Mike Dunn, CFP and Wealth Advisor
245 Division St. K9A 3P9 Cobourg, ON, Canada

I hope everyone is hanging in there during these unprecedented times. Not only has the global economy essentially come to standstill, the markets have been extremely volatile and have retracted a significant amount since February. What am I telling my clients? Do NOT act on emotions. I know this is an uncomfortable time but if you own quality investments, this is just a bump in the road. What else am I saying? BUY! If you are hesitant, I completely understand but from a long ...term perspective, this a huge buying opportunity that we may never see again for a long time! Remember 2008? We all thought the world was ending. Things calmed down, the economy recovered and we went full steam ahead for over a decade. It's times like these that we have to make prudent decisions and part of an advisors job is to weed through all the media headlines and focus on each specific client and their situation. Take this time to reflect on your financial situation and please reach out if you would like to speak to a professional. Stay healthy, stay happy and stay invested. Have a great weekend! See more

Let's logically look at this. Did this market downturn start because of an economic problem? No. This virus has ripped through the global economy and has caused businesses to shut down, people to stay inside and for the globe to literally stop, chill out and get healthy. I know when you see the market down as much as it is it's hard not to panic. We WILL get through this, markets WILL rebound we just need to be patient. The media scares us and we when we are scared, it causes... us to make irrational decisions. The market will sort itself out and here are some tips depending on what stage in life you are in: Retirees: - Don't panic and move everything to cash. You will miss any uptick or rebound and will never recover your paper losses - if you are dependent on income, maybe adjust your portfolio to find yield (Canadian banks are paying great dividend yields! 5-6%) No GIC or bond will pay you that. - stop watching the news and your account every day, it will drive you nuts! Pre-retirees - revisit retirement plans and see where you are in terms of income, capital and actual retirement needs. - Revisit your risk. If you are a few years from retirement, hang in there and when things rebound, adjust your risk so if this happens again, the volatility will be minimized. Wealth accumulators - do NOT move to cash - If you have extra funds, add to your portfolio. - buy big boring companies and even dividends because you get paid to hold their stock - do NOT panic. This will pass and if you take advantage of opportunities like this, you will be rewarded long term. - think long term. You may not make money overnight or in a week but if you continue to do the right things, it will for sure pay off. To sum this all up, everyone is different and I understand that. I use the simple analogy of flying (because I am terrified of flying). When a plane goes through turbulence, a pilot does not abandon all training, common sense and fly in an irrational way. Less is more and if you fight the unstable air, it will make things worse. Put on your seat belt, read your book or watch your movie and it will pass. No different than investing. Take a deep breath, talk to your advisor if you need to and we will get through this. Please reach out if you need someone to talk to. My door (well phone line now) is open.

I've had a lot of questions as to what we should do given the current market environment. First and foremost, selling everything is not a wise choice. Could the market keep going down? yes. Will it come back up at some point? yes. The single most difficult thing to do when it comes to investing is timing the market. This is proven to be a failed strategy. There are two key questions that need to be answered when it comes to your portfolio; first, what is your time horizon (i....e. how long until you need part of all of your money)? and second, what is your risk? Once these questions are answered, your money is invested accordingly. We will have ups and downs and if you stick to your core strategy, you will be ok. It's not fun when you see markets down 12% in one session but this will not last forever. Let's do what we can to stop the spreading of this virus and things will be fine. If we all gave up when things got tough, nothing would ever get better (anything in life can be applied to this). Hang in there, talk to your advisor and we will all get through this. If you have extra cash that you can put away for a while, this is not a bad time to add to your portfolio. Advisors are here to help so please reach out if you are struggling with what we are going through.

Tough day in the markets today. It's hard not to be negative, want to sell everything and buy bitcoin or pay $1 million over asking on a house but let's take a step back and not let our emotions dictate our investment decisions. There is a lot going on right now (Coronavirus, Oil, bond yields) and markets were at all time highs like 3 weeks ago! My simple analogy is: when you fly through turbulence, does the pilot all of a sudden change the way he flies and make rash decision...s because everyone is uncomfortable? No. They stick to the basics and ride it out. This is no different than investing. Calm down, stop watching your portfolio on a daily basis and remember why you are investing in the first place. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither is wealth. Reach out to your advisor (or me) if you have questions. Have a great day, at least it's warm today! See more

See what happens when you don't let emotions dictate investment decisions. Stay invested, stay disciplined and control the things you can. Yes, volatility is hard to stomach but that's when you need to know your risk.