What is CGAP?

CGAP (Canadian Great Advisors Portfolios) provides investors with the same tools available to wealthy and institutional investors. These tools utilize risk-appropriate, returns-optimized, globally diversified index portfolios using various index asset classes. CGAP portfolios avoid the futile, speculative, and unnecessary high cost activities of stock trading, market timing, star manager and/or hot fund chasing. Instead, the CGAP investment strategy employs a disciplined, quantitative approach, emphasizing broad diversification and consistent exposure to the structural trends of publicly traded markets around the world, with an overweighting of value and small cap vs. the regular indices.

CGAP portfolio theory is based on the highly respected research indices designed by Eugene Fama and Kenneth French and documented in their empirical and peer-reviewed publications. Our likelihood calculator is based on the highly respected research designed Jim Otar and documented in his publications. There are no assumptions of average growth or inflation. It gives you a range of portfolio asset projections that enables you to plan realistically for your retirement. When you enter your personal financial data, the model calculates asset values and cash flow streams as if you retired in each of the years since 1927. The actual historic market data is applied to your specific financial situation.

CGAP offers tremendous value to investors by helping people match their investment needs and objectives with one of the 20 CGAP portfolios.

You will find that this site is about education and what is and is not important about investment success. This is a totally different site than you have ever visited before.

How many investment sites would state:

Investing should be like watching paint dry or watching the grass grow. If you really want some excitement, you should take $800 and then go to Las Vegas. Paul Samuelson, Economist

"...Most stock pickers and market timers should go out of business - and take up a new profession like plumbing or teaching." Paul Samelsson, Economist

Paul Anthony Samuelson was an American economist, and the first American to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. The Swedish Royal Academies stated, when awarding the prize, that he "has done more than any other contemporary economist to raise the level of scientific nalysis in economic theory." The New York Times considered him to be the "foremost academic economist of the 20th century."

And finally...

"Watching the market is like watching a drunk on at tightrope. You never know what is going to happen next." A. Cashin, CNBC TV, Commentary, 11-21-03.

GreatAdvisors.ca also concurs with Mr. William Bernstein, Author when in 2001 he stated:

A decade ago, I really believed that the average investor do it himself. The flesh was willing, the tools were available and the math was not that hard. I was wrong. I've come to the conclusion that only a tiny percentage, at most 1% are capable of pulling it off. If the nation's largest pension plans can't get it right, what chance does John Q Public have?

The Questions:

• Should you do it yourself?
• What is the role of the financial advisor?
• How to beat 90% of all money managers.
• Who is De Thomas Financial Corp.?
• Who is MRS Trust?
• How to lower taxes and fees.
• What is the optimum re-balancing strategy?

Advisory Business

The wind that blew down all the big banks may have also leveled the advisory playing field. That lone, independent advisor now stands as tall as any advisor at any big financial conglomerate. Amid all the daily doom in the papers, on radio and on TV, the trusted independent financial advisor may be the only voice of hope the client may hear. That is really an awesome responsibility for a great advisor to bear.

Main Culprit

A great advisor never says that he can produce the highest return - a concept not only neurotic but chimerical, in that somebody, somewhere is always going to get a higher return.

A good advisor will turn his attention to the things that he can control:

• controlling investor emotions
• lowering taxes, reducing trading activity
• having the proper asset allocation
• proper rebalancing techniques

Finally, more important than all the above wealth creators combined, the advisor will help control client's psychological investment behaviour which is the real culprit to poor investor returns.

CGAP is an educational and portfolio design entity. The portfolio designs are historical, back tested designs, available only to investors from licensed and certified dealers. CGAP does not sell any investment products or receive commissions on investment products. The information has been drawn from sources believed to be reliable. Where such statements are based in whole or in part on information provided by third parties, they are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. This information does not provide individual financial, legal, tax or investment advice and is for information purposes only. Graphs and charts are used for illustrative purposes only and do not reflect future values and future performance of any portfolio. Portfolio values change frequently as past performance does not guarantee future results. Mutual funds are not guaranteed and are not covered by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation or by any other government deposit insurer. Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with mutual fund investments.

Please consult a registered advisor and read all simplified prospectuses before investing.