Change is Coming – Always Improving

by on February 7, 2024 with No Comments

At MFG, our Mission Statement is to be “Always improving”. Over the past 15 months, we have been refining the process of how we can better deliver our investment platform to our clients. Utilizing partnerships and data collected over the years, we’ve come up with a solution that we believe will improve our investment platform and improve our clients overall experience with MFG.

What is Changing?

We are transitioning to an investment model platform. Working with your Portfolio Manager, it will be determined which model is appropriate for you. Once this has been determined, you will own one or more of the new MFG Investment Models – Aggressive, Growth, and/or Balanced. These new Model Funds are built using the best investment managers and strategies that our team has researched. The platform utilizes the same investment philosophies of delivering an institutional quality portfolio to our clients.

The Benefits to our Clients

1. Increased Performance

    – Via enhanced portfolio construction and efficient management capabilities

2. Time spent with your Portfolio Manager

   – Spend more time focusing on other value add areas of your financial lives – IE: financial planning, insurance analysis, tax work, etc.

3. Communication will be improved through detailed Quarterly Reports

   – These reports will include facts about the Model Fund, general market commentary and additional information that our PM Division finds relevant to our clients

 

When to Expect the Change – April 1st, 2024

We are very excited to be able to deliver this new and improved platform to our clients. There has been a lot of work put in by our team to get us to this point. As we approach April 1st, you can expect to receive multiple communication pieces from our team diving into deeper details on the upcoming changes. If you have any questions on the upcoming change and what it might look like for you personally, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your MFG Portfolio Manager.

We want to thank you for your continued trust and support of MFG. Without you, none of this would be possible.

Stay tuned.

 

PDF Version

Alignvest Student Housing – Canada’s Cap on International Students

by on January 25, 2024 with No Comments

On Monday, Canada announced that it is capping the number of international students for two years, with the cap for 2024 at 360,000 students, a decrease of 35% from 2023.

In addition, post-graduate work permits will no longer be available for students in schools under a private-public partnership model and work permits will only be offered to spouses of students enrolled in masters, doctoral and professional programs.

The full news release is available at “Canada to stabilize growth and decrease number of new international student permits issued to approximately 360,000 for 2024 – Canada.ca”.

In the media, the Immigration Minister, Marc Miller, has said, “the main reason for the cap is to protect students who attend colleges, which are often private-public partnerships, that provide inadequate services at high costs, but also to ease pressure on housing and services. Some private institutions have taken advantage of international students by operating under-resourced campuses, lacking supports for students and charging high tuition fees, all the while significantly increasing their intake of international students.” [Source: Canada to cap international student permits amid housing crunch | Reuters]

OUR ANALYSIS

The cap represents a limit on the number of study permits that will be issued to students who want to come to Canada in the future, not the total number of international students in Canada. There are already an estimated 900,000 international students in Canada that can continue their studies.

While the cap represents a material cut in comparison to 2023, it is still substantially higher than the 256,000 study permits issued in 2020. Over the past three years, the number of permits issued annually has ballooned – this has been fuelled by both growth at universities and also due to rapid growth of colleges operating under private-public partnerships. It is really the latter scenario that Canada is seeking to control.

In fact, the University of Toronto welcomed the announcement and said it would work with all levels of government on the allocation of study permits. The changes are “focused on addressing abuses in the system by particular actors and are not intended to adversely impact universities such as ours,” the university said in a statement. [Source: Canada to cap international student permits amid housing crunch | Reuters]

HOW WILL THIS IMPACT US?

  • Our portfolio consists of 12 properties in six tier-one university markets across Canada. In particular, our properties are located in Halifax (Dalhousie), Ottawa (uOttawa), Oshawa (Ontario Tech), Hamilton (McMaster), Waterloo (Laurier and Waterloo) and Edmonton (University of Alberta). We do not target students attending colleges and have no exposure to colleges operating under private-public partnerships.
  • Based on our tenant survey results, our current tenant base consists of 73.5% domestic students and 26.5% international students. Since we do not target first-year students (who typically live in on-campus residences), our average exposure is less than 9% per year, assuming an equal split between second, third and fourth-year students.
  • The cap represents a 35% cut, which we expect will impact colleges more than universities. However, assuming that universities are equally impacted, we could potentially see our annual intake reduce from ~9% to ~6%. At most of our properties, we have healthy waiting lists of students seeking live in our buildings. We are very confident that we will be able manage the challenge of filling up to 3% of our beds that were previously occupied by international students.
  • As of January 18, 2024, we are 57% pre-leased for the September 2024/25 school year, which is in line with this time last year. We still have over seven months before the start of the school year. We are actively increasing our marketing efforts towards targeting domestic students. In particular, we are actively engaged in promoting a “student life” experience and working with universities to sponsor and support athletics and campus life.

 

In summary, we remain confident that the high quality of our portfolio will continue to attract university students. The changes announced by the Canadian government will have an immaterial impact on our portfolio and we will continue to build and deliver Canada’s leading student housing platform.

Insurance Division Giveaway

by on April 1, 2021 with No Comments

 

Our insurance division is running a contest for the month of April. CONTEST CLOSED: Winner has been announced April 29, 2021 on our social media. Thank you to all who participated in our contest.

 

Grand Prize:

Two night Staycation at your local Alt/Germain Hotel with a dinner or breakfast on us!*
Four Weekly Prizes: to be showcased on our social media pages

 

How to Enter:

Run a personal insurance quote on our website: Insurance | Meckelborg Financial Group (mfgltd.com)  under the “get a quote” section to be eligible. Be sure to include your full name and email address, limit one entry per person per week*. You will be entered to win that weeks prize as well as the Grand Prize Staycation. Contest is starting April 5th 2021, with the winner being drawn on April 29th, 2021.

