DISCOVER OUR ASTRA PORTFOLIO FUNDS A strategy to guide you through a world of possibilities
Every investor knows how important it is to carefully choose investments based on savings objectives. Usually this involves skillfully diversifying the different asset classes and selecting the top performers from among the many funds and money managers available. This time-consuming and exacting task may have a significant impact on your financial future. Unless you prefer to control every investment decision yourself and monitor financial markets every single day, then you have everything to gain by investing in one of our twelve portfolio of funds. ASTRA Strategy and ASTRA Celestia Funds ASTRA Strategy Funds and ASTRA Celestia Funds offer a choice of carefully selected funds combined to match your investor profile, rebalanced regularly and monitored by specialists so that you don t have to! ASTRA Fundamental Portfolio Funds The ASTRA Fundamental Portfolio Funds also offer many advantages. Much like the ASTRA Strategy and ASTRA Celestia Funds, diversification is at the core of the method used, but they stand out for their security selection by using an innovative method based on fundamental data. Twelve different portfolios are available, so you won t have any trouble finding the ones that correspond perfectly with your investment needs. 1 ASTRA Portfolio Funds
ASTRA Strategy, ASTRA Celestia and ASTRA Fundamental Portfolio Funds combine different asset classes so you can find the asset mix that s just right for your investor profile To perform well, a portfolio must contain different types of investments to be able to take advantage of the best market opportunities. This is why our portfolios funds invest in fixed income securities and Canadian, U.S. and international equities in different proportions to meet your financial needs. To further diversify their content, ASTRA Celestia Funds also invest in specialty asset classes. The allocation of investments is re-balanced quarterly to ensure that you reach your savings objective. It s like having your very own investment specialist taking care of your portfolio! Re-balancing is the periodic readjustment of the number of units in each fund to ensure that the target allocation continues to be respected, despite variations in the value of units making up the portfolio. Therefore, the allocation according to your investment objectives remain stable. ASTRA Strategy, ASTRA Celestia and ASTRA Fundamental Portfolio Funds allow you to invest in an assortment of carefully selected funds with one easy purchase The investment funds available on the market are constantly changing, sometimes making it hard to sift the wheat from the chaff. But by including a number of underlying funds managed by experts in our portfolio funds, SSQ does the sifting for you. We make sure that we select investment managers with complementary management styles. We also make sure that they respect their mandate and remain the frontrunners in their field. When you invest in our portfolio funds, you have access to institutional investment managers that are not generally available to individual investors because they are usually reserved for pension funds. Wishing to offer you quality investments similar to those selected by large pension fund managers, ASTRA Celestia Funds contain a proportion of specialty investments with non-traditional asset classes unlike any to be found in other funds on the market. Specialty investments, for example, real estate, commodities (oil or wheat) or infrastructure, offer high growth potential. Take advantage of the growth potential of specialized funds offered by ASTRA Celestia Funds! 2 ASTRA Portfolio Funds
ASTRA Strategy, ASTRA Celestia and ASTRA Fundamental Portfolio Funds allow you to diversify your portfolio effortlessly according to your needs The safest way to ride out any unexpected fluctuations in your investments is to diversify your portfolio. It s possible to reduce financial risk by selecting an assortment of asset classes that won t necessarily evolve in the same direction at the same time. This is why the asset classes in our portfolio funds are not only diversified, but the managers are selected based on their complementary management styles. With a single investment, you can obtain everything you need to make your savings grow. The advantage of having a number of different managers in the same portfolio is that each will make the best decision possible based on their field of expertise and management style. This way if one doesn t perform so well in a given period, the others will compensate and in doing so, lower the overall portfolio risk. ASTRA Portfolio Funds 3
ASTRA STRATEGY AND ASTRA CELESTIA FUNDS ASTRA Strategy Funds ASTRA Strategy Funds are balanced funds that are suitable for all investor types. They include all main asset classes so that you can benefit from the growth potential of each type of investment. These assets are managed by specialized investment managers recognized in the industry for their expertise. The ASTRA Conservative Strategy Fund and the ASTRA Celestia Conservative Fund are ideal for conservative investors looking to minimize exposure to risk but still benefit from higher returns than Guaranteed Interest Accounts (GIAs) can offer. For that, these investors are prepared to tolerate a certain degree of investment volatility. They generally have a short-term investment perspective. CONSERVATIVE STRATEGY Bonds 65% Canadian Equity 25% Foreign Equity 10% CELESTIA CONSERVATIVE Bonds 60% Canadian Equity 12% Foreign Equity 16% Specialty Funds 12% The ASTRA Balanced Strategy Fund and the ASTRA Celestia Balanced Fund appeal to moderate investors looking for a compromise between investment security and performance, and between capital preservation offered by fixed-income securities and the long-term growth potential of the stock market. To reach their financial goals, they know they have to accept some investment volatility. They are generally looking for a short- to medium-term investment perspective. BALANCED STRATEGY Bonds 45% Canadian Equity 35% Foreign Equity 20% CELESTIA BALANCED Bonds 40% Canadian Equity 21% Foreign Equity 24% Specialty Funds 15% 4 ASTRA Portfolio Funds For more information, please refer to the Fund Facts document
