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Fidelity Income Allocation Fund
Over the past several years, the balanced funds at Fidelity have improved dramatically. They are now run much like a fund of funds, investing in underlying pools run by some of Fidelity’s top managers. The fund’s asset mix is managed by Geoff Stein, who was recently joined by David Wolf, formerly of the Bank of Canada. They monitor the macro outlook, market fundamentals, and investor sentiment, and adjust the asset mixes of the portfolios accordingly. It is rare to see the asset mix stray too far from target, but it does occasionally happen...
read moreNew Fund Rating System Launched in 2015
When I first started providing a rating on mutual funds back in 2002, I developed a formula that considered a number of key performance and risk metrics. It looked at absolute return, relative return, volatility and relative volatility. It also took into account the length of track record of a fund when determining the rating for a fund. It seemed to work very well over the years, but its biggest drawback was that it was complicated to explain. Whenever an advisor or investor would ask about my rating system, I could never explain how I...
read moreCIBC NASDAQ Index Fund
Fund Company CIBC Asset Management Fund Type U.S. Equity Rating A Style Large Cap Growth Risk Level Medium High Load Status No Load RRSP/RRIF Suitability Good TFSA Suitability Fair Manager Patrick Thillou since August 2005 MER 1.26% Code CIB 520 – No Load Units Minimum Investment $500 Analysis: U.S. growth stocks have definitely been the big winners over the past couple of years. This fund provides exposure to them by replicating the NASDAQ 100 Index, which is made up of the 100 largest non-financial companies that trade...
read moreCI Cambridge Canadian Dividend Fund
Fund Company CI Investments Fund Type Canadian Dividend & Income Equity Rating A Style Mid Cap Blend Risk Level Medium Load Status Optional RRSP/RRIF Suitability Good TFSA Suitability Good Manager Brandon Snow since December 2013 Bob Swanson since December 2013 MER 2.40% Code CIG 11112 – Front End Units CIG 11162 – DSC Units Minimum Investment $500 Analysis: Since Cambridge took this fund over a little more than a year ago, they have definitely put their mark on it. This is not your typical dividend fund. It is significantly underweight...
read moreMackenzie Canadian Growth Fund
Fund Company Mackenzie Investments Fund Type Canadian Focused Equity Rating A Style Large Cap Growth Risk Level Medium Load Status Optional RRSP/RRIF Suitability Good TFSA Suitability Good Manager Dennis Starritt since August 1995Dina DeGeer since August 1995David Arpin since January 2013 MER 2.51% Code MFC 650 – Front End UnitsMFC 640 – DSC Units Minimum Investment $500 Analysis: Year to date, this has been the best performing Canadian equity fund, gaining more than 22%, handily outpacing its peer group and the index. Longer term numbers are...
read moreMackenzie Canadian Growth Balanced Fd
Fund Company Mackenzie Investments Fund Type Canadian Neutral Balanced Rating B Style Growth Risk Level Medium Load Status Optional RRSP/RRIF Suitability Good TFSA Suitability Good Manager Dennis Starritt since November 1996 Dina DeGeer since November 1996 Steve Locke since January 2010 MER 2.51% Code MFC 724 – Front End Units MFC 824 – DSC Units Minimum Investment $500 Analysis: This balanced fund is managed almost like a fund of funds, with Dennis Starritt, Dina DeGeer, and David Arpin managing the equity component, while Steve Locke and...
read moreAGF Inflation Focus Fund
In May 2012, AGF launched this very interesting balanced fund that is designed to mitigate the impact of inflation. It invests in an actively managed basket of AGF funds with underlying exposure to inflation adjusted fixed income, resource and commodity stocks. The target asset mix is set at 60% AGF Inflation Plus Bond Fund, 20% AGF Global Resources Class, and 20% AGF Precious Metals Fund. At November 30, it was underweight both bonds and precious metals, with an overweight to resources. Looking at that asset mix, it’s not hard to see why...
read moreBeutel Goodman International Equity Fund
Beutel Goodman follows a very disciplined bottom up, value focused approach, that is heavy on risk management. The managers are given a lot of flexibility, which results in a concentrated portfolio that often looks much different from the benchmark. In addition to having sector weights that are different, the funds will also typically have exposure to more small and mid-cap names than a number of their peers. In certain mandates, for example Canadian equity, this process has produced stellar results, with funds that typically outperform their...
read moreRBC QUBE Low Volatility Global Equity Fund
Low volatility funds are one of those investing concepts that seems too good to be true. Not only are you likely to earn as good, or even better return, but you can do it with a lower level of risk. Naturally, I was a little skeptical. That is why I am somewhat impressed with the performance of the majority of the low volatility funds this year. With all the volatility experienced, they did exactly what they were supposed to do, and helped protect investors’ capital. During the September 1 to October 15 period, the MSCI World Index dropped by...
read moreRBC O’Shaughnessy U.S. Value Fund
You know a category is having a good year when the worst performing fund posts a gain of 10.5%. That is the case here. The fund is managed using a quantitatively driven approach that rates and ranks stocks on a number of quality, valuation and yield factors. While over the long term, the model tends to deliver strong returns, but, there can be periods where it underperforms, sometimes dramatically. This has definitely been one of those times. Another factor adding to the underperformance is the fund’s currency exposure, which is fully hedged....
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