Your CIBC advisor is likely not telling you how poorly something like CIB842 (which is the one that matches your description) has performed. Morningstar gives it only 2 stars and the performance chart leaves a lot to be desired. An MER of 2.22% is atrocious for a balanced fund. Nor is there any particular reason to be in a 'balanced' product if you have a DB pension covering all your needs..... except if you are very risk adverse and would have trouble with the volatility of a 'fund' with higher equity component. It seems to me this particular advisor is NOT acting in your best interest.

If your primary concern is estate management, simply consider consolidating your investments in your CIBC IE account into one of the all-in-one asset allocation ETFs. There is nothing wrong with a 'one ETF' portfolio and it takes zero oversight and management to manage that 'one ETF' portfolio. Further, if it comes to needing to hand it over one day to a third party, it can be easily done within the CIBC family, including full service Wood Gundy with a far lower '% of AUM' fee of perhaps 1%....far better than an MER of 2.22%.

 

Be mindful of capital gains taxes of course. While consolidating is a good idea, you also shouldn't incur unnecessarily large capital gains taxes if that is required.

This can be a bit tricky to plan for. You'd have to look at your current unrealized gains, what the capital gains would be, AND how much extra tax payable you would incur (which depends a lot on your personal tax situation).

Also above all else, be careful with these MERs as AltaRed says.

I think mutual funds can be fine, but again MERs really matter and the bank salespeople will always try to get you into higher fee alternatives. Do not jump to accept their recommendations, search the mutual fund offerings yourself and you will likely find lower MER alternatives.

 

Be aware a lot of bank reps are not licensed for trading ETF's, just selling (often bank controlled) mutual funds.
That alone my explain the recommendation bias you are seeing.

 

Be aware a lot of bank reps are not licensed for trading ETF's, just selling (often bank controlled) mutual funds.
That alone my explain the recommendation bias you are seeing.

It is why I have suggested the OP stay with Investor's Edge but consolidate multiple holdings into one Asset Allocation ETF...which can be done over a period of years to mitigate capital gains tax bills. Many of us boomers are going through simplification and consolidation for estate planning purposes.

There is no reason why one cannot stay DIY for a longer period of time once one is down to a single holding (or two) in a discount brokerage situation. Then anyone can move it to the same bank's full service entity for portfolio oversight and management. As an example, my ex has just a few holdings in her non-reg, one holding in her RRIF and one holding in her TFSA. My current spouse's accounts are in a similar state. My own TFSA has only one holding as does my RRIF. It would be very easy for a POA to take over such accounts and/or move them to full service brokerages.

 

They are likely just putting you into the income fund because of your age. This is a red flag and at odds with your statement that the funds are not needed to withdraw to support your lifestyle as you have a pension.

 

My wife and I don't have a 'ton' of money and most of our investments are in CIBC Investor's Edge.
I talked to a CIBC advisor about consolidation of our miscellaneous investments with a view towards estate management. (I have a good pension which covers all our expenses)
CIBC wants me to sell my investments and put the money into their Monthly Income Balanced Portfolio and /or
their Income Plus Portfolio. I'm not sure if either of these really meet our investment needs at this point in our lives.
In any case, whatever I do with the stock sales, etc. should be spread over two tax years I guess.
I welcome your input. Obviously I am no financial expert!

You are already 90% there with your savings in Investers Edge. Keep it there and when the time comes that you need a certain amount of funds to supplement your pension income in the future sell ETFs every month to give you the "monthly income".

 

My wife and I don't have a 'ton' of money and most of our investments are in CIBC Investor's Edge.
I talked to a CIBC advisor about consolidation of our miscellaneous investments with a view towards estate management. (I have a good pension which covers all our expenses)
CIBC wants me to sell my investments and put the money into their Monthly Income Balanced Portfolio and /or
their Income Plus Portfolio. I'm not sure if either of these really meet our investment needs at this point in our lives.
In any case, whatever I do with the stock sales, etc. should be spread over two tax years I guess.
I welcome your input. Obviously I am no financial expert!

We have our retirement money (RRSP's) in all-in-one portfolios but they are ETF's, specifically TBAL for my husband, who is in his 70's year, and TGRO for myself (65). We have them in self-directed investment accounts. They've done well this last 12 months (TBAL did 14.83% and TGRO 20.11%). Of course, there are no guarantees, there never are. But the fees are very low (as all ETF's are). Before I moved them we had them in Index Mutual Funds, four different funds to cover the four disciplines (US, CDN, International and Bonds). I don't know why I stuck with them for so long, but there you go. No crystal balls. I finally made the move and I don't miss the rebalancing every year. Now I just leave them alone and every so often sign on to place the cash from the dividends back into the ETF's. I hope this helps. Good luck.