EN | FR

Insurance, Investments and Group Benefits

Navigate life with confidenceTM

Emblem Portfolios in action - Asset Allocation Update, May 21, 2021

Investments

Key takeaways:

Emblem Portfolios - Global: Increase Canadian, US, International equities; decrease cash, bonds.


Tactical Update - May 21, 2021

  • Economies in Canada, the United States, and Europe continue their gradual re-openings following their COVID-19 induced shutdowns.
Read More

Style rotation is powerful, so is a disciplined investment process

Investment Views, Investments

 

Download the PDF

 

Key points:

  • Investors continue to shift money out of growth-oriented stocks into beaten-down value sectors.
  • Just like all the other factors, however, value may exhibit periods of underperformance.
  • The powerful rotation to value may continue and investors could benefit from holding the line on their value factor investments.
  • At Empire Life, we believe a comprehensive investment solution that offers proper diversification and a reasoned asset allocation strategy is a better option than chasing the returns of hot stocks or narrowly focused asset classes.
Read More

Sustainable investing at Empire Life

Investment Views, Investments

From the Desk of Ashley Misquitta and David Mann: In this recent article, the portfolio managers discuss the evolution of sustainable investing and its growing popularity among investors. Ashley and David  also share how they incorporate ESG factors into their investment process.

Read More

Emblem Portfolios in action - Asset Allocation Update, January 25, 2021

Investments

Key takeaways:

Increased International equities, decreased US equities.


Tactical Update - January 25, 2021

European markets have materially lagged US equities over the past year due to multiple reasons including index composition and Brexit uncertainties. This has resulted in Europe trading at a near record discount to the US. Given its cyclical nature, the Japanese market has performed well but continues to provide exposure to a rebounding global economy.

Read More

RRIFs and changing beneficiaries to annuitants

Investments, Personal Finance

Bill and Rosalind are friends of Sam and Christine, whom you met in this article. They live in Halifax. Bill died of a stroke just before his 70th birthday. He had named his common law partner, Rosalind, as beneficiary of his Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF) via his will, which he had set up earlier in the year. 

Read More

RRIFs and successor annuitant benefits

Investments, Personal Finance

Sam and Christine live in Moncton, New Brunswick. Sam is celebrating his 71st birthday this year. He has held on to his Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP), optimizing the tax sheltered benefits of doing so. He named his wife Christine as beneficiary of that plan. Sam wants to convert his RRSP to a Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF). 

Read More

RRIF transfers to spouse using segregated funds

Investments, Personal Finance

Tom and Sharon have been together for about 8 years. This is a second marriage for both of them. Tom is semi-retired; Sharon is a retired schoolteacher. The couple are both wary investors; they still feel the pain of the big market correction in 2008–09. They moved their investments to segregated funds for the insurance guarantees including the ability to reset the minimum guarantees based on the growth on their investments.

Read More

Ten retirement myths series: Myth #10

Investments, Personal Finance

The next retirement myth is an example of an inter-generational issue. It also goes back to the issue of when to start making and funding plans for retirement. 


Retirement myth #10: I’m too
 young for critical illness or long term care coverage

Read More

Ten retirement myths series: Myth #9

Investments, Personal Finance

Things often go wrong or take an unexpected turn even though you carefully planned what you were going to do. Robert Burns’ famous line basically said that the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. That extends to intentions of staying on the job or finding paid work later in life. Here's retirement myth #9:

Retirement myth #9: Go back to work when there are not enough retirement savings

Read More

Ten retirement myths series: Myth #8

Investments, Personal Finance

At the risk of sounding nitpicky, governments don’t pay for anything. Working Canadians do. Taxpayers do. Taxes are directed to certain areas of need. Growing needs and rising costs means that there isn’t enough public money to go around. That reality is hitting retirees and will hit them harder as time goes on.

Retirement myth #8: The government will take care of any medical expenses

Read More