wealth
management
Ongoing comprehensive wealth management service combining both discretionary portfolio management and personal financial planning.
portfolio
management
The construction and ongoing management of your portfolio needs to be effectively integrated with your personal financial plan, which often changes throughout life. A detailed analysis of your portfolio can reveal a great deal about whether it is suitable for your current situation and objectives, and whether it is being managed according to your long-term plan. What you do not see on the surface is important.
Who is actually looking after the investments in your portfolio? Is it the advisor and firm that you pay investment management fees to or do they outsource this work to another company?
Do you know and understand the fees and transaction costs that you pay every year?
Is your portfolio comprised mostly of your firm's own investment funds that were also sold to you by them?
Do you understand your current investment holdings and why they were purchased?
Are you invested in products such as mutual funds that have high fees and management expenses, or in illiquid and complex investments that are non-transparent, difficult to price and subject to lock-in provisions where you cannot access your money?
Do you have a written investment plan outlining your target asset allocation, objectives and constraints?
Our role is to ensure answers to the above types of questions are clearly explained to you, and throughout the process we hope that you can learn about investing too.
Simple is often better, especially if it is robust. The market environments change constantly and at times movements in the short-term can be fast and severe. During periods of extreme price volatility there are times to stay the course, and others when action is required to take advantage of larger opportunities that arise from irrational investor behaviour. The dynamic nature of factors such as market structures, financial liquidity, politics and regulatory changes require that portfolios be carefully monitored and managed according to a sound long-term plan.
Our Approach
CastleBay uses a systematic asset allocation-based investment strategy to build and manage personalized portfolios primarily composed of index exchange traded funds (ETF). The ETFs that we use provide a low-cost way to gain diversification and customize portfolios to achieve specific objectives.
Minimize risk for a given level of return
Maximize return for a given level of risk
Maximize cash flows for a given level of risk
We take great care in the ongoing management of your portfolio. When cash is deposited into your portfolio or it is received from your existing investments, we will create a plan to invest the cash based on a strategy that takes into account market conditions and your Investment Policy Statement. We can also design a suitable transition strategy for you to convert your existing stock and/or mutual fund portfolio to one comprised of ETFs. Alternatively, we can combine some, or all, of your existing investments with ETFs to optimize your portfolio for your specific objectives.
Our Process
Combined with our in-depth meetings with you, we perform a comprehensive financial planning process to determine, among other things, your return objectives, risk profile, income needs, investment constraints and an optimal asset allocation. We select ETFs that will achieve these objectives most efficiently, and then monitor and manage your portfolio carefully according to your personalized Investment Policy Statement. We use a systematic strategy to accurately rebalance your portfolio as asset allocations reach the upper or lower limits of the target allocations, ensuring proper risk management at all times. We meet with you and also review your situation regularly, so that any important changes to your situation or objectives are incorporated into your portfolio.
In determining a specific set of return objectives, risk objectives and constraints for your portfolio we analyze all aspects of your life and finances. During this process we address all of the key questions and concerns that you may be thinking about, such as assessing when you can reasonably retire with the assets, pensions and investments you own. There are many other questions that we help to answer.
What makes more sense for my situation - contributing to my RRSP/TFSA, paying down the mortgage, or both?
How does Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security factor into the whole retirement situation?
My wife and I are approaching age 71 - how do we treat our RIFs and LIFs?
I want to sell my business or transfer it to my children, how can I implement this effectively?
What if I want to buy out my business partner, what is the best way to finance this given my situation?
A large portion of my pay is in the form of stock-based compensation, how do I manage the specific risks and deal with the tax issues?
Other questions are often related to immediate events or long-term plans that need to be addressed strategically.
I have just sold my house or inherited some money and need objective guidance as to what should be done - pay down debt or invest?
I am going through a major life changing transition - severance, marriage, death of a loved one, divorce or downsizing - what do I need to do?
Do we have enough wealth to help our children purchase a home and if so what is the best way to do this if we want to minimize any future tax and legal complications for everyone involved?
Outlined below are the components of our financial planning process that will help us to answer all of your questions and enable us to build and manage your portfolio effectively.
Retirement Projections
We take an in-depth look at your financial life to provide you with a clear view of future retirement possibilities.
Income, expenses, assets, liabilities & cash flow analysis
Savings, hard assets, non-registered & registered accounts
Canada Pension Plan & Old Age Security
Employer & individual pension plans
Corporate profit sharing plans & partnerships
Multi-scenario multi-variable retirement projections
Tax Planning
We help you to structure your finances and taxes efficiently so that you do not pay more taxes than you have to.
Personal, family & business taxes
Executive & stock-based compensation
Charitable giving
Tax-effective investment planning
Insurance Review
We give you an unbiased opinion on whether you need insurance coverage in the first place, if the amount and type of coverage is appropriate, and how you might be able to use insurance as a tool to achieve some of your goals.
Insurance needs analysis
Review policies & options
Tax-effective insurance planning
Estate Planning
We integrate all aspects of your life and finances so that you can build your legacy and avoid potentially costly mistakes. We review your wills and other estate planning documents to ensure they are appropriate and we also provide ideas for improvement.
Assets, liabilities & beneficiaries review
Current estate planning documents review
Estate needs analysis
Optimal estate plan recommendations
Tax-effective estate planning
Financial
Planning
Our Fees
Portfolio Market Value
On the first $1,000,000*
On the next $1,000,000
On the next $3,000,000
On the next $5,000,000
On the balance
CastleBay Annual Fee**
1.20%
1.00%
0.75%
0.50%
0.25%
* Our minimum annual fee is $5,000 - please contact us to discuss your specific situation as we can make exceptions depending on your particular circumstances.
** Family accounts are aggregated when calculating fees in order to provide clients with the lowest fees possible.
Custodial Services & Fees
For the safety and protection of our clients, we help open client investment accounts (non-RRSP, RRSP, TFSA, etc...) at one of three available custodians that CastleBay Wealth uses to hold/custody or clients’ investment assets and cash. We discuss and assist in selecting the most suitable custodian at the outset for our clients based on their specific and unique situation, considering the types of accounts required, applicable fees and commissions, ease of use and other factors.
National Bank Independent Network (NBIN) is one of Canada’s leading providers of custodial, trading, clearing, settlement and record keeping services to independent registered portfolio managers and introducing brokers through innovative product development, expert client care and leading technology. National Bank Independent Network is a division of National Bank Financial Inc. and is also a registered trademark of National Bank of Canada and a wholly owned subsidiary of National Bank of Canada, which is a public company listed on Canadian stock exchanges. National Bank Financial Inc. is a Member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund and the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC).
For these services NBIN charges an annual custodial fee which starts at 0.15% per year and reduces according to account size. This fee is tax deductible for non-registered accounts and is deducted monthly, directly from client accounts. For each trade NBIN charges a minimum trading commission of $15 per trade. No commissions are paid to CastleBay Wealth Management.
Interactive Brokers (IB) is the second custodian CastleBay Wealth uses. IB charges a very reasonable trading commission and no custodial fees. They are a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund and IIROC. No commissions are paid to CastleBay Wealth.
RBC Direct Investing (RBC DI) is a discount brokerage firm that CastleBay Wealth also uses to hold client accounts over which CastleBay is appointed trading authority. RBC DI is also a member of the CIPF and IIROC. No commissions are paid to CastleBay Wealth.