Our principles

Every financial plan and investment strategy should be personalized to the person it is created for. Your circumstances and goals are unique to you, so your plan and portfolio should follow. Just as a doctor shouldn’t prescribe without a thoughtful diagnosis, we shouldn’t discuss options without thoroughly understanding you. We craft a robust, comprehensive financial plan that looks at more than just your investments. We include your needs, desires, goals, ambitions and challenges to form the total picture. This goes a long way in building and preserving your wealth, protecting what matters most and preparing for your legacy. Only with that kind of understanding will we review and recommend solutions to fit your life.

It’s impossible to predict short term market returns, or what might appear on the news each night. That’s why it’s in our hands to keep you focused on what you can control like your life dreams, risk tolerance, saving patterns, spending habits and emotions. This helps eliminate the worry around all the things you can’t control. The most important benchmark to measure is if you are on track to meet your financial goals. We help you work your plan. It takes discipline, faith in the future and patience, but we will be your shield of protection throughout the ups and downs in life and the markets.

Experience shows that owners of good businesses make more money than their lenders do. When investing in stocks, you are an owner of business. When investing in bonds or term deposits, you are a lender to a business. For our financial system to work, the owners of a business have to be compensated at a higher level than the people who lend money to a business, or no one would ever own a business. Historically in the long-term, the owner reaps three to four times more than the loaner after inflation and tax.

Money is purchasing power, not paper currency. You often save and accumulate wealth with the intention of spending it in the future, usually retirement. The great long-term investment risk is not losing your money. It’s outliving the buying power of your money. Volatility in net worth from one year to the next is not risk and a temporary decline is not a loss (unless you sell at that price). Market advances are permanent, the declines are temporary and a well-diversified portfolio can reduce the degree of volatility and decline. True risk is loss of purchasing power. When I started in 1989 a dozen eggs cost $1.45 and the average home price in Saskatoon was $75,000. Today eggs are $4 a dozen and the average house price is $350,000.

Proper asset allocation determines most of your long-term returns. Be an owner not a loaner, but ensure your portfolio is diversified, aligned to your risk tolerance and circumstances in life. Properly diversified investors don’t have a good year - they have a good life. We won’t own enough of any single idea that would have a detrimental impact on your plan if it did not succeed. As stewards of your wealth, we actively perform due diligence and will rebalance your portfolio as required.

You can’t predict, but you can plan and be prepared. Goals change. Resources change. Markets change. And, life changes too. Part of our proven process is to engage you regularly and adapt your plan as life unfolds. Making sound financial decisions along the way is fundamental to living a great life. Guidance and advice from an experienced advisory team, like us, will give you the power to navigate life’s course corrections and overcome obstacles that may arise.

Yes, emotions can play a part in your financial success… or lack thereof. People don’t get investment returns, they get investor returns. Investor behaviour impacts long-term financial outcomes more than investment performance. We refer to this as behavioural economics - where finance and economics meet psychology. As a behavioural coach, we add tremendous value by helping you avoid the common pitfalls investors make based on their emotions, unconscious biases and financial blind spots. While we can’t predict what is going to happen, it is our responsibility to remind you what has always happened.