How we invest clients’ money

The Public Guardian and Trustee (PGT) is responsible for investing the money and assets of our clients. An asset is something that a client owns. It could be real property, jewellery or a stock, including cash.

We take on this responsibility when we are:

• Appointed (For more information, see When the Public Guardian and Trustee is committee of estate)
• Named (For more information, see When the Public Guardian and Trustee is committee of estate)
• Acting as a trustee of trusts created by a will, court order or an inter-vivos settlement. An inter vivos settlement is one that takes effect during a person's lifetime; inter-vivos is a Latin phrase which means "while alive" (For more information, see Personal Trusts)
• Acting as trustee or property guardian for a child or youth (For more information, see Trust services and Property guardian services)

When investing clients’ money we must act in the best interests of our clients. This is called a “fiduciary” role.

The prudent investor requirement

When we make investment decisions, we are governed by the Trustee Act. This states that we must act as a fiduciary for our clients. It also states that we are obligated to use great "care, skill, diligence and judgment" when investing for our clients.

Our priorities include:

• Investing in the best interest of our clients
• Investing with the intention of meeting our clients' needs while balancing risk and return
• Investing with the intention of enhancing returns at a reasonable cost

Creating an investment strategy

When someone becomes a client of the PGT, we make an investment plan for them. To do this, we consider things such as:

• The total value of our client's funds and assets
• Our client's needs over time
• Our client's wishes
• Information from family, friends or care workers, when appropriate

Our investment strategy and our decisions are based on each client's unique situation and needs.

The PGT has guidelines and policies in place that guide our decisions about where and how we invest our clients' funds. In addition, each client's investments are reviewed and re-assessed on a regular basis. Over time, we may adjust the investment strategies as needed to better suit the goals of the client.

How we invest funds

The PGT places our clients' financial assets in one, or a combination of up to three, common investment funds. The PGT also invests clients’ money in Registered Disability Savings Plans (RDSP) and Tax Free Savings Accounts (TFSA), when appropriate.

Some clients are invested in portable investment portfolios. A portable portfolio means that when the client is no longer a client of the PGT, they can take over directly managing their portfolio or they can choose to transfer it to another investment manager or sell their investments. If a client is invested in one of the three common funds, their investment must be sold (liquidated) when they are no longer a client.

The common funds are:

• Premium Money Market Fund
  This fund’s objective is to provide an optimal rate of return for short-term investments. It provides the ability to convert investments into cash, without affecting the market price. Market price refers to the price of a commodity when sold in a market. This makes it safe for risk-adverse clients. When we say clients’ monies are deposited into their trust account, the trust account is the Premium Money Market Fund.
   
• Balanced Income Fund
  This fund’s objective is to enhance returns for clients with a low-to-moderate level of risk, by investing in a diversified portfolio. It is used most frequently by adult clients with medium-term investment time horizons.
   
• Balanced Growth Fund
  This fund is aimed towards long-term capital growth. Its objective is to enhance long-term returns for clients with a moderate level of risk, by investing in a diversified portfolio. It is used most frequently by clients with longer investment time horizons.
   
• Investment Advisory Committee
  The Public Guardian and Trustee Act requires that the PGT establish an Investment Advisory Committee. This committee advises the PGT on overall strategic investment policy and monitoring investment performance and results.

Protecting and managing clients’ physical assets

Our investigation team

When managing an adult or deceased person’s estate, we identify and protect the personal information and belongings of clients. We take steps to secure clients’ assets where they are located.

The PGT has a team of investigators, trained to conduct searches and protect clients’ belongings. Searches take place at a variety of locations, including client owned homes, boats or businesses, rental apartments, residential care homes, storage units or other such places.

The process

When clients are living in their residence, we contact the client and/or their support network to make arrangements to visit. The Investigator will meet with the client and create an inventory of their household belongings. We look to complete this work with minimal intrusion. While creating the inventory, the Investigator will take photographs of belongings in the event they are needed later for insurance claims and things like that.

If the location that has client’s belongings is vacant, the Investigator will make sure the location is secure. This may mean changing the locks on a home or asking the landlord of a rental apartment not to allow anyone access to the apartment without permission from the PGT.

When we search for and complete an inventory of clients’ belongings, we always do that with more than one person present. We call that dual custody. We also look for important documents such as wills, stocks, bonds and identification. If we locate firearms, we manage them as per the Canadian firearms regulations.

We treat peoples’ belongings carefully and with respect. We also take photos of our searches, including pictures of how the location looked when we arrived and when we leave. If required, cleaning services are arranged to remove spoiled goods and/or to prevent possible health hazards.

What we do with clients’ belongings

When a location is vacant, valuable items are removed and placed in a tamper-proof sealed bag in dual custody. The Investigators transport the sealed bags to our safekeeping site. Here, we make sure all of the items are catalogued, valued and placed into temporary storage. If we find cash or cheques, they are deposited into the clients’ trust account.

We will contact the client or the deceased person’s family about the belongings and make decisions about what to do with the items.