by Tom Bradley

In a recent Globe and Mail column titled The Loneliness of the Long-term Investor, I outlined the importance of having a strategy and routine that can be sustained for a long period of time. I suggested that it can be a lonely endeavour. The media implores you to make changes, friends boast of big stock wins, and unpredictable markets make it hard to sleep some nights.

Well, I want to clarify something. My loneliness piece was written for readers of the Saturday Globe, most of which aren’t Steadyhand clients. For you, it doesn’t have to be so lonely. Steadyhand is designed to make it much easier to execute on the four recommendations in the article that will build up your endurance and help with the loneliness. Let me explain.

Have realistic expectations. When times are good, we’re preparing clients for when they won’t be so good. We want you to be ready for the toughest time in the market cycle, when stock prices are down, and emotions are up.

Our favourite tool on the website is the Volatility Meter, which shows that every four or five years an all-equity portfolio will be down. For a balanced portfolio like the Founders Fund, it’s every 7-10 years (Founders has had two negative years since its inception in 2012).

If anything, we’re too much of a downer in our communications (me at least), which is lousy marketing to be sure, but it has kept our clients grounded and is a big reason why more top up their contributions than bail out when markets are scary.

Have a clear goal for each bucket of money. This is something our Investor Specialists do well. They know there are no right answers without understanding the purpose. Money invested to provide a retirement income decades from now is vastly different than money being set aside for a down payment.

Pursue a strategy you can sustain no matter what’s going on in your life. We only ask that you invest some time when getting started (we have lots of questions) and stay in touch with what’s going on. To help, our communications are easy to understand and have a regular rhythm; our approachable, knowledgeable professionals are available to answer questions and provide advice; and our core funds (Founders and Builders) make adjustments for you as needed.

Speaking of adjustments, we’ve done some rebalancing in the Founders Fund this year in light of the hot markets. We’ve trimmed stocks to stay close to our long-term target and edged up the bond weighting to reflect an improved fixed income outlook. We dig further into what we’ve been doing in our Q3 Report, which I encourage you to read.

And finally, make sure your support system is in sync with your approach. You want a steady hand when things are going poorly (see company name), not an easy off-ramp that throws you to the investment industry wolves. Industry studies show that investors don’t do nearly as well as the funds they invest in because they chase past performance, trade too much, and buy high/sell low. Our clients’ returns, on the other hand, closely track our fund returns. Our clients keep their goals in mind, stick to their plan, and have a shoulder to lean on along the way.