# AGF Global Dividend Fund



## coptzr (Jan 18, 2013)

Currently have this fund through a financial advisor, need to move some cash ASAP, but should I wait a little and ride the current climb or bail/withdraw cash/reinvest remainder in a self-made portfolio?
http://www.agf.com/t2scr/static/app/fundview/public/en/fund4000.jsp
**you can go to fund details tab for more info**

Next question would be looking at fees/penalties/charges for selling off this fund as I have had it for approx. 2 years since purchase through advisor company.


----------



## avrex (Nov 14, 2010)

At first, I thought the *title of this thread*, 'agf gdf', was created by your cat walking on random middle row keys on your keyboard.











_[Update: Purrfect. The title of the thread has now been updated. Thank you.]_


MER of *2.45%. Bad.*
Your Deferred Sales Charge (DSC) will be around *5.0%. Bad.*

How bad do you need the money? If you need the money now, take it out and vow never to let your financial advisor convince you to buy a mutual fund like this again.

Welcome to the forum.


----------



## doctrine (Sep 30, 2011)

Just to add insult to injury, the AGF Global _*Dividend*_ Fund has distributed $0.26 in the last four years. That's 1.45%. There are companies that have higher dividends in a quarter let alone four years.


----------



## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

The distribution yield is eaten up by the MER. Classic issue with exorbitant actively managed mutual funds. Shameful. The OP has to decide whether to suffer through another few years to reduce the redemption penalty or to cut his/her losses and move on. 

That said, there should be a clear message sent to the financial advisor..... Don't ever do this to me again. Even with that, AGF generally has a poor record ex-Canada. They would be one of the last fund companies to consider for ex-Canada investments. There would have been better choices in the 'high MER' fund manager world.


----------



## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

avrex said:


> MER of *2.45%. Bad.*
> Your Deferred Sales Charge (DSC) will be around *5.0%. Bad.*


I don't understand... why wait to get out? Does their DSC structure have a penalty that decreases with time, i.e. will you have a lower DSC/penalty if you wait a year? Man I hate mutual funds.

Here's another way to think of it. Since you're essentially holding something that's no better than an index ETF, each year you hold the mutual fund is unnecessarily costing you 2.2% in fees. If you hold it for two more years, you're overpaying 4.4% ... who cares if there's a 5% penalty? It's a wash.

By the way, XIU is much more of a dividend fund because it has approx 2.9% dividend yield, *double* that of the AGF fund. I know they're not apples to apples (AGF's is global and XIU is canada).


----------



## avrex (Nov 14, 2010)

That's a good point, james.

The MER fees will accumulate and drag his returns downward, year after year. 
*He might as well get out now. * 
He'll lose the 5.0% DSC, but at least he'll be out of this fund.

fyi. For those AGF products that have DSC charges, here are the redemption fees.
within two years of buying them 5.5%
during the third year after buying them 5.0%
during the fourth year after buying them 4.5%
during the fifth year after buying them 4.0%
during the sixth year after buying them 3.0%
during the seventh year after buying them 1.5%
after seven years of buying them Zero


----------



## doctrine (Sep 30, 2011)

> By the way, XIU is much more of a dividend fund because it has approx 2.9% dividend yield, double that of the AGF fund


No, it's actually almost 8x higher, that 1.45% over 4 years = less than 0.35% a year. It actually had 0 dividends in 2011. A dividend fund with no dividends for a year. It's really, really bad.


----------



## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

doctrine said:


> No, it's actually almost 8x higher, that 1.45% over 4 years = less than 0.35% a year. It actually had 0 dividends in 2011. A dividend fund with no dividends for a year. It's really, really bad.


Wow... that is crazy!


----------



## coptzr (Jan 18, 2013)

Thanks for the first set of input. When I get a chance I will give you a little more background with what I have dealt with here. Its not my only investment company, but one that I'm glad I did not 100% confidence and money into.

I could use the money for better purposes as it was a short term(10yr) planned pay in/cash out deal.


----------



## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

coptzr said:


> Its not my only investment company, but one that I'm glad I did not 100% confidence and money into.


It`s not investment company, it`s mutual fund company.  

avrex, they have also LL DSC funds....those are for 3 years...

