ABCs of Understanding Your Investments

Decoding your Investment Returns.

Here are the ABCs of understanding your investment returns.

One of our partners, EdgePoint has come out with a great, short video that explains the ABCs of  mutual fund investing right down to the difference between book value, net invested value and market value.  

Watch the full video here: https://edgepointwealth.com/en/Insights/EdgePoint-videos/Decoding-your-investment-returns

Let us know if you have any specific personal questions, reach out to us today.

Lifeview Financial

-Deb, Kelly, Gary

Year Ahead 2021

2020 sure has been a roller coaster year, and I think we’ll all be happy to put it behind us and move towards a COVID free world in 2021! 

For many of us, 2020 has brought to the forefront just how important our relationships are with our family, friends, and colleagues, as well as how fragile our health can be.  I think we’ll all come through this situation as stronger individuals, and have a better appreciation of what is truly important to us.  

From an investment standpoint, 2020 was also a difficult year.  Many investments have rebounded back from the lows earlier in the year, but some have only recently started to come back with the news of a vaccine to combat COVID-19.  Industries like hotels, airlines, commercial real estate & restaurants are still struggling.  We still need to get through the challenge of this second wave of infections, but we’re hopeful that providing that the virus gets under control in 2021, we’ll be back into a healthy economic and investment environment in the coming months.

We’ve attached a short 2021 outlook from iA Investment Management’s chief economist Clement Gignac for you to have a read through.  Our belief is that we still have some challenges to get through in the next few months, but the mid to long-term recovery is looking OK at this point in time.

I hope you have a great holiday season, and all the best to you in 2021!  Take care and stay safe.

P.S.  I just received a card in the mail today that has this saying on it that I thought I would share - “We look back on this year with grateful appreciation for the resilience of our human spirit.  We look forward to a New Year filled with compassion & enthusiasm”  How true!!

 Health, Happiness & Success!

Deb, Kelly, and Gary

1st Place Essay Winner Of The 2020 Helping Hands Scholarship

Congratulations to our 1st place Winner for this years’ Helping Hands Scholarship award - Jack Carscadden

Jack has committed to Michigan State University on a hockey scholarship – Business – Preference (with Computational Mathematics as secondary major)

Due to COVID-19, unfortunately the hockey season was cancelled and so was his scholarship. Jack has shown tremendous adversity and shares his thoughts with us in his essay below on how he will carry forward living through this pandemic with his passion in sight.

“Throughout my life, I have learned many lessons from the various experiences I’ve had. Through sport, I learned the importance of team, work ethic, leadership, and working towards a common goal alongside others. Through the education system, I was shown the importance of kindness, preparedness, and positivity. Through volunteerism, I learned the importance of putting others ahead of your own motivations to better a community, not strictly oneself. And through work, I’ve learned the importance of treating all with respect, while maintaining composure through difficult times. Here I will illustrate where I learned some of these lessons, how I got to where I am today, and my goals and aspirations for the future.

Since I was two, I have been skating across frozen ice surfaces with a stick in my hand chasing a puck. I have felt the high of winning a provincial championship as a team captain, and the low of being cut from a team. Through this, I learned the value of the hard work and dedication it takes to succeed, and how to deal with adversity to come out a better, stronger person. This past season, I was fortunate enough to be named the captain of my hockey team, where I built on my leadership qualities and set an example for those around me. I attribute hockey to many of the key characteristics that make me who I am today; without it, I would not have the work ethic, drive, and dedication I take to whatever task stands in my way….”

Read Jack’s complete essay below!

Swipe to read more ->

Tectonic changes in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic

Our team was privileged to participate virtually in the Franklin Templeton’s 2021 Global Investment Outlook presentation on December 1st with keynote speaker, Stephen Poloz – special advisor to Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP and former Governor of the Bank of Canada. This is part of the ongoing research we do for our client portfolios.

Mr. Poloz’s presentation was entitled the Tectonic forces acting on the Canadian Economy.

He highlighted five tectonic changes that we are seeing in Canada during the global Covid-19 pandemic.

1. Population Aging – slowing growth with the back half of the post-war baby boom and interest rates will likely stay low for a longer period of time and may not return to a normalized rate of 2%.

2. Growing Indebtedness – staggering amounts of government debt in Canada and worldwide. The central banks have pumped in lots of liquidity into the economies.

3. Technological Progress – similar to previous industrial revolutions in previous generations the digitization of the economy with AI (Artificial Intelligence) has progressed in leaps and bounds during the past eight months specifically – this will have long-term consequences to how we live and work daily. Advancements that were going to come in the next decade or so (good or bad) have been accelerated since March of 2020.

4. Rising Inequality – reality is that the growth is not equal; some companies and some individuals will succeed more so than others. There is an undercurrent of discontent in society currently.

5. Climate Change – managing carbon footprints will increase corporate costs, potential job losses as companies shift to more and more green options, and the opportunities they present.

Mr. Poloz discussed the large federal and provincial government’s deficit and inflationary pressures (perhaps deflation and stagflation). Mr. Poloz commented that “Canada is in a healthy situation – working our way through it as well or better than others.” Covid-19 has accelerated many of the above noted tectonic changes. Stay healthy and positive during these difficult times.

The three of us are always available - just reach out to us.

-Deborah, Kelly, & Gary

2nd Place Essay Winner Of The 2020 Helping Hands Scholarship

Congratulations to our 2nd place Winner for this years’ Helping Hands Scholarship award - Imogen Barnard

Imogen has committed to the University of Guelph – Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Management

(attending virtually due to COVID-19)

“The grandfather of quality and modern business management, W. Edwards Deming, said “Put a good person in a bad system and the bad system wins, no contest.” ​This quote best captures the lens of how I see and interact with the world. I continually strive to create the best systems so that I can be successful in my extracurricular activities, at school, in the time of COVID-19 and in my future c​hosen career as a supply chain manager….

It may be difficult to decide what you are going to do with the rest of your life, especially at seventeen when applying to university, but that was not the case for me. I am able to see the big picture..”

Read Imogen’s full essay below!

Swipe to read more ->