Since November 03, 2005. Fidelity Canada has brought over its popular LifeCycle fund line-up from the United States. The fund line-up is called ClearPath. This blog is not a recommendation to buy these funds, but rather it is a news-worthy announcement meant for educational purposes.

What are LifeCycle funds? They are actually a different way to approach asset-allocation strategies with time as a major consideration. Initially, ClearPath funds (called the Freedom series in the States) will start with a very agressive asset-allocation strategy. The allocation strategy is then adjusted over time to become more conservative until the traget “retirement date” has hit.

Fidelity Canada has become more consumer oriented as of late with an advertising blitz. They are starting to bring over ideas from their American counter-parts. Are the LifeCycle funds a good idea from a business point of view? Certainly, they have been very popular in the States and has already been around for a decade. We Canadians are very much northern hillbillies when it comes to investment innovations. Among my biggest pet peeve is having to pay approximately $25 for equity trades. Why doesn’t Fidelity bring their $8 trading brokerage business up north??

Watch for the Canadian financial community to monitor the reception to these LifeCycle funds, and come up with their own versions if it proves to be popular. The personal finance scene is still dominated by the banks. Fund companies will have to find ways to partner with these behemoths to secure any marketshare.