 | Maintain Objectivity Eliminate all conflicts and keep client's interests first and foremost. Portfolio Construction - Investment product agnostic (portfolio construction expressed through ETFs, common and preferred stocks, government and corporate bonds, 3rd party GICs, mutual funds, private equity funds, commodities, structured notes, etc)
- Not restricted or biased to any product manufacturer (i.e. RBC Global Asset Management)
- Under an asset-based cost approach, investment management cost is calculated as percentage of assets, investment advisor does not collect commissions on investment products bought and sold.
Research - Exclusive access to Veritas Investment Research, Canada's most recognized independent investment research firm.
- The Portfolio Advice Group (PAG) works exclusively for RBC Dominion Securities as an independent advisor that takes inputs from multiple sources then thoughtfully interprets them into investment recommendations appropriate for our clients. For example, PAG may source research from RBC's Capital Markets team but may not issue the same recommendation.
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 | Manage Risk Investment longevity is the number one success factor to achieving long-term goals. Moreover, the longer an investor stays invested in the market, the higher their chances of meeting their objectives. The flip side is abandoning the plan and jumping in and out of the market at the wrong times (market timing) because the portfolio volatility was unbearable. -
Construct diversified portfolios that include multiple asset classes that are not perfectly correlated to each other. -
Applying active management (through funds or individual securities) to lower downside risks. -
Disciplined in rebalancing accounts annually (sell high, buy low) -
Focusing on risk-adjusted returns (return given for risk taken) through beta and sigma optimization. |
 | Tax-smart Actively applying strategies to minimize tax exposure while building and maintaining investment wealth. - Assets are treated differently from a tax perspective depending on which account they are held in. Therefore, it is important to hold the right assets in the right account.
- Tax-loss harvesting is a strategy we use to offset capital gains with capital losses on an ongoing basis to reduce capital gains taxes owing in non-registered (taxable) accounts.
- Owning securities directly (i.e. stocks) vs through a fund allows investors to control the tax implications vs inheriting tax consequences through fund distributions.
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 | Cost-efficiency You cannot control how the market will behave, you can however control the fees you pay to participate. - Where active management has not historically proven to deliver relative outperformance, passive ETFs can be used in the portfolio construction to keep costs lower.
- Access to F-class mutual funds which typically come with a lower cost than investor or advisor series of the same fund.
- The ability to use institutional managers in our innovative Unified Managed Account (UMA) accounts. In practice, we buy the intellectual property of the investment manager and trade it directly for our clients--allowing us to create a customized "fund" for you. While the minimum investment of $25,000 is higher than a typical mutual fund, we can cut out 60-70% of the cost of the mutual fund. Additionally, by owning the securities directly, our clients to control their tax (cost basis starts the moment you buy that security) situation.
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 | Stress-free A key to financial success is less stress! Your investment portfolio should not keep you up at night. When approached thoughtfully and constructed intelligently, it should provide you a stress-free experience while growing and preserving your wealth. - As mentioned above under risk management, the key to long-term investment success is remaining invested in the markets. It's the power of compounding and exponential growth. When your portfolio is tailored and personalized for you, it should deliver a stress-free experience that will provide you with investment longevity and the benefits of compound growth.
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