Portfolio management service companies (PMS) help you invest in the stock market if your goal is to build long-term wealth but do not have the expertise to research the stocks yourself.
But PMS companies work with investors who have a portfolio size of at least Rs. 50,00,000 (50 Lacs).
Companies like WealthDesk and Smallcase solve the problem by making PMS-level advisory services accessible to retail investors like you and me who have a small portfolio of 10 to 20 Lacs.
The investment portfolio focuses on long-term trends instead of investment in individual company shares.
The investment portfolios are based on –
- Themes like Digital India
- Sector like Pharma, Banking & IT
- Ideas like “All Weather Investing”, “Gold, Debt and Equity”.
For example, the Digital India theme basket consists of companies that are likely to benefit from the government’s digital push and increased online usage during Covid.
Portfolio investment solution eliminates
- Efforts finding a magical stock that will grow in the future
- Timing the market for entry.
- Tracking the stocks with market movements
Mutual Funds also invest in shares after research and market analysis. But mutual funds have an opaque culture – you don’t know the stocks your mutual fund is holding at the moment or how the fund is rebalanced.
WealthDesk and Smallcase are portfolio investment solution providers that –
- Offers an expert-curated basket of stocks
- Single-click stock order placement in integration with your stockbroker
- Online portfolio tracking & rebalancing by experts themselves
- Portfolio analysis using in-built tools
You own the stocks in your trading account and get all the dividends directly in your bank account.
Both WealthDesk and Smallcase are based in India with credible founders.
Ujjwal Jain, CFA founded WealthDesk in 2016.
Smallcase was incubated in 2015 by IIT Kharagpur graduates Vasanth Kamath, Anugrah Shrivastava, and Rohan Gupta.
They have an overlapping product offering and at a glance seem to be similar inside out. Both platforms offer investors a one-click solution to set up a worthy stock portfolio. Both platforms have portfolio investment baskets built by SEBI registered investment advisors and research analysts.
Click here to explore WealthDesk options while reading this article.
The portfolio of stocks is known as “WealthBaskets” at WealthDesk and “Cases” with Smallcase.
The article deep dives – exploring strengths & weaknesses of both the platforms and elaborate the use case suited to your kind of investment style.
Account Access
You don’t have to open a seperate account either with WealthDesk or Smallcase. There is no hassle to remember an additional ID and password. Both platforms are directly integrated with all the popular stockbrokers of India.
For example, Zerodha users can log in to the WealthDesk/Smallcase platform using Zerodha Kite ID and password.
Pro-Tip – Keep your Kite account open on one tab. On another tab open the WealthDesk or Smallcase website and click Zerodha (your stockbroker).
Look for Your StockBroker
Shares making up a particular basket need to be purchased on NSE and BSE with the help of a .
The service can be offered only in conjunction with the help of stockbrokers. If your broker is not having tie-ups with either of the companies then you can’t buy a basket.
WealthDesk and Smallcase have tie-ups with different stockbrokers. List of brokers integration for both the brands are under –
| WealthDesk Offers Services Through | Smallcase Offers Services Through |
| Discount Brokers Like – Zerodha, Upstox, R Money and Paytm Money | Discount Brokers Like – Zerodha, Upstox, Alice Blue, 5Paisa, |
| Full-Service Brokers Like – Anand Rathi, Arihant Capital, Astha Trade, BP Wealth, ICICI Direct, IIFL Securities, JM Financial, Motilal Oswal, Prabhudas Liladhar, Pune e Stock, Religare, Sushil Finance and Yes Securities. | Full-Service Brokers Like – Angel Broking, Axis Direct, Groww, HDFC Securities, Kotak Securities, Edelweiss, IIFL Securities, Motilal Oswal and Trustline |
Discount brokers charge Rs. 0 for delivery trades and will cost you less while buying a basket.
Fees & Charges
Access to WealthDesk and the Smallcase platform is free. Browsing and exploring too is free. The moment you buy a basket you will be charged.
You encounter two sets of fees – The advisory charges for basket buy and the normal buy/sell charges by your stockbroker.
Advisory Charges
| WealthDesk Advisory Fees | Smallcase Advisory Fees |
| You can invest in some WealthBaskets on Paytm Money for free. For other WealthBaskets, there are recurring fees, every quarter, 6 months or annual (as a percentage of the investment amount), ranging from 0.5% to 2.5% that vary with WealthBaskets. For WealthBaskets, the highest amount that you would pay is Rs. 3,200 for 12 months. This gives you access to all the available WealthBaskets. | For every small case, you are only charged a one-time fee of ₹100 at the time of purchase. If you’re investing less than ₹4,000 on the date of investment, you are charged only 2.5% of the amount invested. There are also smallcases which have a recurring fees every quarter, 6 months or annual (as a percentage of investment amount) ranging from 3% to 21.5% For smallcases, the highest amount you would have to pay is Rs. 35,400 for 12 months. In this, you get access to only one of the smallcase. |
If you are buying a basket worth Rs. 10,000. Then Smallcase will charge you a one-time fee of Rs. 100.
At WealthDesk, suppose if you are charged 0.5% fees then you end up paying = 10,000 x 0.5 / 100 = Rs. 50 in recurring fee every six months till you hold the investment basket.
