#MackenzieInvestments #ScamAlert #InvestmentAdvice
Hey everyone! 👋 Have any of you had experiences with Mackenzie Investments that raised red flags? I’ve recently had some concerning encounters with them and I’m curious if others have similar stories to share. Here’s a quick rundown of my situation:
– Dealt with a broker charging excessive fees and offering high MER funds
– Mackenzie’s lack of competence in providing accurate reports and managing assets
– Delaying final deposits without explanation and poor communication
It’s mind-boggling how they can oversee billions of dollars with this kind of track record. 🤔 Have any of you encountered similar issues or have insights on how to navigate these situations? Let’s share our experiences and possibly brainstorm solutions together. Let’s make sure that our hard-earned money is in trustworthy hands! 💸🚫 #InvestmentScams #FinancialWellness #MoneyManagement
Your e a small client. Escalate to your executive in HR or Finance…
Mackenzie is no different than any other fund company, their products are fine.
Total AUM may not exist for “the company” if the employees are enrolled in a GRSP. They would be client name held, so individually held. What the rep can absolutely do for you is do the work himself and provide you that info. But Mackenzie likely can’t tell you each individual client even though they are employees due to privacy.
Mackenzie can absolutely provide a group portion only list to you though, if not you than to the rep and they can relay it to you (I’ve admin’d group plans through them before). Though after re-reading looks like you fired the rep which is likely the stem of these issues.
Moving a group plan is long and tedious, the receiving institution has to largely do individual transfers on everyone with all their rrsp+grsp account numbers separately.
I do think you’ve been mis-advised. I find it hard to think the original rep was charging a flat 2% fee ONTOP of the A series MER that he already receives a trailer on. That kind of set up isn’t even allowed at most dealers.
Any rep worth the effort would take on the group from you and do all the work so you wouldn’t have to be the one dealing directly with the fund company regarding the transfer, unless you’re moving to a bank, banks hardly do anything for you.
Wait, they were charging a 2% management fee plus 2.25% MER? That’s absurd. Like WFG pyramid scheme levels of absurd fees.
Some years ago, before TFSA’s and ETF’s, MacKenzie was a reasonable company. Their fees were on par with many others. However, the investing world has moved along and MacKenzie hasn’t necessarily. In addition, your company had a lousy rep. So no, it’s not a scam, but your company’s dealings with them have definitely not been well managed. Part of this is on your company for accepting this, maybe many years ago, and not staying on top of current practice. The rest of the problem is on MacKenzie and their dealer.
even if you were a “small company”, you shouldn’t be paying those high of MERs within the scope of a group program. i work as a consultant (I’m also a CFP) on group retirement programs and the Sun Life program for start up companies have lower fees even with my commission baked into the price of the investments (similar to Manulife). As others have said, there is nothing wrong with mackenzie investments but the fees are high compared to other similar investments (as you pointed out). if you haven’t already switched to another consultant i would always recommend taking a look at a few different options available in your province as a good consultant will be able to utilize the overall AUM, cash flow to get you lower fees on investments and provide education/communication regularly to the employees. you should be “marketing” your program every 5 years as part of good CAP guidelines and reviewing the investment fees every 3 years. education should happen at least once if not twice a year, that can be in person or virtually with individual 1 on 1 meetings as an option for those who need additional assistance (this should be at no additional cost to the company or employee as well). Hope that helps
I was with these guys for years. Never put a cent in. Coworkers had horror stories and showed me their statements. 3%+ MER and at every meeting the account manager showed up in a 3-piece with a Burberry tie and a Rolex. Couldn’t answer any questions why his funds are performing well below the market. And sped away in his $150k+ car as fast as he got there.
When the company dumped him, he sent out a bunch of bogus bs and somehow managed to keep a few of the colleagues accounts at ludicrous MERs.
Idk how they’ve not run themselves into the ground is beyond me…
Worked for a company years ago that had their RRSP matching program at Mackenzie through Edward Jones and witnessed the same situation. The Edward Jones manager was horrible – forced me to come in to set up the RRSP account and then aggressively tried to sell me on investing more and when that didn’t work, tried to scare me into buying insurance. The Mackenzie fund they had me in way underperformed relative to my own investments (VGRO, essentially). Not to mention Mackenzie later had a data breach that leaked my SIN and all I got was some free credit monitoring.
I now tell anyone who will listen to stay away from either company – they exist only to leech off people who don’t know any better.