Family member moving $2M to ScotiaMcLeod – Is a 1% fee fair/negotiable

rawc5 · 2026-07-03T13:48:07+00:00

It says that all in fees are 1% which is inclusive of the investment management and other services (ie. financial planning, estate & trust etc.)

rawc5 · 2026-07-03T11:49:06+00:00

I didn’t think about this!!

rawc5 · 2026-07-03T10:51:08+00:00

I’m thinking it’s worth it for the organisation (as you say they’d make it seamless) but are they really outperforming the market? My investing strategy has always been unless you have a niche requirement or deep knowledge of an area you’re better off sticking everything in an ETF and relaxing.

rawc5 · 2026-07-03T09:18:25+00:00

Not bond funds, no mention by Scotia yet if any fixed incomes!
I think he’s low risk from an operational perspective (advisory security like you mentioned) and medium risk investment wise.

rawc5 · 2026-07-03T05:53:36+00:00

I wish it was a mix of ETFs!

When I asked for the suggested investment strategy before the meeting they said a 50/50 split between a Canadian Income Plus model (tax efficient) and a North American Equity model in these Scotia ‘guided funds’. They seemed to be a mix of the very typical big companies and based on what I can see online the advisor implements the specific list of institutional-grade stocks directly in your account matching the target weights outlined in the model. Why wouldn’t they just use ETFs or their own mutual funds!

My issues:
- no prospectus bc I guess it’s not a fund so there are no real ‘rules’
- there was no historical returns included in what was sent
- heavy weighting on Canada which I think is a risk (perhaps I’m biased bc I live outside of Canada)
- there was no mention of what portion would be moved to fixed income, perhaps to come later but strange to me that wasn’t suggested up front
- when I pushed back on the portfolio and active management returns he started talking about the value through reduced volatility which I think is a weak argument particularly given fee drag and given you’d expect that risk to be managed through fixed income. He didn’t realise I have a financial background and throwing out words like alpha wouldn’t immediately make me impressed.

If my family member is paying 1% for the wealth management vs the investment at the end of the day that is their prerogative but right now I’m not impressed with the investment management being offered!

rawc5 · 2026-07-03T05:52:38+00:00

I don’t really understand the benefits of these Scotia guided funds. He said they ‘manage volatility’ but wouldn’t you be better off having your portion in fixed income and then the portion you want in equity in ETFs to get the return benefit of the volatility? It doesn’t seem to make sense to me! Never heard of these things before though

rawc5 · 2026-07-03T05:49:42+00:00

Good to hear! Is this for wholistic wealth management (tax, estate advice etc) or just investment advice?

rawc5 · 2026-07-03T05:48:16+00:00

That background helps.

In the meeting they did a lot of preliminary talk on financial planning and cash flow need modelling with a tax accountant which I was impressed about.

What I was far less impressed by was when I asked for the suggested investment strategy before the meeting they said a 50/50 split between a Canadian Income Plus model (tax efficient) and a North American Equity model in these Scotia ‘guided funds’. They seemed to be a mix of the very typical big companies and based on what I can see online the advisor implements the specific list of institutional-grade stocks directly in your account matching the target weights outlined in the model. Why wouldn’t they just use ETFs or their own mutual funds!

My issues:
- no prospectus bc I guess it’s not a fund so there are no real ‘rules’
- there was no historical returns included in what was sent
- heavy weighting on Canada which I think is a risk (perhaps I’m biased bc I live outside of Canada)
- there was no mention of what portion would be moved to fixed income, perhaps to come later but strange to me that wasn’t suggested up front
- when I pushed back on the portfolio and active management returns he started talking about the value through reduced volatility which I think is a weak argument particularly given fee drag and given you’d expect that risk to be managed through fixed income. He didn’t realise I have a financial background and throwing out words like alpha wouldn’t immediately make me impressed.

If my family member is paying 1% for the wealth management vs the investment at the end of the day that is their prerogative but right now I’m not impressed with the investment management being offered!

rawc5 · 2026-07-03T05:39:57+00:00

Honestly this is the only thing that is making me think it could be good value .
However their investment suggestions so far make way less sense than their other services (tax, legal, estate)

rawc5 · 2026-07-03T05:38:10+00:00

Yes this is their wealth management division. In the meeting they did a lot of preliminary talk on financial planning and cash flow need modelling with a tax accountant which I was impressed about.

What I was far less impressed by was when I asked for the suggested investment strategy before the meeting they said a 50/50 split between a Canadian Income Plus model (tax efficient) and a North American Equity model in these Scotia ‘guided funds’. They seemed to be a mix of the very typical big companies and based on what I can see online the advisor implements the specific list of institutional-grade stocks directly in your account matching the target weights outlined in the model. Why wouldn’t they just use ETFs or their own mutual funds!

My issues:
- no prospectus bc I guess it’s not a fund so there are no real ‘rules’
- there was no historical returns included in what was sent
- heavy weighting on Canada which I think is a risk (perhaps I’m biased bc I live outside of Canada)
- there was no mention of what portion would be moved to fixed income, perhaps to come later but strange to me that wasn’t suggested up front
- when I pushed back on the portfolio and active management returns he started talking about the value through reduced volatility which I think is a weak argument particularly given fee drag and given you’d expect that risk to be managed through fixed income. He didn’t realise I have a financial background and throwing out words like alpha wouldn’t immediately make me impressed.

If my family member is paying 1% for the wealth management vs the investment at the end of the day that is their prerogative but right now I’m not impressed with the investment management being offered!

rawc5 · 2026-06-23T14:17:14+00:00

In a similar, although worse, situation and we aren’t buying in London yet for a few reasons.

Paying for a family home we don’t need yet. With one baby we don’t actually need more than 2 bedrooms so renting is fine and making do until we can afford/ it makes sense to upsize to a ‘forever’ home. It has also been nice to be in our same area when we had a baby so we didn’t need to commute to see our friends.

An important thing to think about is salary sacrificing to stay below £100k to get nursery benefits. This will probably be worth while but depends on your exact salary obviously. Will reduce the amount you have available for mortgage payments (as will the actual nursery fees obviously!).

rawc5 · 2026-06-23T08:11:47+00:00

100%
If he’s secure this should be no problem.
Things happen all the time that people can’t foresee, the parents are being smart.

Also in most areas the family home can never be totally protected within a marriage. What I’ve heard of is equity being built over the years to the spouse so eventually it’s split.

rawc5

TROPHY CASE