All 129, accounted for.
Every Canadian income fund we hold data on sits on exactly one of three lists. Nothing is left off quietly — if we will not publish a figure for a fund, this is where it says so, and why.
22
CleanList
Verified end to end. The only funds we publish a price, a yield, every payment and a full tax breakdown for.
Being on it is not a recommendation — it means the data has been checked and the fund met our criteria.
57
Grey list
Known and stored, not verified yet. Some are here only so we can name what a listed fund actually holds and work out what it really costs.
Nothing here has failed anything. Not being listed is not a judgement.
50
Red list
Excluded, each with the reason written out. Today every entry is a fund built on a single underlying company.
A rejection without a stated reason is a smear, so the reason is always shown.
How a fund gets on the CleanList
The rules we are building it around.
These are the rules we intend to hold funds to. The thresholds are not final and are not applied yet — the only test running today is the first one. We would rather say that than imply a screen we have not finished.
- Holds more than one company Exclusion
A fund whose distribution rests on options written against a single underlying name is not a diversified income fund. This is the only rule currently applied to anything — it is why the red list has the entries it has.
- Has paid long enough to have a record
A distribution history long enough that the figures mean something. A fund that has paid twice cannot be said to have a payment record.
- Is not mostly paying your own money back
Return of capital as a share of the last full tax year’s distribution. Return of capital is not income; it reduces the cost base you are taxed on later. Some is normal in a covered-call fund. All of it is a different product from the one the yield implies.
- Costs no more than it should
The effective fee, not the headline one — a fund that holds other funds carries their fees too, and only the combined figure is what the holder actually pays.
- Is big enough to keep trading
Net assets, as a proxy for whether the fund can be bought and sold at a sane spread and is unlikely to be wound up.
- Is not rated riskier than the list allows
The issuer’s own published risk rating, which is a regulatory statement rather than our opinion. Carried as published.
- Has not cut the distribution sharply
A drop in the declared monthly distribution beyond a normal fluctuation, over a trailing window. A yield quoted off a rate that has just been cut is the most misleading number in this whole category.
- Is not a duplicate of something already listed Exclusion
A USD class of a fund already on the list is the same portfolio listed twice for currency of settlement. It is not a second option and should not read as one.
An exclusion is a rule a fund cannot fail and still be listed. Missing any of the others leaves it on the grey list rather than the red one.