Manulife Strategic Income Fund
I really hate that this is categorized as a high yield bond fund, because it really understates the quality of the fund, its management, and its risk reward profile. In reality, it is more of an opportunistic go anywhere bond fund that invests across multiple fixed income sectors such as global government bonds, investment grade bonds, high yield, and emerging market debt. In addition, the...
Read MoreCI Signature Canadian Balanced Fund
It’s not that this is a bad fund. Far from it. It has a great management team at the helm. It is also managed using a disciplined, repeatable process that incorporates a top down analysis to deter-mine the overall asset mix, with fundamentally driven, bottom up security selection. At the end of June, more than 70% was invested equities, making it one of the more aggressively positioned balanced...
Read MoreCI Signature High Income
When I think of best in class balanced funds this one is usually at the top of my list. Managed by the Signature team at CI, it has consistently been one of the strongest performers in the category, yet at the same time has tended to be one of the least volatile. For the three years ending June 30, it gained an annualized 9.3%, handily outpacing its benchmark and peer group. The portfolio is a...
Read MoreFidelity Small Cap America
Manager Steve MacMillan has been at the helm of this fund for just over three years and the results have been great. For the three years ending June 30, it has gained an annualized 24.3%, handily outpacing the 18.5% return of the Russell 2000. While this is impressive, he has also done a stellar job managing the volatility, keeping it well below the category average. When it comes to protecting...
Read MoreFranklin U.S. Rising Dividends Fund
What I like most about this fund is its ability to protect capital in down markets. While most other U.S. equity funds tend to fall more than the S&P 500, this gem has only fallen between 60% and 70% of the broader market. That’s because of its focus on companies that have a history of consistent and substantial dividend increases over time. Since they offer a relatively high dividend yield,...
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