Robertson Investment Group

From left to right: Ian Robertson, Sarah Mooney, Karim Allibhai and Paul Sahota

The Robertson Investment Group comprises four professionals with complementary skillsets. We focus on integrating investment management and financial planning to help you grow and protect your wealth. We work with a limited number of families, corporations and foundations to ensure that each client receives the high level of service and attention that they deserve. We are also proud to offer customized portfolios under a responsible investment mandate.

View Our Profiles Below

Ian Robertson, CFA, MBA, MA
Vice President, Director, Portfolio Manager
Telephone: 604-844-5424 | [email protected]

Sarah Mooney, BA, MBA 
Investment Associate
Telephone: 604-844-5377 | [email protected]

Karim Allibhai, CPA, CA, CFA, MBA
Financial and Tax Planning Specialist, Portfolio Manager
Telephone: 604-844-5372 | [email protected]

Paul Sahota, CPA, CGA, CFP®, CIM®, FCSI® 
Financial and Tax Planning Specialist, Associate Portfolio Manager
Telephone: 604-844-5632 | [email protected]

Successful management of your financial wealth typically considers most, if not all, of the areas shown on the pie chart above. We use a five-step process to ensure we capture an accurate snapshot of your unique situation:

1. Determine your objectives and gather relevant financial information
2. Analyze your situation through a customized financial plan
3. Develop an investment portfolio consistent with your plan
4. Monitor and adjust your portfolio and financial plan as needed
5. Review your estate and tax plans, and suggest areas for further consideration with your legal and tax advisors

Speak to us about what matters most to you and how we can help guide your wealth and financial pursuits.

*Available through our wholly owned subsidiary, Odlum Brown Financial Services Limited.

We follow three steps to help clients manage their investments:

1. We listen to our clients. Noting your past experience, preferences and values, we establish investment management goals that are then set within a financial and estate plan.

2. We suggest an appropriate mix of investments (equities and fixed income) tailored to your preferences and goals.

3. We manage and rebalance your portfolio, and regularly communicate with you about how we are achieving your goals.

Equities

Our equity portfolios are built around the value-based recommendations and the Model Portfolio of Odlum Brown’s highly regarded in-house Research Department. We complement our internal research with information from outside experts about a company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) profile. The additional layer of analysis can help mitigate the risks and uncover the opportunities not reflected in traditional financial reporting, and enables us to follow responsible investment guidelines. + Learn More

Fixed Income

Our bond portfolios and strategy are guided by the recommendations of our Fixed Income Strategist and our bond desk, headed by the Vice President, Trading and Syndication. Learn more about our fixed income team and our approach to fixed income investing.

Responsible investment (RI) has evolved over time. It has its roots in a practice that came to be known as socially responsible investment (SRI), which sought to align portfolios with the investor’s values by screening out certain stocks or sectors. Extensive screening can raise portfolio risk, so a group of forward-looking institutional investors banded together under the United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) to propose a more analytically robust process.

The first step of the RI process focuses on analysis rather than screening. The integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations into analysis enhances the identification of undervalued securities and results in portfolios that should exhibit lower risk and/or better long-term growth. The second step in RI is ‘active ownership’, which involves engaging with companies and voting proxies to improve ESG results.

The Robertson Investment Group follows the PRI’s methodology. Our RI portfolios emphasize companies with lower ESG risks (including carbon risk). Our approach relies on the Odlum Brown Research Team’s expertise and analysis and is generally consistent in sector and country positioning, but aims to avoid risks that may not be apparent in traditional financial analysis.

For portfolio companies, we carefully consider and vote the proxies at each AGM, with the broad aim of encouraging good corporate behaviour and discouraging bad corporate behaviour. Common issues voted on include board composition, management compensation, and environmental and social policies. Further information about responsible investment is available from the Responsible Investment Association (Canada).

In the Media

• Webinar: Engagement in Action: From Best Practices to Real Outcomes (Responsible Investment Association, February 23, 2023)
  
  
• Article: Book Review: Your Essential Guide to Sustainable Investing (CFA Institute’s Enterprising Investor, July 1, 2022)
  
  
• Article: Closing the Gap: Gender Lens Investing and the Future of Finance (CFA Institute’s Enterprising Investor, April 21, 2022)
  
  
• Podcast: Podcast Preview: Do Relationships Really Matter? Let's Talk About the Future of Work in Wealth Management and Financial Planning. (CFA Institute’s Guiding Assets, August 24, 2022)
  
  
• Article: “How advisors can determine the level of ‘greenwashing’ in investments” (Globe and Mail, August 24, 2021)

More Media Events:

• Video: “Introduction to responsible investment for advisors” (Responsible Investment Association’s Annual Conference, June 16, 2020)
  
  
• Article: “Why understanding the differences among responsible investment strategies is vital” (Globe and Mail, June 9, 2020)
  
  
• Podcast: “Responsible Investing in the times of Pandemic” (Global Business with Mahesh Joshi, May 20, 2020)
  
  
• Article: “Millennials Will Force an ESG Revolution” (TriplePundit, May 8, 2020)
  
  
• Article: “Why integrating ESG principles into investors’ portfolios makes sense” (Globe Advisor, June 5, 2019)
  
  

In the Community

Volunteer Involvement

• Canadian Association of Gift Planners (Greater Vancouver Chapter): Paul continues his volunteer committee work with CAGP.
  
  
• First United Food Truck Volunteers: Karim and Paul volunteered with the First United Church Community Ministry Society Food Truck on the Downtown Eastside. Odlum Brown is a proud supporter of the important work First United does in our community. (February 2023)
  
  
• CFA Society Vancouver executive committee: Karim continues his role on the executive committee of the board. (July 29, 2022)

Events

• CFA Society Vancouver: Annual Dinner, February 9, 2023. Multiple table sponsor.
  
  
• UBC Thunderbirds Varsity Swimming, KPMG Thunderbird Scholarship Breakfast, March 29, 2023. Multiple table sponsor.

What We Are Reading

• Ian: A Long Petal of the Sea – Isabel Allende; Dance of the Happy Shades – Alice Munro; How the World Really Works – Vaclav Smil; Freezing Order – Bill Browder; next to read will be The Road – Cormac McCarthy
  
  
• Sarah: The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories – Ken Liu; Brave New World – Aldous Huxley; Babel: An Arcane History – R.F. Kuang; next to read will be The Brain that Changes Itself – Norman Doidge
  
  
• Karim: Freezing Order – Bill Browder; How the World Really Works – Vaclav Smil; next to read will be The Caesars Palace Coup – Max Frumes and Sujeet Indap
  
  
• Paul: Think, Act, and Invest Like Warren Buffett – Larry Swedroe.