What Industry Insiders Won't Tell You About the Services You're Already Paying For

We deconstruct every layer of cost: management expense ratios, trading expense ratios, trailer commissions, front-end and deferred sales charges, platform fees, custody fees, and switch fees. Every cost is converted from a percentage into an annual dollar figure and projected forward over your investment horizon using compound math. Most clients are surprised — not by the existence of fees, but by their magnitude once expressed in actual dollars rather than abstract percentages.

Our analysis draws from Suncentral's internal database of over 2,400 Canadian mutual funds and ETFs, maintained by Marcus Beaulieu, ranked by total cost of ownership. We compare your current holdings against lower-cost alternatives with equivalent or superior risk-adjusted performance characteristics, so you see precisely what you are paying for — and what you could save without sacrificing portfolio quality.

Deliverable: Fee Disclosure Report showing exactly what you have paid historically, what you are currently paying, and what you will pay over 10, 20, and 30 years under current arrangements versus lower-cost alternatives. Includes a one-page executive summary with dollar-denominated impact figures and a detailed appendix documenting every fee source, calculation methodology, and projected savings scenario.

Timeline: 2–3 weeks from document collection to final report.

Typical finding: Average annual fee reduction of $34,200 identified per engagement (2022–2025 data). See our case study for Prairie Mechanical Ltd., where blended fees dropped from 2.31% to 0.74% — a projected savings of $267,000 over eight years.

An IPS defines your objectives, time horizon, risk tolerance quantified through drawdown tolerance and volatility bands (not vague questionnaires), target asset allocation with rebalancing triggers, acceptable and prohibited investment types, fee ceilings, performance benchmarks, and review schedules. It is the single most important document in any investment program — yet a startling number of investors with seven-figure portfolios have never seen one.

For business owners, the IPS accounts for correlation between operating income and portfolio holdings — critical in cyclical industries such as energy, construction, and agriculture. If your company's revenue drops 20% when oil prices fall, and your portfolio drops 15% at the same time because it is concentrated in Canadian energy equities, you have compounded your risk rather than hedging it. The IPS establishes rules to prevent this. We saw exactly this scenario with Hightower Oilfield Services, where business-portfolio correlation of 0.87 was reduced to 0.34 through disciplined policy implementation.

For families with multiple generations sharing investment assets, the IPS also serves as the foundational governance document — establishing who makes decisions, how disagreements are resolved, and what reporting standards apply. This service pairs naturally with our Family Investment Governance offering.

Deliverable: Custom Investment Policy Statement with supporting appendices, scenario models, and an implementation checklist. The document is written in clear language — not legal boilerplate — so every stakeholder understands the rules governing their capital.

Timeline: 3–5 weeks depending on complexity.

We evaluate existing portfolios for asset allocation drift, sector concentration, geographic bias, duplicate holdings, style overlap, currency exposure, and liquidity constraints. Many clients hold multiple funds that appear different on paper — different names, different fund companies — but contain substantially identical underlying equities. This overlap inflates perceived diversification while concentrating actual risk. Marcus Beaulieu runs a holdings overlap matrix across every account to expose exactly where these redundancies exist.

Beyond overlap, we assess factor exposure — whether your portfolio is inadvertently tilted toward specific market factors (value, growth, momentum, size) that may not align with your stated objectives or risk tolerance. Currency exposure analysis identifies how much of your portfolio is subject to CAD/USD and other currency fluctuations, and whether that exposure is intentional or accidental. Liquidity analysis ensures you can access capital when needed without forced selling at disadvantageous prices.

Deliverable: Portfolio Diagnostic Report including holdings overlap matrix, factor exposure analysis, risk decomposition, and reallocation recommendations modeled across a minimum of three scenarios. Each scenario includes projected returns, risk metrics, fee impact, and tax consequences of transitioning from the current portfolio to the recommended allocation.

Timeline: 4–6 weeks.

Related reading: Our published research on trailer commissions and fee transparency demonstrates the analytical depth we apply inside every portfolio review engagement.

We define the service model required, issue requests for proposals to qualified candidates, evaluate responses against 28 criteria — compensation structure, custodian arrangements, compliance history, investment philosophy, client-to-advisor ratio, reporting quality, minimum account thresholds, technology platform, tax integration capability, and succession planning — and present a shortlist with detailed comparison matrices.

The 28-criteria evaluation framework was developed by Nadia Okafor based on her seven years inside a Big Five bank advisory structure, where she observed firsthand which advisor attributes correlated with superior client outcomes and which were merely marketing differentiators. The framework has been refined through dozens of advisor selection engagements since Suncentral's founding in 2017.

