This is part of a portfolio program offered by Dynamic Funds. It offers investors six strategic portfolios, covering the spectrum of investors, ranging from Conservative to Aggressive Growth. Each will invest in a well-diversified mix of mutual funds offered by Dynamic.
This is the growth offering, with a target asset mix of 80% equities and 20% fixed income. The equity sleeve has about a third in Canada with the balance abroad. The focus is on large cap, but does have some exposure to small and mid-cap names. Sector exposure and country mix is the result of the positioning of the underlying funds.
The fixed income portion is heavily weighted to investment grade, with some modest exposure to high yield and global bonds. A drawback to this is interest rate sensitivity will run fairly high, meaning it may struggle in a rising rate environment.
It is well diversified, investing in 15 funds including Dynamic Canadian Bond Fund, Dynamic Dividend Fund, and the Dynamic Value Fund of Canada.
Performance has been middle of the pack, with a five year annualized gain of 9.4% to the end of February. Volatility has been slightly lower than the index, resulting in decent risk adjusted returns.
A fund like this is only going to be as good as the underlying funds in it. While there are some high quality offerings, there are also some that don’t add much to the overall portfolio. It is limited to Dynamic funds only.
To be honest, most investors are better off creating a portfolio using funds from a mix of companies to get a mix that is more in line with their investment objectives and risk tolerances rather than using a prepackaged portfolio solution. This fund is no exception to that.