Français

From the desk of CIO Paul Holba

Is 2022 the rude wake-up call we've been waiting for?

In this latest update from the Empire Life Investments team, Paul Holba reviews the key market events impacting 2022 and beyond. Here are the highlights:

• Accelerating inflation and rapidly tightening monetary policy fueled a months-long-rout among major asset classes, sending U.S. equities into bear territory.
• Bond markets sold off sharply and bond yields increased across the curve as central banks around the world aggressively raised interest rates to combat the highest inflation since the 1980s.
• Many of Empire Life’s multi-asset solutions, such as Emblem GIFs, Monthly Income GIF, and Asset Allocation GIF, benefitted from a more defensive positioning (lower equity allocations) in light of increased economic risks.

Read more about the Empire Life Investments team’s outlook and how the funds are positioned. The team also shares how they are ready to meet today’s challenges head-on, helping to see investors through market volatility and focus on their long-term financial objectives.

Empire Life insurance claim metrics 2021

In 2021, we prospered in many areas including helping customers by being there when they needed us most by paying out $220 million in total life insurance death benefits. We also achieved a 99.4% claim rate with an average processing time of only 3.5 business days.

Incorporating inflation into financial planning

A properly structured financial plan can help provide direction, options, peace of mind, and predictability. It can help
you understand the impact of inflation over time on your ability to reach your goals and do what you want to do. Check out and share this infographic.

Immediate financing arrangement

Protect your estate without foregoing business or investment opportunities. The Immediate Financing Arrangement is a financial strategy that provides an opportunity for individuals and incorporated business owners to obtain the permanent life insurance coverage they need while still preserving cash for investment or business opportunities. 

Case in Point

In this Case in Point, Alex Papale gives readers valuable information to guide incorporated professionals, and particularly young professionals, on the positioning of life insurance policies. Through a case study, you'll review tax and practical considerations that will allow you to increase the value that you can bring to those clients.

Diverting tax dollars to charity

Discover a tax-effective method for recovering tax dollars for your beneficiaries by diverting tax dollars to a charity.

Bonds offer historically attractive yields as inflation risks remain
Empire Life fixed income funds outperformed after the worst drawdown in more than 40 years

Bond markets sold off sharply in the first half of the year as central banks around the world aggressively raised interest rates causing bond yields to increase across the curve. Although our fixed income mandates could not avoid losses in this challenging market environment, our positioning helped us preserve capital, compared with our peers, and deliver performance that was in the top quartile for the first half of 2022 and on a trailing one-year basis.

Read the latest commentary from Albert Ngo, Senior Portfolio and Ian Fung, Portfolio Manager to see how they are positioning Empire Life fixed income portfolios and believe the funds remain well positioned for the long term.

Please join us for our next TRIIPSS Webinar:

Finding investment and tax opportunities in a challenging market 

When markets go down and the value of investment portfolios drop, some clients can be stressed and question their investment plan. Even though bear markets can bring many challenges, there are steps that an astute investor can take to use such markets to their advantage.

In this presentation, we'll discuss some of the risks that an investor may face in challenging markets. We'll also see how bear markets can provide investment and tax opportunities. Finally, we will provide investment ideas and tools such as tables and charts that advisors can use in their discussions with their clients.

Date: Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Time: 2:00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. ET

This webinar is also available in French on August 24, 2022, at 10:00 am

Financial Markets at-a-glance infographic now available for Q2 

The Financial Markets at a Glance infographic provides a high-level, visual way to explain the past quarter’s market changes to your investors. It presents a brief overview of world events and their impact on global markets. Easily digestible bits of information are broken down by Canadian, US, global equities and fixed income using colourful graphics and symbols so you can give your investors a big picture overview of what happened in Q2 2022. 

Now available!

Multi-Strategy Q2 Advisor Holdings Update

Dave Paterson, Portfolio Manager, shares the holdings allocations of the Empire Life Multi-Strategy GIFs at the end of Q2 2022. See the percentage of allocations by cash, equity and  fixed income. Take a deeper dive into the passive, smart beta and active equity holdings at the end of the quarter. Stay up-to-date on Empire Life’s Multi-Strategy portfolios with the Q2 Holdings Update for Advisors.

Updated Empire Facts now available!

Empire Life fund facts are now available with updated financial information as of December 31, 2021, please visit the prices & performance page to download the latest documents. You can now create a custom fund fact booklet by simply selecting your funds and clicking Download Fund Facts.

Did you know?

Email hackers have been busy. Numerous advisors have had their email addresses hacked to create a similar but invalid email address which is then used to contact clients asking for money or gift cards. We recommend you ask your clients to contact you by phone to validate any email of this nature. Please take additional measures to protect client information by removing client personal and policy information from your email box.