On Dec. 1, Mackenzie Investments launched three investment products: an absolute return strategy mutual fund and two retirement income portfolios.

Mackenzie says that its new Unconstrained Fixed Income Fund is one of the first absolute return strategy mutual funds in Canada, and that it is "unconstrained by traditional relative return benchmarks". The fund aims to deliver positive returns over a market cycle, targeting a specific rate of return and using derivatives to reduce volatility.

The two retirement portfolios, the Mackenzie Monthly Income Conservative Portfolio and the Mackenzie Monthly Income Balanced Portfolio, will offer lower volatility than existing balanced funds and are designed to generate income with some capital appreciation.

"The portfolios employ a variety of asset classes and strategies, including an absolute return strategy, dividend paying equities and REITs, global sovereign bonds, Canadian and real return bonds, commodities and a derivatives strategy for hedging purposes," says Mackenzie. The balanced portfolio will hold more equity investments, and will therefore have a higher potential for both capital appreciation and volatility than the conservative portfolio.