ASTRA Celestia Funds ASTRA Celestia Funds are balanced funds that are suitable for all investor types. They focus more on foreign equity and include a significant portion of specialty asset classes like real estate, infrastructure and commodities. These specialty assets, like other assets in these funds, are managed by firms that specialize in pension funds and are usually not available for individual investors. ASTRA Celestia Funds have the potential to decrease the volatility of your portfolio in the long term and increase your returns due to their diversification. The ASTRA Growth Strategy Fund and the ASTRA Celestia Growth Fund will appeal to dynamic investors wanting to maximize long-term capital growth while maintaining a certain degree of capital preservation. To do so, they are prepared to tolerate a greater degree of investment volatility. These investors are generally interested in long-term investment perspective. GROWTH STRATEGY Bonds 30% Canadian Equity 45% Foreign Equity 25% CELESTIA GROWTH Bonds 25% Canadian Equity 24% Foreign Equity 30% Specialty Funds 21% The ASTRA Aggressive Strategy Fund and the ASTRA Celestia Aggressive Fund are perfect for bold investors who want to maximize long-term capital growth and take full advantage of stock market opportunities. To do so, they are prepared to tolerate a high level of investment volatility and are generally looking for long-term investment. AGGRESSIVE STRATEGY Bonds 20% Canadian Equity 40% Foreign Equity 40% CELESTIA AGGRESSIVE Bonds 10% Canadian Equity 27% Foreign Equity 36% Specialty Funds 27% available under the ASTRA Fund Returns section on our Web site. ASTRA Portfolio Funds 5
ASTRA FUNDAMENTAL PORTFOLIO FUNDS While different economies have different risk levels, the lowest risk equity entry point into any economy is to hold a well diversified balanced portfolio of the fundamentally strongest stocks in that market: That s what the ASTRA Fundamental Portfolio Funds offer! Using a recognized method, they automatically select securities with the strongest fundamental data. The methodology uses the audited dollar values of cash flow, book value, total sales and gross dividends to derive equal constituent index weights. Prices, which can be prone to speculation, are not a component of the weights. As the fundamental weightings are annually reviewed, the constituent weights are less affected by market bubbles that can over-expose an investor to individual companies, sectors or countries. ASTRA Conservative Fundamental Portfolio Fund is ideal for conservative investors who are prepared to tolerate low or moderate portfolio volatility and who want to maintain the capital invested. These investors are generally interested in a medium- to long-term investment perspective. CONSERVATIVE FUNDAMENTAL PORTFOLIO Bonds 65% Canadian Equity 13% Foreign Equity 22% The ASTRA Balanced Fundamental Portfolio Fund appeals to moderate investors who are looking for a compromise between capital preservation and long-term growth. For this, they are prepared to tolerate moderate portfolio volatility and are generally interested in a long-term investment perspective. BALANCED FUNDAMENTAL PORTFOLIO Bonds 40% Canadian Equity 22% Foreign Equity 38% The ASTRA Growth Fundamental Portfolio Fund appeals to bold investors wanting to maximize long-term capital growth. To do so, they are prepared to tolerate a higher level of investment volatility. These investors are generally interested in a long-term investment perspective. GROWTH FUNDAMENTAL PORTFOLIO Bonds 30% Canadian Equity 26% Foreign Equity 44% The ASTRA Agressive Fundamental Portfolio Fund appeals to aggressive investors who are prepared to tolerate a high degree of portfolio volatility and who want to generate maximum growth on their long-term investments. These investors are generally interested in a long-term investment perspective. AGGRESSIVE FUNDAMENTAL PORTFOLIO Bonds 20% Canadian Equity 28% Foreign Equity 52% 6 ASTRA Portfolio Funds
ASTRA PORTFOLIO FUNDS MANAGERS Leading firms, proven track record, teams of experts! To find out which of our ASTRA Portfolio Funds are best suited to your investor profile, why not contact your advisor today or you can take our Investor Profile Questionnaire which can quickly help to guide you in the ASTRA Funds world! ASTRA Portfolio Funds 7
ABOUT SSQ Financial Group With nearly $3 billion in annual revenue and more than $8 billion in assets under management, SSQ Financial Group is a leading mutual diversified financial institution. The Group serves over 1 million customers and provides jobs to over 1,900 employees. SSQ, Life Insurance Company Inc., the Group s principal company, is recognized as a leader in the group insurance industry and as an expert in the investment and retirement sector. SSQ Financial Group is also a rising star in home and auto insurance (SSQ General Insurance Company Inc.) and has recently broken into the individual insurance market thanks to its new subsidiary, SSQ Insurance Company Inc. For more information, please visit ssq.ca.
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