At the annual Morningstar Canadian Investment Awards last night in Toronto, the Steadyhand Income Fund was recognized as the Best Canadian Balanced Fund.

We’re a modest bunch at Steadyhand when it comes to awards and recognition, most of the time at least. We have trumpeted our leading Morningstar Stewardship Grade, however, and have been known to brag occasionally about our website. But we feel the Stewardship Grade measures important attributes about our company while the website … well … we’re just bragging.

We’ve always been uneasy about performance-based awards, as they are backward looking and can be based on short measurement periods. That said, we’re pleased with the recognition received last night. Morningstar is a leading fund research company and we respect their analysts and qualitative judgment. The award says our clients have done well.

The Income Fund is a key component in most of our clients’ portfolios. We think it’s well positioned to be a leader going forward, yet we don’t kid ourselves or our clients. The fund is not going to produce high single-digit returns in an environment of 2% interest rates, a message we’ve repeatedly communicated to investors. We feel a realistic annual return assumption over the medium term is more like 3-5%.

With the award may come more attention from new investors to whom this message will not be very enticing. But it’s an example of candid communication that helps make our clients better investors. Maybe even the best investors. There’s that modesty thing again.