Link plans, including the LINK Multi Employer Pension Plan, feature total fee transparency

There’s plenty that can be packed into that little word “fee.”

And for Canadian investors, it doesn’t tend to be anything good.

In the investment world, Canada is known for high retirement savings account fees, including those charged by traditional insurance companies, notes an executive with a Canadian benefits provider: “The Canadian model . . . is to pay a single fee for a bundle of services, which allows other fees to be hidden in those amounts.”

A 2019 study of global mutual fund markets by Morningstar Inc. gave Canada a below-average grade on the fee front—24th of 26 countries, ahead of only Italy and Taiwan—with median expenses for both allocation and equity funds in Canada about three times as large as their American counterparts.

Fees have a profound effect on the final overall value of a portfolio. It’s a proven fact.

And one clear benefit of Link Investment Management’s workplace savings plans, including our defined contribution (DC) LINK Multi Employer Pension Plan, is their lower fees and their total fee transparency.

“Whether they’re fund management fees, transaction fees, admin fees or exchange fees—and there are even more besides those—many questions have been asked in recent years about the fee structure involved with retirement and workplace savings plans,” says Brian McClennon, President and CEO of Link Investment Management, a disruptive innovator in the workplace financial wellness sector.

“Times are changing. Link’s financial wellness benefit programs fit small to midsize employers. They’re simple and straightforward,” he adds. “And they feature lower fees for businesses and their employees.”

Traditional providers still charge companies as much as 3%, depending on investment choices and plan size.

By stark contrast, Link professionally manages each of your employees’ retirement assets for a single, low, transparent fee. Other benefits of a Link workplace savings solution include:

  • Link’s own proprietary robo-advisor algorithm and cloud-based, fully digital platform.
  • Tailor-made investment portfolios that reflect an employee’s personal risk capacity, financial situation and investment objectives.
  • A passive investing model using low-cost, index-tracking Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).
  • Regular, automated rebalancing by our experienced portfolio management team, based on a member’s assigned asset allocation.
  • A reduced administration burden for the employer, with Link responsible for design, investment strategy, implementation, monitoring, disclosure, communication and service provider selection and oversight.

“Lower fees,” notes Mr. McClennon, “can mean higher returns, less worry, more security and more choices—in short, a better retirement.”