Investment Management - Mirador Corporation

Portfolio Management in Calgary

When it comes to investing, we do one thing really well

While many investment firms try to cater to various investment styles, we stand apart with a single focus: income with stability. We do not rely on mutual funds or chase the latest investment trends, whether it be in value, growth, momentum, or cryptocurrency. Instead, we manage diversified portfolios under the Mirador Income and Stability programs, which are designed to provide high income and comfortable stability.

Mirador Income and Stability Fund

Above all else, the Mirador Income and Stability Fund is designed to get you paid now versus waiting and hoping for capital gains in the future. The market is fickle and these gains may, or may not come in your required time frame. As they say, “It’s better to have cash in your pocket than hope in the closet.” That being said, the Mirador Income and Stability fund has achieved meaningful gains in the past and is well positioned to do so in the future.

The Mirador Income and Stability Fund has had a 7% or better distribution for several years now. We can only achieve this consistent, high income and capital stability through our multi-decade experience and true independence, our scientific approach, and our clever portfolio construction and implementation.

The Mirador Income and Stability Fund is a collection of income strategies paying you cash now – several types of investment income streams, with each of the streams derived from a diversified portfolio of securities:

Fixed Income – The Mirador Stability and Income Fund currently uses preferred shares for its fixed income allocation. Preferred shares are higher than common shares on the scale of security, but a step or so lower than bonds. Some think of them as bonds that pay dividends. They usually have a higher yield than bonds, and with preferred shares paying dividends rather than interest, you gain an after-tax advantage over bonds because of the dividend tax credit.

Equity Income:

Dividend Growth – Canadian common shares of companies with above average dividend yields and financial attributes that tend to result in increased dividends over time. Relying on dividend growth alone is a problem like hoping for future stock price gains in your required time frame – the dividend might or might not grow enough in your time frame. And, if a company does achieve a high level of dividend growth, but this growth is applied to a very low original dividend, it may be decades before the current yield is attractive. Our clients want to be paid well now, and even better in the future. We have achieved this by starting with above average yields, adding dividend growth to these yields, and then actively managing our models and optimizing the portfolio allocations.
High Yield – Publicly traded Canadian Equities with unusually high yields and many of the financial and market attributes needed to maintain these yields. These equities tend to provide exposures to industries not often associated with the dividend growth selections such as real estate, resources, and technology companies.

Covered Call Writing – Buying options in common stocks is like gambling in the casino, you will not consistently win, that’s why casinos are so profitable. But what if you can BE the casino and sell common stock options to speculators? That’s what writing calls is. We are the casino selling call options to gamblers. We are not gambling, the price we receive is another income stream that we earn by giving up some of the possible upside to the underlying stocks. It’s a low-risk, high cash flow strategy that works well when you understand the optimal factors for Covered Call Writing for income.

Market Exposure – In addition to this collection of income streams paying you all this cash, we hold back some capital to manage the overall risk of the Mirador Income and Stability Fund. In portfolio management, the simplest way to reduce risk is to sell stocks and move to cash when times are looking dire. But with income programs like the Mirador Income and Stability Fund, that’s like killing a goose laying the golden eggs. So instead, when the market stance shifts from greed to fear and indexes start to decline, we implement strategies to protect the capital without sacrificing as many of our cash producing investments, helping us to maintain the income stream that our client’s treasure.

Want to learn more, or talk “shop” with Stan or Joyce?

We offer one thing, and one thing only, a singular focus on high income and comfortably stable capital values.

The Mirador Portfolio Approach

When it comes to portfolio management, we take out the biases, heuristics, and emotions that could influence our investments. Instead, we have adopted a data-driven, back-to-basics approach which adapts to the ever-evolving market conditions.

The Importance of Independence in Portfolio Management

The only way to be fully independent is to be incorporated as a company that is a direct registrant with the securities commissions like Mirador Corporation is. This way there are reduced biases from allegiances to service and product providers.

Research

At Mirador, we are not bombarded with research like big company advisors are. Research departments from large institutions are supposed to be independent of corporate finance, underwriting, and the retail sales distribution channels but you only need to look at the proportion of the research department’s buy versus sell recommendations to see if there are biases.

The number of buy recommendations is always higher because a firm won’t get the underwriting business from a company if the research department puts out a negative report with a sell recommendation. At Mirador, we are not beholden to big institutional research. We do our own research to get the results that we have become known for.

We are small and that’s an advantage. It allows us to be nimble and focused, and we know that if we get too big we will lose this. We are focused on providing retirement income and building generational wealth for our families and our clients. No ego or racing to the top of the company ladder is involved here, we just want to do good work and ensure that your wealth is protected.

We know you have worked hard to get where you are. Many of our clients have been with us for decades and we have seen them through many stages of their life. Together we celebrate your successes and work to set you up for a secure future.

Securing Your Future & Lifestyle Goals

Company and Compensation Biases

Some organizations are named like a company, have a team of staff, and market themselves with a team name, when in reality they are an office under a big company umbrella and are hence subject to the many biases of the big company

At Mirador, we are not incentivized by certain investment products and programs to compensate big financial institutions better. You might have experience with products from large financial institutions that show no sales charge to a client. However, often there is still hidden compensation to the salesperson. Even mutual funds take some of the fees charged to pay for overheads like advertising and trade commissions right out of the fund value, not revenue.

The only compensation bias we have is wanting the Mirador Income and Stability Fund to perform well because our money is invested in it too!

Investment Management, it’s personal

Investment has become impersonal, designed for minimum contact between fund managers and investors. But how is it supposed to give you peace of mind knowing you’re just another number to a nameless manager?

To us, investment is personal. We want you to be able to speak directly to your investment manager, discuss your unique circumstances and needs, and rest assured that your money is invested accordingly. We treat you how we want to be treated ourselves. This is our commitment to you.