Where to invest $500,000

By David Aston | From MoneySense Magazine | September/October 2011

With this much capital, a complete review of your options is required

Real, personal money management
If you want to turn over day-to-day management of your money to well-qualified professionals providing a high level of personal service at reasonable fees, a private investment counsel firm may be your best option. “That’s a nice hands-off approach for an individual with half a million,” says Jason Heath, a fee-only certified financial planner with E.E.S. Financial Services in Markham, Ont. Investment counsellors (also called portfolio managers) are licensed to manage your money on a “discretionary” basis, which means they make the actual day-to-day investment decisions, subject to your direction. (They are not “advisers” because they actually manage your money instead of just advising you on how to do it.) You can find them at the private wealth divisions of the big banks, but they are also found at many independent investment management firms, some of which have developed impressive reputations managing pension funds. read full article