Note – WealthDesk discloses the advisory fees upfront. But in the case of Smallcase, you come to know the advisory fees in the account statement. A common concern raised by investors.
Smallcase deducts advisory fees directly from your broking account. While WealthBasket subscription payment can be done through UPI and net banking before making an investment.
The subscription model of WealthBasket is like that of Netflix. You pay till the time you use the service.
Brokerage Charges
The actual buy/sell transaction happens using your trading platform even when you select the basket at the WealthDesk/Smallcase platform.
A single basket may contain up to 50 stock companies and each company buy/sell transaction is considered as a separate trade.
The buy/sell trades are delivery trades and are charged accordingly.
I suggest using discount brokers (like Zerodha or Upstox) where stock delivery charges are NIL.
Full-service stockbrokers (like ICICIDirect or Sharekhan) may charge from 0.1% to 0.50% of the trade value.
All the other statutory charges such as STT, Exchange fees, SEBI fees, Demat, & taxes are applied as usual.
Secret Behind Baskets
WealthDesk’s WealthBaskets
The range of baskets requiring minimum initial investment amount available on WealthDesk varies from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 10,00,000 as shown below.
You can invest an additional amount if you like.
Any SEBI registered Research Analysts can register with WealthDesk and launch a portfolio.
OpenQ (Quantech Capital) uses algorithms based on quant models to create a basket (portfolio) of stocks and ETFs. The algorithm effectively removes decision-making, mathematical & data-related errors and human biases.
OpenQ (Quantech Capital) offers baskets like
- Balanced Hybrid Equity
- Make in India
- Pharma
- India Consumption
- Defensive Momentum
- Digital India
Apart from Quantech Capital, other advisors associated with WealthDesk are –
- Abakkus Asset Manager LLP
- Renaissance Investment Managers
- Tamohara Investment Managers
- Algo Smith India
- FinMo Investment Advisors
Smallcase Portfolios (Cases)
Any SEBI registered Research Analysts can register with Smallcases and launch a portfolio.
You can find 25 small cases all created by Windmill Capital such as
- All Weather Investing
- Top 100 stocks
- Dividend Aristocrat
- Equity and Gold
- CANSLIM-esque
100+ advisors (managers) partner Smallcase. Top names include –
- Windmill Capital
- Weekend Investing
- Wright Research
- Omniscience Capital
- Finart
The minimum investment amount on Smallcase starts as low as Rs. 269.
Findings – WealthDesk baskets are few in numbers but created by high-profile SEBI registered advisory firms.
While any SEBI registered analyst can create a basket on Smallcase which may or may not have deep experience in investment management.
Platform Usability & Basket Customizations
WealthDesk Platform
You get a simple and straightforward platform with baskets listed on the main page. You can easily track your portfolio, see pending actions and past transactions.
WealthDesk doesn’t allow any kind of alteration in the basket of shares available. You can’t add, remove or replace any shares – You just have to trust the selection of the experts.
WealthBaskets on Paytm Money
You can easily navigate to different WealthBaskets on the Paytm Money app. There are three subscription plans for WealthBaskets: Free, Core and Pro.
Investors do not have to pay any additional advisory fees above the subscription fees. If you subscribe to the Core plan, you can invest in all WealthBaskets part of the Core and Free plans.
If you subscribe to the Pro plan, you can invest in all the available WealthBaskets without any extra fees. Think of this like several OTT platforms that offer more content offerings, the higher your subscription plan.
Smallcase Platform
Smallcase has a clean and intuitive platform with options to sort (top center) & search baskets using filters (left-hand side).
You can even create a watchlist of baskets for future investments.
You can further modify the existing basket by adding, removing or replacing the existing shares. Smallcase provides basket customizations but I suggest you not to change unless you have done a deep research yourself.
Smallcase modifies the investment amount when a new basket is created post customization.
Findings – Smallcase platform has a better user interface than WealthDesk but I believe WealthDesk is using deep tech to shortlist the WealthBaskets created only by the experts.
You can also compare the portfolio options and let me know your views in the comments.
Ease of Basket Investment
WealthDesk Basket Investment
Basket investing is a two-step process at WealthDesk.
Step 1 – First, you need to select the basket that you need to invest in and pay the advisory (subscription) fees before you can have a look at the shares and their weights.
The fees can be paid online using UPI and net banking. The bank account can be other than that attached to your trading account.
Step 2 – You can proceed with placing an order through your trading account.
Smallcase Basket Investment
Portfolio investment is a single click process with Smallcase.
Choose the basket in Smallcase and click “Invest Now” to place the order. The advisory fees is auto deducted from the funds in your trading account.
Smallcase doesn’t reveal the fees upfront but you can see in your trading ledger statement.
Findings – WealthDesk is clear and upfront about the basket advisory fees. You come to know the exact fees before investing.
Smallcase is quick but charges are known by the end of the day when the statement is generated by your stockbroker.
Final Thoughts
I like the upfront fee disclosure and scientific algorithmic stock selection mechanism in WealthDesk.
You can rely on the expert’s research who are managing portfolios of big investors for many years. It seems justifiable to pay extra money for the expert’s efforts when it’s a matter of investment.
Smallcase offers a large basket range and is flexible to customizations. A good platform if you do not agree fully with the portfolio selection in the basket. You can add/remove the stocks in the basket as per your own research.