I also did this mistake 2.5 years ago when just opened discount bokerage account.... was excited that I can buy MF from any MF company, and bougnt AGF Emerging market (based on globeinvestor 5 start rating).... waiting for December when I can sell this garbage without penalty... and probably will buy VWO or similar


----------



## dave2012 (Feb 17, 2012)

That fund sure did better than my MFs. I had a bunch of crappy MF's that 'financial salesmen' sold me that I decided to hold onto due to the 4-5% DSC charges a few years ago. Held on for yet another year and averaged another lose of 10-15% on average. In the end I would have been better to just dump the crap and start fresh. I was doing well with ETFs and stocks during this period. Anyways couldn't be happier now! Owning MF's in my portfolio caused me a lot of 'pissed off time'.


----------



## coptzr (Jan 18, 2013)

Quick summary: These were based on 10yr+ term both one time large deposit and monthly contribution

2001-2010
(AIM - 1513) Trimark Fund Series Sc
and
2004-2010
(MFC - 1631) Mackenzie Canadian Large Cap Dividend Fund

this one has seen a lot of movement, mostly as big gain, big loss, and now attempting recovery
2005-2006
(AIM - 6543) Trimark Income Growth Fund, Series A - FE
transferred to:
2006-2007
(AGF - 9654) Acuity Growth & Income Fund Level Load
transferred to:
2007-2011
(AGF - 9674) Acuity Global Dividend Income Fund Level Load
transferred to:
2011
(AGF - 9677) Acuity Global Dividend Fund Low Load
transferred to:
2011-2012
(AGF - 4002) Agf Global Dividend Fund Ll


Just going to add another line here:
different type of investment, but same company
2001-2013
(AIM - 321) Trimark Canadian Class, Dsc
annualized rate of return since inception = 3.84%


----------



## OntFA (May 19, 2009)

coptzr,

When I first looked at your post I think this was your full portfolio. But when I look at it again, it appears to be the full history of how you ended up with the current fund and what you were in before. I thought I read that you have held this for two years. But that does not mean that you've been in the current DSC schedule for two years. There are two things to highlight here.

It looks to me like you entered a low load fund from Acuity in 2006. By the time you moved to AGF Global Dividend, Acuity was owned by AGF. In that case, I'm guessing that you could have moved from Acuity to AGF without restarting the schedule. So you might be able to start counting from the early Acuity days.

The other thing that I notice is that you're in a low load fund, not a full deferred sales charge fund. With DSC funds, you have to stay in a fund for 6-7 years to avoid exit fees upon liquidation. But with low load (LL) you only have to stay invested for 2-3 years before you can sell the fund outright without any exit fees.

So in either case, you shouldn't have to wait very long, if any time at all, before exiting without any fees or penalties.


----------



## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

Just call AGF and ask what charges you should pay if any


----------



## coptzr (Jan 18, 2013)

What is complicating matters...even though there are MER fees, etc. the actual value has increase almost daily, this year its up 11% and climbing. This is helping recoup a lot of losses over the past 4 years.


----------



## OntFA (May 19, 2009)

coptzr,

I got the impression, perhaps wrongly, that you had come to the conclusion that the high fees associated with funds like this AGF fund are too high. And that longer term it made sense to go the couch potato route - or some similar strategy emphasizing low cost ETFs where you can buy the funds, check them once a year and move on.

If that's the case, the recent performance doesn't matter. Or are you actually liquidating this fund to use the cash to pay an expense or debt? Still, I'd say take the money you need and move forward.


----------



## coptzr (Jan 18, 2013)

update....SOLD

This started back in 2001 as a monthly contribution, with yearly lump sum deposits, a 5th year lump sum withdrawl, and remainder for long term investment, along with flip-flopping to save us from the crash of 2006-2008, hahaha, joke was on me. Skip ahead to 2013 and principal vs cash out 1.12, meaning 12% gain over 12yrs. Understand the principal had linear increase from zero with several jumps and one fall, but overall could you picture(for example) putting $200/month away for 12yrs = $28,800 and cashing out with $32,256? Should have saved all the accounting and income tax b.s. and put it in my sock drawer. 

There were no penalties or selling fees, just sell at daily value and mail the cheque in full.


----------



## coptzr (Jan 18, 2013)

^^^(wherever that post went ¿)agree, you could also call them a money sucking buddy who you don't know will ever pay you back, and give you nothing for the favor, L!

Just got summary in mail for withdrawal/sell, shows "Capital Loss" or something, not that it matters now, but it was in the thousands. My principal invested calculations showed no out of pocket losses but I will read it over when I get a chance.


----------

