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INVESTOR CHECKLIST 

Maintaining perspective in times of financial volatility

The coronavirus (COVID-19) has changed the way we live and work. It has also inspired significant market fluctuations. This checklist below can help you focus on what’s likely to have the greatest impact on your financial success: maintaining a longer-term perspective, being thoughtful about portfolio allocation, understanding risk exposures and minimizing costs and taxes.

Don’t forget your long-term financial goals:

Try to maintain perspective by focusing on your long-term investment objectives rather than worrying about short-term market fluctuations. Emotional decisions are often not the wisest.

Revisit your
risk tolerance:

If short-term market moves are getting the better of you, perhaps its time to revisit your risk tolerance with your advisor. This exercise may inspire you to stay the course, or to trim additional risk from your portfolios.

Reaffirm (or write)
your Investment Policy Statement:

An Investment Policy Statement (IPS) can help determine the appropriate allocations and the guidelines for effective implementation. Make sure you and your advisor have clearly defined your objectives, so that you can keep them in mind during emotional times of market fluctuations.

Review your cash needs:

Do you have immediate liquidity needs? If not, you may be in a strong position to ride out short-term market shocks.

Stay diversified:

Portfolio diversification, in line with your objectives and risk tolerance, can help mitigate volatility and potentially produce more consistent outcomes.

Rebalance
regularly:

Meet with your advisor to ensure your asset allocations are aligned with your long-term targets. Regular portfolio rebalancing instills a disciplined approach to decision making and sometimes inspires investors to take actions that may be emotionally uncomfortable but financially productive.

Consider tactical shifts:

Every investor is different. For some bouts of market volatility there may be
an opportunity to buy equities. Others may look to add hard duration through core and long-duration strategies as a way to add resiliency to their portfolio. Check in with your advisor to review strategies.

Consider tax planning strategies:

Consider introducing a discussion with your advisor now about mitigating tax implications instead waiting until year-end.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

Behavioral biases, especially during volatile times, may inspire investors to focus on short-term returns rather than long-term goals. 

Financial Advisors can play a critical role in helping maintain perspective and avoid costly mistakes.

TACTICAL ALLOCATION

The Defensive Growth Tactical Allocation Strategy is designed to capitalize on economic and market fragility, which has been brought about by central bank interventions, corporate debt levels, demographic shifts, business cycles and other factors.

 

These factors may express themselves as credit/ stock market events, potentially significant in the near term. The portfolio is a defensive yet opportunistic strategy.

 

This investment strategy can be combined with others to fit your needs. Please feel free to contact us if you would like to discuss and explore investment ideas and options.