Owning the outcome

Syndicated from WP Professional Feb 4, 2026 Article

Owning the Outcome

I spent the early part of my career as a retail advisor, helping clients navigate products designed by manufacturers. It’s a familiar Canadian model: manufacturers create the funds, advisors distribute them, and clients live with the outcomes. Convenience is high, but accountability is often distant. Over time, I realized that producing average results wasn’t accidental — it was structural.

That insight led me to build and manage my own 60/40 fund. Not to prove I could manage money, but because if I was truly responsible for client outcomes, I needed to control the decisions that drive them.

Why the traditional model leaves accountability behind

In Canada, most advisors operate inside the advisor-manufacturer model. Products are created elsewhere, advisors select them, and clients follow. That framework scales easily, but it abstracts accountability. You can explain performance, but you can’t own it if you didn’t design it.

In client portfolios, the core allocation — typically 60–80 percent of capital — is where outcomes are decided. Yet traditionally, that core is managed on autopilot: static 60/40, closet indexing, or broad benchmark tracking. When markets shift, static allocations get exposed.

I asked myself: Am I responsible for outcomes, or just explaining them? If it’s responsibility, you have to control them. That’s where ownership begins.

I wanted a prospectus-cleared mutual fund, daily liquid, institutionally robust, audited independently — the same structure Canadian clients already trust. But I wanted to manage it differently, deliberately, and with accountability. That became the MLD Core Fund.

Alignment, risk, and trust under shared authority

Once you take on the dual role of advisor and portfolio manager, alignment moves from a theme to a structural reality. There’s no manufacturer to defer to, no product committee to blame. Advice and investment decisions merge. Risk becomes personal — it shows up in real conversations with clients.

A decade ago, lower volatility masked weaknesses in static allocations. Today, with correlation spikes and regime shifts, autopilot investing fails. Sitting across from clients knowing I made every decision changes the standard. Trust isn’t earned when returns are good — it’s earned when decisions are deliberate, explainable, and accountable.

Rethinking balanced funds in Canada

Balanced funds are everywhere, but many treat 60/40 as a destination, not a framework. Canadian peers may look different on paper, but in practice, they behave similarly: benchmark-relative, avoiding deviation to protect careers rather than to benefit clients.

The MLD Core Fund delivered a 34.12 percent return in its best year, ranking number one in Canada among its peer group, and remains top decile across rolling periods. Success comes from treating allocation not as a static weight but as a disciplined response to risk and opportunity.

This isn’t tactical trading. You can’t treat portfolios like bars of soap — the more you manipulate them, the smaller they get. It’s deliberate allocation that responds to market conditions. Average outcomes aren’t failures — they’re the result of average design.

The discipline to sustain performance

Performance is a byproduct of process, not prediction. Early on, a colleague suggested I could lock in outperformance by selling and hugging the benchmark. Mathematically it made sense. But that’s not my job. I continue to execute a repeatable, disciplined process.

I’ve never relied on the flow or brand of a large institution. I’ve always had to work for results, which forced me to put client outcomes and accountability first. Pressure becomes an advantage: it sharpens decisions and eliminates complacency.

Sustainability isn’t about storytelling or hype. It’s about having a system that leans into predictable economic tailwinds and aligns capital accordingly. Sitting across from clients, I explain decisions, not defend outcomes. Sometimes underperformance isn’t failure — it’s simply being early.

Owning the outcome doesn’t guarantee success, but it guarantees honesty. Over time, honesty compounds. You don’t need to launch a fund, but you do need to ask yourself: Do I truly own the outcomes I’m responsible for? The future of wealth management in Canada belongs to those willing to answer that question structurally, not just philosophically.

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