My Philosophy
I believe in goal-focused planning, long-term perspectives and behavioral modification. Most investor’s behaviour focuses on selection and timing that usually leads to making mistakes such as: speculation, chasing fads and panicking. I help clients avoid this, which more than compensates my investment fee in the process. I also endorse the pension plan approach that guides me in benchmarking clients’ real life returns. I am not trying to sell clients just anything, but rather show them the best way to achieve financial goals. After all, this is my field of expertise.
With over 30 years of investment experience, my philosophy about investment success has less to do with market PERFORMANCE and everything to do with investor BEHAVIOUR. These are the six indicators of a successful investment portfolio:
- FAITH – Successful investors have faith in the future, not fear of the future. Faith believes in positive outcomes and recognizes the wisdom of following through on a sound financial strategy.
- PATIENCE – You are trying to provide security for the next ten, twenty and thirty years, not the next quarter, next year or next three years. Don’t expect a view of the vista while you’re still on the trail.
- DISCIPLINE – You need to fund your future needs first. Funding your long-term plan, instead of remodeling the kitchen or grabbing a great deal on a boat, is a discipline. Continuing to fund a plan month in and month out, as opposed to a “maybe we better hold up for a while until the market stops going down”, is a discipline.
- ASSET ALLOCATION – A Brinson study demonstrated that 93% of long-term institutional portfolio returns came from the type of asset class you were in, the other 7% came from selection and timing. Be an OWNER, not a loaner.
- DIVERSIFICATION – Second to asset allocation, the next critical portfolio behavior is diversification. Getting diversified and staying that way keeps you from betting the ranch on a fad at the market top and hiding out in cash at the bottom. By making the conscious decision to never make a killing, you get the priceless return of never getting killed.
- REBALANCING – Most investors are speculators (unconsciously), instead of investors. They chase price trends instead of seeking neglected values. Rebalancing takes some profits off the line and redeploys them in undervalued areas.
The Plan
Checklist for the Make or Break issues for financial security:
- Untimely death
- Disability of the breadwinner
- Children’s Education
- Do I have enough for retirement?
- Nursing Costs
- Legacies