Nelson High grads are changing the investing game

Investing in one self means different things to different people. For some, it’s about spending your time wisely – for others, it’s investing money in the right ways. 

The team at Investipal aims to bring both to consumers and advisors. 

“We thought there might be a better way to enable this new generation of investors,” Cameron Howe, co-founder of Investipal said. “We saw two trends. First, that they want to do it themselves, open their own brokerage account. Second, they don’t know what they’re doing.”

Howe, as well as co-founder Abdi Jama and marketer and sales representative Chris Jugovic, graduated from Nelson High School in Burlington before getting together to start their business during the height of the Wall Street Bets craze in 2020 and 2021. 

Since the start, more than 1,500 users are managing about $250 million. 

“This is a completely bootstrap operation,” Jugovic said. “There’s been zero marketing, and we’ve grown organically to this level.”

Investipal wants users to be able to see at a glance what is going on both with markets and with users. Customers are able to view one another’s portfolio’s as if they were looking at their friends' Spotify playlists. 

Additional portfolios from high profile investors such as Warren Buffett are also available for users. 

“We’re taking the knowledge from a more experienced investor, and then we help use it for your own goals,” Howe said. “For example, Buffett might have a 50 per cent stake in Apple, but if someone is saving for a house, should they have 50 per cent waiting in their portfolio?”

Investipal primarily aims its services at newer investors, but there are options for those with existing portfolios or advisors as well. 

Users who have an advisor from another service can regularly benchmark themselves against their advisor. 

“Keep in mind, an advisor is not just there to manage your investments, they’re there to provide you with financial planning, estate planning, and tax mitigation strategies,” Howe says. 

Investipal is just as much a service for advisors as it is for individual investors. Built in tools help people learn how to better invest, and these tools are just as useful for people of all levels. 

“It teaches you how professional money managers would manage your portfolio, until you need serious private wealth help,” Jama says. “This is where we can also help advisors bring on more clients, we call them Henry’s. High earners, not rich yet.”

The company is also aiming to promote financial literacy, something Howe says is seriously lacking in the school system. There are ways to generate wealth outside of work, primarily through real estate, but other than that some serious know-how is required. 

“We’re trying to help out the younger generation that has been left behind,” Howe says. “We’re giving them a toolkit that professional money managers have at their fingertips in a more bite size, digestible format.”