Suncentral does not receive referral fees from any advisor or dealer. The recommendation is unconflicted. When we present a shortlist of three to five candidates, every strength and weakness is documented. We also provide a structured interview guide with specific questions designed to reveal how each advisor handles fee transparency, performance reporting, conflict disclosure, and client communication during market downturns.

Deliverable: Advisor Shortlist Report with comparison matrices, interview guides, recommended questions, and a decision framework you can use to make the final selection with confidence.

Timeline: 4–6 weeks.

For employers offering group RRSPs, DPSPs, or DC pension plans, we conduct a comprehensive assessment: fund shelf quality, fee competitiveness benchmarked against comparable plans in your industry and size category, default fund suitability, employee participation rates, contribution patterns, provider service levels, and regulatory compliance. Industry data suggests fewer than 30% of group plans with under 100 participants have been reviewed in the past three years — meaning the majority of employees in small and mid-market companies are investing through plans that may be outdated, overpriced, or both.

We also deliver employee education sessions — recorded for future onboarding — to increase participation and contribution rates. These sessions cover the fundamentals of how the plan works, how to select funds appropriate for each employee's age and risk tolerance, the power of employer matching (if applicable), and the long-term cost of non-participation illustrated through specific dollar projections. Darren Falk leads every group plan engagement, drawing on nine years of experience designing default investment options at Manulife's group retirement division.

Deliverable: Group Plan Diagnostic Report with competitive benchmarks, fund evaluations, provider recommendation, employee survey results, and a 12-month implementation roadmap including communication templates for plan changes.

Timeline: 6–8 weeks.

Typical result: Participation rates increase from an average of 38% to 71% within nine months post-implementation. See the Bow River Dental Group case study for a documented example of this outcome, including the impact on average contribution rates.

We build tax-optimized withdrawal sequences across RRSP/RRIF, TFSA, LIRA/LIF, and non-registered accounts. The analysis incorporates CPP/QPP timing decisions (early vs. delayed, pension splitting), OAS clawback thresholds, capital gains harvesting, and estate liquidity needs. The difference between an optimized and an unoptimized withdrawal sequence can exceed $100,000 in lifetime tax savings — yet most retirees receive no formal drawdown plan from their advisor.

Every plan is stress-tested using Monte Carlo simulation — 1,000 iterations per scenario — to estimate the probability of capital lasting through ages 85, 90, and 95. Priya Venkatesh builds every decumulation model, bringing five years of private enterprise taxation experience from MNP LLP to the intersection of tax planning and portfolio withdrawal strategy. The result is not a vague assurance that you are "on track" — it is a specific probability, expressed as a percentage, that your capital sustains your lifestyle through each age milestone under varying market conditions.

We also model the impact of major one-time events: selling a business, receiving an inheritance, downsizing a home, or funding a child's education. Each event is incorporated into the withdrawal sequence to show its effect on long-term sustainability. Read more about why qualitative reassurance fails retirees in our published research.

Deliverable: Decumulation Strategy Report with scenario comparisons, tax projections, Monte Carlo probability analysis, and a quarterly monitoring dashboard that tracks actual withdrawals against the modeled plan.

Timeline: 4–6 weeks.

Business owners with retained earnings invested through a holding company face the passive income rules under Section 125(5.1) of the Income Tax Act, the $50,000 GRIP/LRIP threshold, RDTOH mechanics, and the interaction between corporate and personal tax rates. The 2018 passive income changes mean that every dollar of investment income above $50,000 earned inside a holding company reduces the small business deduction available to the associated operating company — a clawback that can cost an additional $27,500 to $40,000+ in federal tax per year, often without the business owner's awareness.

We design investment strategies that balance after-tax returns against the passive income clawback to the small business deduction — an optimization most advisors do not perform because it requires integrated knowledge of corporate tax, portfolio construction, and business cash flow planning. Priya Venkatesh models the tax impact of each allocation alternative, while Nadia Okafor builds the investment strategy that maximizes after-tax wealth across both the corporation and the owner personally.

The analysis also addresses the timing of corporate-to-personal transfers (dividends vs. salary), the optimal balance between eligible and non-eligible dividends, capital dividend account utilization, and the interaction with lifetime capital gains exemption planning if a future business sale is anticipated. For a real-world example of business-portfolio correlation and corporate investment strategy, see the Hightower Oilfield Services case study.

