up your purchases to the nearest dollar and putting the extra change toward the goal you established.
Multipliers. If the roundup feature is not working fast enough for you to reach your goals, you can get the app to multiply your roundups by as much as eight times.
One-time boosts. Moka lets you deposit more money into your account through the one-time boost feature to save and build up your investment portfolio more quickly.
Recurring deposits. Automatically deposit a specific dollar amount into your Moka account each week.
Investing with full portfolio management. Your investment portfolio will be entirely managed by a dedicated portfolio manager from Tactex Asset Management who will invest based on your financial goals.
Automated savings and investing. The process is fully automated, including rounding up all purchases to the nearest dollar and automatically investing.
Diversification. A diversified portfolio will help you maximize profits while minimizing risk.
Unlimited tax-free accounts. Investing with an RRSP or TFSA will help protect your capital from taxation.
Free withdrawals. Access your money almost immediately with next-day withdrawals at no cost.
Socially responsible investing (SRI). Invest in companies that match your values to make a positive impact on the world.
Cashback and deals. Take advantage of exclusive deals from your favourite brands.
Referral program. If someone signs up to Moka using your promo code and funds their account, you both get $5.
Friendly customer service. Get direct access to Moka’s customer success team to have all your questions answered.
Top-notch security. Moka uses bank-level security to protect your money, including encryption and secure SSL connections.
Round-Up to Give. Moka recently partnered with CanadaHelps to create Round Up to Give, an automated way to donate your rounded up spare change to your charity of choice through the Moka app.
What Types of Accounts Are Available Through Moka?
Investment accounts opened through Moka are non-registered or registered 𑁋TFSAs and RRSPs.The type of portfolio you hold will be based on your tolerance for risk, financial goals, and investor profile as established following the questionnaire you complete when opening your Moka account. Investment accounts through Moka include the following:
- Moka Money Market ETF Fund
- Moka Fixed Income ETF Fund
- Moka Equity ETF Fund
For example, if your tolerance for risk if conservative-moderate, your portfolio manager will suggest you invest 40% in the Moka Money Market ETF Fund and 60% in the Moka Fixed Income ETF Fund.
How Much Does Moka Cost?
Moka is $15 per month plus tax.
There are also other third-party management fees charged for investing in ETFs, which usually range from 0.06% to 0.38%for regular portfolios, and from 0.20% to 0.69% for socially responsible investing portfolios (SRIs). These fees cover the costs of operating an ETF (the providers who operate ETFs are separate entities from Moka)
The following charts show the ETFs that are currently being used in Moka’s portfolios:
| Asset Class | Ticker | MER |
| Purpose High Interest Savings ETF | PSA | 0.16% |
| FTSE Canada Index ETF | VCE | 0.06% |
| S&P 500 Index ETF (CAD-hedged) | VSP | 0.09% |
| FTSE Developed All Cap ex North America Index ETF (CAD-hedged) | VI | 0.23% |
| Canadian Aggregate Bond Index ETF | VAB | 0.09% |
| U.S. Aggregate Bond Index ETF (CAD-hedged) | VBU | 0.22% |
| Global ex-U.S. Aggregate Bond Index ETF (CAD-hedged) | VBG | 0.38% |
How Are Your Investments Managed?
The money in your Moka account is managed by a portfolio manager at Tactex Asset Management, a subsidiary of Moka Financial Technologies Inc. Your dedicated portfolio manager will invest your money with a diversified portfolio composed of low-cost ETFs.
Benefits Of Using Moka
Moka offers a myriad of perks for investors, both novice and advanced:
- Affordability
- Automatic saving to reach your financial goals
- Excellent customer support
- Invest with both registered accounts and non-registered accounts
- Investment portfolio diversification
- Socially responsible investing
- Free next-day withdraws
- Personalized investment portfolios
- Donate your rounded up change to charity
- Dedicated portfolio manager at Tactex Asset Management
- Cash back rewards for purchases made through Moka
Overview Of Moka
| Minimum investment | None |
| Types of accounts | – RRSP – TFSA – Non-registered accounts |
| Private investment portfolios | No |
| Socially responsible investing (SRI) | Yes |
| Automatic re-balancing | Yes |
| Dividend reinvesting | Yes |
| Automation | Yes |
| Professional portfolio management | Yes |
| Auto depositing | Yes |
| Accessibility | Mobile app |
| Halal investing | No |
| Management fees | Moka: $15.00/month + tax |
| Transfer fees (to another bank) | None |
Should You Use Moka?
The great thing about Moka is that you don’t have to sacrifice human assistance like you often do with other investing apps. Instead, Moka allows you to save and invest online while still having a dedicated portfolio manager and customer support to answer any questions or concerns you have about your investments. Moreover, Moka is a great way to grow money because:
- It is affordable. Moka is an affordable app that allows you to save more by investing your spare change.
- It requires lower startup capital. Typically, you’d need a few thousand dollars to start investing but with Moka, there are no minimum investment requirements.
- It automates your savings and investments. You’ll be stress-free with Moka, as all your purchases are automatically rounded up and used to invest in tax free accounts.
- It offers convenience and cashback perks. Since everything is digitized through Moka’s app, you’ll be able to manage your account online and take advantage of their exclusive cashback deals from your favourite brands.
Why Should You Start Investing Your Spare Change?
Putting aside a little bit of money every month into a savings account may be beneficial to a point, but you’ll likely not make much headway in terms of growing wealth unless you’re setting aside a hefty amount.
Instead, investing wisely allows you to park your capital in a money-earning investment vehicle that will make your money work a lot harder for you. And by diversifying your assets, you’ll be able to take advantage of maximum growth opportunities while minimizing risk.
Who Is Moka Best Suited For?
Anyone looking for an automated, stress-free way to invest without having to make significant financial sacrifices to make your money grow will find the Moka app incredibly handy. Moreover, Moka’s automated savings and investment technology paired with their low-cost ETFs make this app worth looking further into. The app is especially useful for those who are new to the world of investing and need a little assistance and encouragement to put a little bit of money away every day.
