The Western Retirement Plan offers a variety of investment options across the three primary asset classes: Cash/Money Market, Fixed Income/Bonds, and Equity/Stocks. Asset Allocation refers to the overall way you divide your investment across the different asset classes. Each asset class has different properties with respect to risk of loss, chance for growth, and how investment return is generated. For example, bonds generally provide most of their investment return through the stream of income received from interest payment. Equities generally provide most of their investment return when the underlying value of the stock increases and can be sold for more than its purchase price.

There are often a number of different investment options that can achieve a given asset allocation. Below you will find a proposed asset allocation as well as a recommended diversified portfolio considering the investment options under the Western Retirement Plans.

Based on your responses to the questionnaire, you should consider the following portfolio for your Western Registered Retirement Plan assets.

Balanced Income Portfolio
(IPQ Score 01 - 16)

This portfolio is suitable for an investor who wants to preserve accumulated assets, who may be starting to learn about investments, who generally has a short investment horizon (typically less than five years) and who is concerned with market volatility.

The Balanced Income Fund invests 70% of your assets in the Diversified Bond Fund. Bonds can provide a steady stream of interest income and generally have less volatility than equities. The Balanced Income Fund invests the remaining 30% of your assets in the Diversified Equity Fund. Investments in equities can provide significant growth over the long term, although over shorter periods of time these investments may experience some volatility.

Detailed Asset Allocation:

The Balanced Income portfolio is diversified geographically and by asset classes. Here is a breakdown of the different types of assets that the portfolio invests in.

Small cap equities refer to companies with a total value of less than $2 billion.
Mid cap equities refer to companies with a total value between $2 billion and $10 billion. Large cap equities refer to companies with a total value greater than $10 billion.

Investment Manager Information:

The various components of the Balanced Income portfolio are managed by 10 different investment managers, each with its own style. The table below lists the investment managers, the proportion of the portfolio that they manage and the investment style used.

Note that Investment Managers are selected by the Joint Pension Board. You have limited ability to change the relative weights of any manager within the portfolio. If you are interested in additional information on the Investment Managers, please visit the "Most Recent Reports from External Investment Managers" section of the HR website.

To compare this portfolio to your current allocation or to make an investment mix change, go to the Human Resources website (www.uwo.ca/humanresources) and login to your Pension Account. You will find your current investment allocations summarized under the “Balances” menu.

Click here for instructions on how to complete an investment mix change online.