A lot can change in a year. That’s why your finances aren’t something you can set and forget; as your life changes, your investment portfolio and retirement plan should change, too.
We encourage our members to meet with us and review their portfolios every year. This gives us the opportunity to assess your portfolio performance, discuss recent life events, and note any changes in your financial situation.
To learn more, we sat down with Megan Bednar, Senior Financial Advisor at Cambrian and Aviso Wealth, to discuss annual portfolio reviews:
“During your review, we can make sure you’re on track to meet your goals,” says Megan.
“By checking in regularly, we can set financial priorities that you can work towards. This helps you feel confident that you will be comfortable in retirement.”
To ensure your portfolio is still aligned with your goals, your advisor will review:
“The meetings can be very broad depending on what you’re looking for,” says Megan. “A typical review meeting takes about 1 hour.”
You can expect to discuss questions like:
During your review, you might discover that your priorities have changed or that you aren’t on track to meet your goals.
“If so, we have to talk about what you’re willing to do to change that,” says Megan. “Do you need to work longer, contribute more to an RRSP, or adjust your risk tolerance?”
If that’s the case, there are 4 changes we can make:
By delaying when you retire, you can get more money from CPP (up until age 70). This also gives you more time to save for retirement.
Not meeting your savings goals? If you aren’t ready to consider lowering your expected retirement income, you can instead increase the contributions to your RRSP or TFSA.
Megan says, “One question I always ask members is: ‘What do you plan to do in retirement?’”
Certain lifestyles are more expensive in retirement - for example, travelling each year will cost more than staying at home. By adjusting your lifestyle, you can potentially achieve retirement sooner.
“To meet your financial goals, you may need to consider making market-based investments as opposed to having just a high-interest savings account,” says Megan.
“We can make asset allocation changes to help you outpace inflation.”
Megan also encourages members not to panic when they see portfolio drops from one year to the next. Don’t lose sight of how the psychology of investing affects your decisions and keep your long-term goals in mind!
“The worst time to take your money out of the market is when it’s down—you crystalize your loss when you do that,” says Megan.
Once you exit the market, there’s no chance of recovering the money you may have lost during a market downswing. As the saying goes, it’s best to sell high and buy low—not the other way around!
We recommend reviewing your plan at least once a year.
“But if there’s a financial change in your life, you may want to come in sooner,” says Megan.
A few examples of those changes include:
Ready to review your portfolio? These meetings help your advisor understand where you are on your financial journey, and how they can help.
“What sets us apart is the value we offer to our members,” says Megan. “We provide personalized investment plans.”
“Once you share your goals with us, we ask questions to get a clear sense of your financial plans. We work together so that you understand what you own in your investment portfolio and why you own it.”
Our advisors can meet with you online or in person. Book a meeting for your portfolio review today!
Disclaimer
Mutual funds and other securities are offered through Aviso Wealth, a division of Aviso Financial Inc.
We would be happy to discuss your unique situation with you.
Our goal is to make complex topics like this one, simple.
It takes less than 5 minutes to make an appointment or to apply online. It is up to you how you want to meet your advisor - you will have the option to meet your advisor:
