Hurlabrick

We will soon be in the market for financial advice in Canada. Looking for investment advice for lump sums to generate long term income. NOT looking for anyone with UK to Canada background as I have that covered. Canada seems to be about 10 years behind the UK in terms of 'transparency' and explicit charging for advice and still relies on a blizzard of hidden charges to fund commission, but hey, it is what it is. I used to work in financial services back office in the UK, so I am familiar with a plethora of hidden charge methods from historic UK products from the 70's onwards.

I was planning on having a bit of a 'beauty parade' of a few advisers before we decide on one.

Any suggestions or recommendations or outfits to avoid? Live in London, ON.

Siouxie

I karma'd you my suggestion Great guy - totally honest, up front - as is his partner Brian. Full disclosure, I worked for them years ago..

Atlantic Xpat

Does such a thing as a truly independent (charge you a fee for the advice not rely on commission) financial advisor exist in Canada? I've not found one in this part of the world. I do have a guy I trust, whose commissions seem to be reasonable or at least on a PAR with the market and who is getting me reasonable returns, but independent he is not.

shelley748

Yes you just need to ask them what method they charge by- most advisors these days should be fee based, which means that their interests are aligned with your interest, disclosure I work for one of those companies as an associate- there are plenty of good ones out there, you should go on recommendation from friends experiences.

dbd33

and they will dance and dance and dance and not tell you.

Invariably the response is along the lines of "better to stuff it in the mattress". I can certainly find more recommendations for used car dealers than financial advisors among the people I know. Even the coffee shop owner, a CFP himself, shrugs and says, "I put it into the restaurants".

scilly

We've been with Assante for over 15 years, and been very satisfied with them. We went to them on the recommendation of someone who had been with them for about 30 years after signing up with them when he was only in his 30s and looking to maximize his savings and future income.

In BC, financial advisors have to disclose the fees they charge ............. Assante does so. No idea whether other advisors here do.

Assante has branches all over the country.

glendem4

Save your money on advice and invest following the Canadian couch potato. Open a direct brokerage account with National Bank or Questrade and you can make commission free trades. XBAL.TO is up 8% to date and yields over 2%. The etf is split 60/40 stocks to Bonds. Commission is 0.25%. Otherwise go down GIC option and look at ratehub.ca for best rates. Oaken offers around 3%.
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Kanukki

shelley748

wrong in both cases

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/crm2.asp

dbd33

"go on recommendation from friends experiences" Not wrong about that.

CanadaJimmy

Yep this is the route I go. I just use Questrade and put my money in some index ETFs. You can find many that have grown around 5%-7% each year on average over the course of the past decade.

https://www.reddit.com/r/PersonalFinanceCanada/ is a great resource as well.