Your investing questions, our clear answers.

Our response:

First, we should let you know that we can’t give you any investment or financial advice or provide any information on specific segregated fund investments. That said, we do try to help as best we can.

Segregated (or seg) funds are an investment product sold by life insurance companies, and are regulated in each province and territory (find yours). They invest in one or more underlying assets, such as a mutual fund. Unlike mutual funds, segregated funds provide a guarantee to protect part of the money you invest (75% to 100%). Even if the underlying fund loses money, you are guaranteed to get back some or all of your principal investment. But you have to hold your investment for a certain length of time (usually 10 years) to benefit from the guarantee. You also pay an additional fee for this insurance protection. All segregated funds carry risks associated with this type of investment. Learn more about the risks of segregated funds.