Investment Strategy - January 2025

After a fantastic year, market still well supported…but keep a close eye on tariffs and the unemployment rate...

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Global Markets Commentary 2024 in Review: The Year of the Electorate

For investors, 2024 was a stellar year despite fears that politics and geopolitics would wreak havoc on the markets. What better proof that politics don’t belong in your portfolio....

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Alternative Minimum Tax

First introduced in 1986, the Alternative Minimum  Tax (“AMT”) is a parallel tax calculation for  individuals (and many trusts) which calculates  an alternate taxable income that allows fewer  deductions, exemptions, and tax credits than under  the o...

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2025 Canada economic outlook: On the mend

Canada’s economic environment remains as complex as it has been for the past couple of years. However, we're now dealing with a different inflation and interest rate environment....

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2025 Canadian Market Outlook

In his 2025 Market Outlook, BMO Capital Markets’ Chief Investment Strategist Brian Belski expects Canadian equities to build on a surprisingly strong 2024—possibly outperforming U.S stocks....

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Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption demystified: Strategies for maximizing your gains

It’s no secret that most business owners could spend more time thinking about succession and tax planning, but there’s a $1.25-million reason to think about it – and that figure will continue to rise....

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President-Elect Donald Trump’s Tariff Threat is Too Big to Dismiss

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all imports from Canada and Mexico on his first day in office – unless both countries deal with border security issues....

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2024 year-end tax planning tips

Since many tax strategies require foresight to be effective, tax planning should be a year-round activity. However, as year-end approaches there are still opportunities to consider to reduce your 2024 tax bill....

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2025 Capital Markets Outlook: Bunches and Punches

In last December’s 2024 Market Outlook Plenty of Progress, Solid Foundations Laid, we discussed a continuing return to normal, an environment where investors are rewarded across the risk spectrum....

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5 estate planning challenges for blended families (and how to solve them)

When someone mentions the term “blended families,” an image of The Brady Bunch may flash through the average person’s head. However, the reality is never that straightforward, and neither is building an estate plan for a blended family....

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Retirement Planning Calculator Tool

This Retirement calculator will allow you to input assumptions to generate a retirement illustration and a tool for estimating income in retirement.  This self-input calculator tool will provide a good high level summary while we would develop a more comprehensive tax optimized plan for our clients using our access to a more detailed and sophisticated planning software when we meet.  Enjoy!

https://www.bmo.com/financial-calculators/retirement-savings/

 

Portfolio

To Preserve & Protect Your Legacy

Managing the Health of Your Wealth by Building Smarter Portfolios

 

We believe the greatest opportunity for clients to achieve their investment objectives and to realize optimal risk-adjusted returns is by using a well-constructed portfolio combining active, passive and alternative strategies allocated to meet their unique needs. Given all of these factors, we believe portfolio construction efforts should focus on seeking a balance between growth potential and downside protection. This means being sensitive to stock valuations, ensuring wide-ranging diversification and focusing on income.
 



In its broadest sense, diversification means exposure to a variety of asset classes that have historically had lower correlations to each other.  For many investors, this could mean adding real estate, international exposure and alternative strategies (such as long-short, absolute return, and market neutral mandates) to their portfolios.

Our Portfolio construct provides adequate and prudent diversification to global equity markets and fixed income, while incorporating an allocation to Absolute Return managers. 

Please contact us to learn more about our portfolio construct and historical performance.
 

Why Select a CFA

Why Choose a CFA?

The Case for Passive VS Active US Equity

Historically, the US equity market as represented by the S&P 500 Index, has been extremely difficult to beat!  In the past 15 years, less than 3% of Active Managers have been able to Outperform the Index. 

The S&P 500 is highly efficient, liquid, and does not suffer from high single security concentration risk (ie. like the TSX Index has in Canada in the past with Nortel, RIM, Valeant, and Shopify today). 

Please click here to see the latest SPIVA research on how difficult it is to outperform the S&P 500 US equity index.  This is why our core strategy for US equity market exposure is a Passive US Equity allocation incorporating low cost Index ETFs.

Benefits of Alternatives

With markets at all-time highs, volatility at multi-year lows, high equity market valuations and general political and economic uncertainty, investors have a desire to protect capital and earn a competitive return. Absolute Return Strategies are often utilized by High Net Worth families to Enhance Returns & Add Downside Protection to complement Traditional Portfolio Asset Exposures.

Click here to discover the Power & Benefits of Adding Alternatives to your Portfolio!