Topic: How To Invest

Q: Pat, please provide comments on segregated mutual funds, and how they can let you avoid probate fees. Are they worth the trouble?

Article Excerpt

A: Segregated mutual funds guarantee that you’ll get back all, or part of, your initial capital after 10 years. Most “seg funds” offer either a 75% or a 100% guarantee. Seg funds also provide a death benefit. If you die before the 10-year term is over, your beneficiaries get the 75% or 100% guarantee on the initial investment, or the market value of the fund, whichever is higher. Note, because segregated funds can be paid out directly to your beneficiary, it’s not included as part of your estate. That means your estate avoids paying probate fees (more on that below). Although the benefits of segregated mutual funds appeal to some risk-averse investors, they come with increased costs in the form of higher management expense ratios, or MERs. For example, the segregated CI Canadian Investment Guaranteed Investment Fund 100% ‘A’ fund has an MER of 5.10%. The MER of the 75% ‘B’ fund is 3.85%. Both are significantly higher than the non-segregated mutual fund’s…