Our Approach

The Common Sense Path to Long Term Wealth

Because it works.

We take what we know about you and what we know about our companies and we create portfolios that have the most potential to bring about the long-term success you seek without any uncertainty and worry. We believe strongly in our disciplined approach, as it is this discipline that gives our investors the peace of mind they're looking for.

The Cardinal Rules

Our entire strategy is driven by extensive research focused on
investing in quality companies.
We believe in a disciplined "buy-and-hold" strategy, we do not attempt to time the market, and we strive to remain fully invested at all times. Short-term market expectations, popular trends and fads do not influence our investment decisions.
Our investment team is guided by these 12 Cardinal Rules:
cardinal capital management 12 cardinal rules image

Value
Investing.

We take a value approach to investing which provides investors with the peace of mind they're looking for. Our primary objective is to earn consistent, above-average returns for our clients while assuming below-average risk and volatility.
Value
We focus on bottom-up, value investments and have a strict, disciplined and consistent stock selection criteria.
Quality
We pick quality, large cap stocks with strong balance sheets. We look to strong industry leaders with global franchises along with a consistent and proven track record of global earnings. We also incorporate ESG considerations into our investment decisions.
Growth
We look for evidence of superior quality and value and through a strong history of dividend growth. Growing dividends provide clients with inflation protected income and assist in compounding wealth.
Long Term
We focus on the long term fundamentals of companies and industries. We buy stocks for the long term and avoid market timing risks by remaining fully invested at all times.
Focus
Our team is laser focused on finding the best investment opportunities. Although focused and disciplined, our portfolio is diversified by sectors, businesses and individual holdings.

Client
Reporting

Four times a year, our clients receive a comprehensive portfolio statement, along with our client newsletter, The Cardinal Quarterly. Statements may also be accessed from the Client Portal on our website. We are pleased to provide clients with the option of receiving all of their statements in hard copy, online, or both.

Account Management & Fees

Account Size

$500,000*

Minimum client portfolio size

$250,000*

Minimum account size
*Where the minimum portfolio size is met, but no single account meets the $250,000 minimum, those client assets are invested in one of the Cardinal's Pooled Funds or another pooled product until the account reaches a size where it can be efficiently diversified as a Separately Managed Account. Both the Cardinal Canadian Equity Pool, and the Cardinal Foreign Equity Pool are guided by the same investment philosophy that influences our approach to individual portfolios.

Management Fees

Cardinal is not paid commissions on account transactions or trades, rather, we earn fees based on assets managed. This means that it is in our best interests to maximize the value of each client’s portfolio.
Our fee structure helps to maximize portfolio values in two ways:
Lower Fees
Cardinal’s base annual fee is 1.5%, for equities, and 1.0% for bonds, and works on a tiered structure.
Tax Deductibility
Management fees for investment counsel services are tax deductible in Canada for all non-registered accounts.
These two features have a significant impact on portfolio value over time.

Let us show you how.

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