 

For Additional Entries:

• Like & follow both of MFG’s Instagram and Facebook pages
• Share and tag us in this post on both Instagram and Facebook
• Tag 3 friends

 

Official Site | Alt Hotel Saskatoon (germainhotels.com)

*up to a maximum of $500.00 for a two night stay, $50.00 for dinner/breakfast

*eligibility will be based off legitimacy of insurance quotes

COVID-19 Update from MFG

by on March 17, 2020 with No Comments

 

March 17, 2020

 

Dear clients and friends of MFG,

We are carefully monitoring the current novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. We must take appropriate actions to limit the impact of the virus on our community, particularly by focusing on the safety of our clients, employees and their families.

We have instituted our business continuity plan with a view to proactively anticipate and respond to any potential for business interruption, including restricted business travel, work from home protocols where appropriate, and encouraging the use of video and teleconference for interactions. We are also implementing social distancing measures that will also help reduce the spread of infectious diseases, such as reducing face to face meetings and ensuring our employees can work from home as required so we have a healthy workforce able to maintain our high standard of service. The same applies to our operational specialists who maintain the integrity of our systems and processes. Equally important, we maintain strong safeguards on information and identity.

We want to ensure that there are no interruptions or delays in contacting any of our MFG team members. Please find below our mobile #’s:

 

 Mark Meckelborg (306) 270-2221
 Mark Teal (306) 251-2429
 Benoit Gaudet (306) 229-1883
 Mindy Meckelborg (306) 380-4780
 Richie Stanviloff (306) 341-2814
 Zach Sim (306) 361-5228

 

Trade instructions will not be accepted via email or text, therefore please ensure you contact us by phone to verbally confirm your order.

Should there be further developments with COVID-19 that prevent access to our physical premises or disruptions with mail delivery by Canada Post, courier or messenger services, this may impact our ability to receive physical cheques. As a reminder, you can set up an “electronic bill payments” with your applicable banking institution should you wish to make an online deposit.

While the COVID-19 situation is ongoing, we are increasingly aware of its impact on both the global and local markets in which our clients operate. Our efforts will ensure that we are able to provide the highest level of client service while positioning ourselves to take advantage of the market opportunities that lie ahead.

 

We wish you all health and safety throughout the coming weeks.

The MFG Team

 

 

MFG – covid letter – March 17, 2020

5 Reasons for an RRSP

by on January 30, 2020 with No Comments

There are some great reasons to open a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) to save for your retirement. Here are the top 5 reasons to open an RRSP:

 

Contributions are tax deductible

You can claim your RRSP contribution as a deduction on your tax return and even carry forward unused space to a future year where you may have a higher income. All of this combined means that your retirement savings pot can grow even faster.

 

Savings grow tax free

You won’t pay any tax on investment earnings as long as they stay in your RRSP. This tax-free compounding allows your savings to grow faster.

 

Convert RRSP to receive regular payments

You are able to convert the money saved in your RRSP into a RRIF or annuity when your time comes to retire. You’ll pay tax on the regular payments you receive each year- but if you’re in a lower tax bracket in retirement, you’ll pay less tax.

 

Spousal RRSP can reduce your combined tax

Reduce your combined tax burden. If you are married and you earn more money that your spouse, a spousal RRSP may benefit you as you can add to their tax-free savings to build a joint retirement income which is likely to mean that you pay less tax in the long run.

 

Borrow from RRSP to buy your first home or pay for your education

You can borrow money from your RRSP under certain conditions

 

If you want to buy your first home (Home Buyer’s Plan) or pay for your education (Lifelong Learning Plan), you can take out up to $35,000 (HBP) or $20,000 (LLP) respectively from your RRSP to fund it without paying tax on the withdrawals (providing that the money is paid back within the specified time).

Join our Team: Financial Planner

by on January 16, 2020 with No Comments

Meckelborg Financial Group Ltd (MFG) is a full-service boutique wealth management firm providing discretionary Portfolio Management, Financial Planning and Insurance to our high net-worth families, corporations, foundations and small institutions. MFG is growing and wanting to add a qualified Financial Planner to compliment our team.

Are you looking for an opportunity to work with a forward-thinking organization that continues to raise the bar and create differences in the industry? We are looking for someone who is driven, has an entrepreneurial spirit and is willing to collaborate as a team with a goal of providing the client with a delightful experience.

As a Financial Planner with MFG, you’ll be part of a team whose goal is to deliver solid financial advice and solutions to clients.

The role
• Provide tailor-made financial planning and solutions using retirement software to existing and new clients.
• Present these plans and assist in managing client relationships with ongoing financial planning expertise and services.
• Conduct regular reviews to provide ongoing advice and identify opportunities.
• Be part of the MFG Client Experience Division with the goal of keeping our clients delighted.

What you can expect in return
• Starting salary of $80,000 per year.
• An attractive bonus structure.
• Profit sharing of the company.
• Group benefits.
• A flexible work schedule based on client preference and your own work/life balance.

Skills needed to be successful in this role
• Post-secondary diploma or degree in a related field.
• Minimum 3 years of related experience.
• Financial Planning Designation (CFP or PFP, or equivalent)
• Completion of the CSC course or the will to complete within 6 months of hire.
• Proficiency in Financial Planning software, preferable FP Solutions.
• Networking Skills
• Ability to work in a team environment.

 

MFG’s passion is to make our business more Simple and Easy for our team members to do their jobs and for our clients to do business with us.

At MFG, our goal is to improve the lives of our clients, our team members and our families. We aim to continually improve our business, our team and ourselves so that we can serve and preform at higher levels in all facets or our lives, both personally and professionally, creating improved quality of life for everyone we touch.

 

update: position has been filled

1 2