Deliverable: Corporate Investment Strategy Report with tax impact modeling across multiple allocation scenarios, specific allocation recommendations, passive income threshold monitoring framework, and an annual review checklist to ensure the strategy adapts as business income and investment returns fluctuate.

Timeline: 4–6 weeks.

For multi-generational families, we facilitate the creation of governance frameworks: investment policy statements reflecting diverse risk tolerances across generations, decision-making protocols that define who holds authority over which decisions, reporting standards that ensure every family member receives the same quality and depth of information, conflict resolution processes for investment disagreements, and succession planning for investment oversight when the founding generation steps back.

Families managing shared assets without governance structures frequently experience suspicion, unequal information access, and decisions made by default rather than design. A 70-year-old patriarch with a conservative risk tolerance and a 35-year-old daughter with a 30-year time horizon need different allocations — but both need to understand the rationale behind the family's combined investment approach. The governance framework establishes these boundaries clearly, in writing, before disagreements arise.

Suncentral chairs the first four quarterly governance meetings to establish cadence and ensure adherence to the agreed framework. During these meetings, we present performance reports, review adherence to the IPS, address any rebalancing triggers, and facilitate discussion of any proposed changes to the investment approach. After the fourth meeting, the family assumes self-governance with Suncentral available in an advisory capacity. Our published guide on family governance meetings outlines the foundational questions every family should address.

Deliverable: Family Governance Framework including a family-level IPS, role-specific briefing documents for each family member, meeting protocols with agenda templates, conflict resolution procedures, quarterly reporting templates, and a succession plan for investment oversight responsibilities.

Timeline: 6–10 weeks for framework development, plus four quarterly meetings over the first 12 months.

Our reports decompose performance into asset allocation effect, security selection effect, currency impact, and fee drag. Every portfolio is benchmarked against a custom blended index matching your stated policy allocation — not a generic "balanced fund" comparator that obscures whether your advisor is adding or subtracting value. If your IPS targets 60% equities and 40% fixed income, your benchmark reflects that exact split using appropriate sub-indices for each asset class and geography.

Fee drag analysis is the component most clients find revelatory. We isolate the precise dollar amount consumed by fees each quarter and show the cumulative impact over time. When a client sees that $4,200 in quarterly fees compounded over a decade consumes $210,000+ of their retirement capital, the conversation about fee optimization becomes concrete rather than theoretical. Marcus Beaulieu prepares every performance attribution report, drawing from our database of 2,400+ Canadian funds ranked by total cost of ownership.

For ongoing consulting clients, this service provides the accountability framework that ensures your investment program remains on course. Each quarterly report includes a one-page executive summary suitable for sharing with family members or business partners, plus a detailed appendix with the full analytical breakdown for those who want to examine the methodology.

Deliverable: Quarterly Performance Attribution Report with one-page executive summary, detailed attribution appendix, fee drag analysis, benchmark comparison, and actionable recommendations if performance has deviated materially from expectations.

Timeline: Reports delivered within 15 business days of quarter-end. Initial setup and benchmark calibration takes 2–3 weeks.

We examine the actual underlying methodology of ESG scores — which varies dramatically between rating agencies — compare performance and fee structures of ESG-screened products versus conventional equivalents, and identify where ESG alignment creates a material cost or return difference — reported in dollar terms, not vague assurances about "doing well by doing good." An ESG-labelled fund with a 2.1% MER compared to a conventional equivalent at 0.25% MER needs to deliver substantially superior risk-adjusted returns to justify the cost difference. We model whether it does.

Our screening process evaluates ESG integration at three levels: exclusionary screening (what the fund avoids), positive screening (what the fund prioritizes), and impact measurement (whether the fund can demonstrate measurable real-world outcomes). We also assess greenwashing risk — the practice of marketing conventional portfolios under ESG branding without meaningful methodological changes — by reviewing fund holdings against stated ESG mandates at the individual security level.

For clients who want to align their portfolio with specific values — whether environmental, social, governance, or faith-based — we build a customized screening framework that identifies which products genuinely match their criteria and which merely carry the label. The result is an ESG-integrated portfolio that reflects your actual values without sacrificing analytical discipline on cost and performance.

Deliverable: ESG Alignment Assessment with cost-benefit analysis comparing ESG and conventional alternatives in dollar terms, greenwashing risk evaluation, portfolio integration recommendations, and a monitoring framework to track whether ESG funds continue to meet their stated mandates over time.

Timeline: 3–5 weeks.