The investment industry offers a choice of the three primary non-salary compensation structures for clients working with qualified advisors. Depending on your circumstances and preferences, you can "mix and match" these approaches.
The three compensation methodologies are:

1. Fee-for service
   If you require a Wealth Plan or component of a plan, it is based on a fee for service basis. The actual figure will be determined after an initial consultation and data gathering discussions have taken place, which are complimentary.
   
   
2. Fees for Assets Under Management
   No-Load and Index Funds, Institutional Funds, Pooled and Segregated Wrap Programs.
   This program is available exclusively for portfolios exceeding $250,000. Fees are documented in a customized Investment Policy Statement. These are set in accordance with the amount of investable assets in the client’s portfolios on a declining scale on cumulative assets under administration.
   
3. Commissions
   If products are involved, commissions are received.

A Breakdown of Our Products
Stocks, Bonds, Income Trusts and Limited Partnerships

Mutual Funds
Understanding fees paid to your mutual fund company
We are compensated differently depending on what sales charge option is chosen. When you invest in a mutual fund, there is a built-in fee that covers a variety of costs and services. The term most commonly used to describe this fee is management expense ratio, or MER. A fund’s MER is made up of three principal components:

1. A management fee. This covers the costs of paying the mutual fund company who decides how, and in which securities, the fund will invest. In many cases, it also covers compensation to the investment dealer and the financial advisor who sell you the fund.
   
2. Operating expenses. This covers the operating expenses incurred by the funds, such as record keeping and reporting to investors, administration and legal costs and a custodian that holds the fund assets and protects investor interests.
   
3. Taxes. GST is paid on the management fee and certain operating costs within the fund and is therefore included in the MER. While MERs vary with each type of fund, you can always find out what they are in the fund's prospectus. A MER is expressed as a percentage of the fund’s total assets. For example, if you had invested $10,000 in a fund with a MER of 2%, the fund would have paid $200 in management fees and operating fees for the year. The fund returns you see in the paper or on your statements are what you get after the fund has paid the MER.

Understanding fees paid to your financial advisor
Financial advisors are typically compensated for mutual fund investing in two principle ways: commissions (known as “loads”) and service fees (or trailers).

Commissions
What is a load? A load is a one-time fee. Loads can be front-end (also known as sales charges) and back-end (also known as deferred sales charges or DSCs or redemption fees).

Front-end loads (Sales charges)
If a mutual fund has a front-end load, you pay a fee that is taken from your total purchase amount. This fee generally ranges from 0% to 5% of the amount invested.

Low load (LL) and Back-end loads (Deferred sales charges or DSC)
When you purchase a fund low load or back-end, the mutual fund company pays your advisor’s firm a fee on your behalf. The amount of this fee that you pay back to the mutual fund company depends on how long you stay invested in the fund. Since most mutual funds are managed to generate performance over the long term, you are encouraged by the back-end and low load arrangement to stay invested for a set period of time (usually between five and seven years for DSC and two years for LL). If you sell your units before the end of that period, you pay a fee that typically declines each year that you stay invested. If you stay invested for the full schedule, no fee applies when you sell your units. Most fund companies allow you to withdraw 10% free annually which means you can sell up to 10% of your units or 10% of your value depending on the company with no fee incurred for funds purchased with DSC.

Service Fees (known as “Trailers”)
What is a trailer? Depending on the fund type, at the end of each month or quarter, your financial advisor also receives compensation from service fees, often called “trailers,” paid to his or her firm by the mutual fund company. The amount of this “trailing commission” varies and details can be found in the fund’s prospectus.

Why are trailers paid? The trailing commission compensates your advisor for providing you with ongoing advice about the mutual fund investment. Trailers generally range from 0.25% to 1% of your mutual fund portfolio and are paid as long as you remain invested in the fund. Trailers are not an additional fee; they are paid out of the overall management fee built into the cost of the fund.

Insurance Products
Commissions are paid to us from the insurance company depending on the face value and the premium of the policy.

Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs) and Term Deposits
Commissions are paid to us from Manulife Securities Incorporated depending on the amount and term of the deposit.

So now you know how we get paid and what it is based on. It is hard to get more specific without knowing your situation, but we promise no surprises and clear, ongoing explanations.