by Scott Ronalds

When we last checked in with Emmylou around this time last year, she was on the verge of making a big life change – transitioning to part-time work in a new field. Well, she officially turned in her Louboutins for Lululemons and is crushing it as a part-time yoga instructor.

The move came with a lot of anxiety and some second guessing. Emmylou figured she’d give it a year to assess the impact it would have on her life (financial and emotional). So here we are. Our favourite yogi recently checked in with us and as expected, the biggest change she’s had to adjust to has been a drop in her income. But she’s loving life and is making it work financially. Emmylou hasn’t had to draw on her emergency fund or Steadyhand portfolio yet. She figures she’ll be in good shape for another year, but may want to cut back on her classes and establish a small withdrawal program at that time, probably $1,000 a month.

We briefly discussed a strategy whereby she could set aside a year’s worth of withdrawals ($12,000) in the Savings Fund and then redeem the money on a monthly basis, essentially providing her with another paycheque. This would shelter the money from market volatility, but still earn some interest. She liked the idea and will re-consider it prior to when the time comes.

As for her investments with us, Emmylou holds the Founders Fund across all her accounts. Her portfolio grew by 11% over the past 12 months (ending February 28th) and has grown to just under $685,000 over the past 5 years (she started with $395,000 in 2012 and has added $100,000 in net contributions along the way). The Founders Fund has produced an annualized return of 8.0% over the past five years. Emmylou’s return has been higher because of her fee discount. We walked her through her performance using her statement as the template.

We also let Emmylou know that she has another reason to celebrate – she’s now a member of the 5-Year Club. This means her all-in fee just dropped by 7%, from 0.99% to 0.92%.

We counseled Emmylou that returns may not be as good over the next five years, as the markets have had a good run and are probably due to cool off at some point. This isn’t to say that she should expect poor returns, but rather she should keep her expectations in check and be prepared for some bumps.

In wrapping up our review, Emmylou let us know that she’s really starting to embrace the whole concept of long-term investing. She expressed it best when we asked her if she felt the need to make any changes to her portfolio: “N’amastay with my plan.”

Management fees and expenses all may be associated with mutual fund investments. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. The indicated rates of return are the historical annual total returns including changes in unit value and reinvestment of all distributions and do not take into account sales, redemption, distribution or optional charges or income taxes payable by any securityholder that would have reduced returns.