INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT
Cardinal Point provides personally tailored investment management services for clients with U.S. and Canadian investment accounts. Investment strategies are customized to our clients’ risk tolerance and goals and then we work to fully integrate them into their tax, financial and estate planning initiatives.
Professionally Managed
The firm’s Investment Philosophy is molded by the Cardinal Point Investment Committee, a group of five investment professionals with over 100 years of combined investment management experience. Committee members hold numerous industry credentials, including CFA, CFP, CIM, CIWM, and FCSI designations. The Committee meets formally on a quarterly basis to review all aspects of the investment management process.
Investment Philosophy
Our Investment philosophy guides an investment management process comprised of three key components: Discovery of your risk tolerance & capacity, formation of a customized asset allocation, and implementation of that allocation across multiple currencies and jurisdictions.
A Transparent Investment Strategy
Cardinal Point adheres to a transparent and conflict-free investment philosophy in which our clients’ interests are always put first. As a fee-only firm, we do not invest our clients’ assets in investment products that directly compensate our firm through hidden commissions, trailer fees or 12b-1 fees, and we do not offer proprietary products for investment. We feel these products can create a conflict of interest between the advisor and client. Instead, our investment committee puts an emphasis on investment process and researching best-in-class investment solutions for our clients. To help further protect our clients’ assets, all investment accounts are held and safeguarded through third-party custodians.
Managing Money Across Borders
Cardinal Point through its portfolio management company, Cardinal Point Capital Management, has the ability to manage integrated investment portfolios that include accounts in Canada and the U.S. Many of our clients have lived and worked in Canada and the U.S. and have accumulated assets and investment accounts in both countries. It can be very difficult to locate an advisor that can oversee these investment accounts in the two countries, and many have had to work with an advisor on each side of the border. At Cardinal Point, we create and oversee integrated cross-border investment portfolios that include all types of accounts in both Canada and the U.S.
OUR RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Estate Planning when moving from the U.S. to Quebec
If you’re a Canadian living in the U.S. or elsewhere in Canada and planning a return to your home province of Quebec, there are a number of factors you’ll need to consider including the ramifications of such a move on your current estate plan. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at differences between Common Law and Civil Law and how they relate to estate planning.
Gifting Strategy for U.S. Citizens with a Non-U.S. Citizen Spouse Planning a Relocation to Canada
There are notable instances where having a non-U.S. citizen spouse results in complications when it comes to tax and estate planning. For example, there is no estate tax marital deduction when the donee spouse is not a U.S. citizen unless a QDOT, a form of qualified domestic trust, is used. This QDOT structure is not an ideal planning structure in many situations.
What’s in Your Index?
It is estimated that over $11 trillion USD is indexed or benchmarked to the S&P 500 index, or what many investors consider ‘the market.’ However, while that index does capture a good chunk of the public stock market capitalization in the U.S., it omits the rest of the globe. The criteria by which companies are included—which involve a secret selection committee and very general guidelines—are also somewhat murky.