Reasons to keep your adviser on speed-dial
What we're looking at
All week, we've been focusing on high-achieving funds that have delivered consistently good returns. And now for something completely different. Here, we've gathered a collection of funds with consistently disappointing results.
Our screen
Each fund on this list, ranked by assets, has accomplished something dismal - fourth-quartile returns in the 12 months, five years and 10 years to July 31. Quartiles divide funds in a category in four groupings - first quartile is the elite and fourth is the basement. Excluded from the list were funds with high upfront minimum purchase requirements, pooled funds and segregated funds. Funds on this list are ranked by assets.
What we found
Own any of these funds? If an investment adviser chose them for you, get on the phone today to ask why these consistent bottom dwellers remain in your portfolio. Better funds are out there. To find them, start with Thursday's list of all-star funds that have ranked first quartile in the past one-, five- and 10-year periods (catch up on past Number Crunchers here: http://tgam.ca/u1e)
Let's give some special recognition to the funds on this list that have managed a trifecta of misery by losing money over each of the time periods factored into this screen. Somehow, TD International Value is hanging onto close to half a billion dollars in assets despite losing 8.2 per cent annually over the past decade, 8.6 per cent annually over the past five years and 3.5 per cent over the past 12 months. The handy fund charting tool on Globeinvestor.com shows that holding this fund over the past 10 years would have burned $10,000 down to $4,381.
An encouraging observation to close. The funds that topped Thursday's all-star list have substantially more in assets than the funds on today's list of fourth-quartile funds. Your assignment for the year ahead is to see whether you have any duds like these and then blow them out of your portfolio. Better stuff is out there.
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| Fourth-Quartile Funds | ||||||
| As of July, 2010 | As of July 31 | |||||
| Name | Category | Assets ($ millions) | LatestMER | 1-yr (%) | 5-yr (%) | 10-yr (%) |
| Mackenzie Maxxum Dividend | Canadian Dividend and Income Equity | 1,305.27 | 2.38 | 4.65 | -0.49 | 4.75 |
| RBC Balanced Growth | Canadian Neutral Balanced | 918.51 | 2.26 | 3.65 | 1.19 | 2.09 |
| Mackenzie Maxxum Dividend Growth | Canadian Dividend and Income Equity | 872.46 | 2.38 | 4.68 | -0.05 | 4.49 |
| AGF Traditional Balanced | Canadian Neutral Balanced | 662.01 | 2.37 | 3.45 | 1.25 | 0.08 |
| AIC Diversified Canada | Canadian Focused Equity | 543.19 | 2.53 | 3.68 | -1.90 | 0.33 |
| National Bank Global Equity | Global Equity | 498.09 | 2.60 | 0.44 | -6.44 | -5.20 |
| TD International Value-I | International Equity | 494.15 | 2.42 | -3.46 | -8.62 | -8.18 |
| National Bank Canadian Equity | Canadian Equity | 493.83 | 2.30 | 4.89 | 1.23 | 0.60 |
| CIBC Canadian Equity | Canadian Equity | 380.52 | 2.29 | 5.67 | 0.75 | 0.49 |
| Dynamic Dollar-Cost Averaging | Canadian Short Term Fixed Income | 234.10 | 1.06 | 0.02 | 1.64 | 1.83 |
| Desjardins Global Equity Value | Global Equity | 172.45 | 2.48 | -0.50 | -8.17 | -5.21 |
| RBC International Equity | International Equity | 133.74 | 2.15 | -1.17 | -4.90 | -5.09 |
| CI International Balanced | Global Equity Balanced | 131.26 | 2.36 | 2.73 | -1.51 | -2.55 |
| Trimark Global Health Sci Class | Health Care Equity | 87.76 | 2.86 | -5.84 | -5.27 | -4.40 |
| AIC Value | U.S. Equity | 67.21 | 2.62 | 2.08 | -11.91 | -8.57 |
| Acuity Money Market | Canadian Money Market | 49.92 | 1.83 | 0.00 | 1.10 | 1.05 |
| AGF Short Term Income Class | Canadian Short Term Fixed Income | 44.41 | 0.88 | 0.00 | 1.73 | 1.71 |
| Scotia U.S. Growth | U.S. Equity | 27.59 | 2.59 | -0.30 | -8.65 | -9.01 |
| HSBC U.S. Equity-I | U.S. Equity | 27.48 | 2.36 | 3.11 | -7.11 | -8.61 |
| AGF Global Real Estate Equity Class | Real Estate Equity | 19.91 | 3.30 | 12.80 | -2.90 | 3.52 |
| AGF Japan Class | Japanese Equity | 19.59 | 3.13 | -8.65 | -8.32 | -9.05 |
| Scotia European | European Equity | 18.32 | 2.68 | -1.97 | -5.34 | -6.09 |
| Stone & Co. Flagship Stock B | Canadian Focused Equity | 17.13 | 3.42 | 1.08 | -4.70 | -1.02 |
| HSBC Emerging Markets-I | Emerging Markets Equity | 16.23 | 2.78 | 5.61 | 3.27 | 1.63 |
| Stone & Co. Flagship Stock A | Canadian Focused Equity | 10.92 | 2.90 | 1.55 | -4.23 | -0.67 |
| Renaissance Global Small Cap | Global Small/Mid Cap Equity | 9.84 | 2.92 | 3.63 | -5.44 | -6.09 |
| Renaissance US Equity Growth | North American Equity | 6.73 | 2.63 | 0.92 | -9.91 | -7.89 |
| Source: Globeinvestor.com |
