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Statement Snapshot

Once again I must apologise for the long pause in between blog posts. Unfortunately in mid July I caught the flu and was very sick right up to our family trip for a wedding. Yes I did get the flu shot last fall. I had a forced hiatus off regular work, although I did sneak in a few client meetings, research, and paperwork, in between bouts of being flat out cold in the couch.

The day before I left on our trip a client phoned me. She is a retiree, who still works part time. She recently at age 71 had to convert her RRSP to a RRIF. She was concerned that her 2nd quarterly statement(March-June) had shown a decline in market value. She wanted to discuss this.

Regulators of the mutual fund industry, the Canadian Securities Administrators(CSA) and the Mutual Fund Dealers’ Association(MFDA) have mandated quarterly statements. This is a non negotiable rule dealers must abide by. It costs time and money, especially if paper statements are issued, instead of e delivery.

Almost all of my clients are long term investors who are not that concerned with the day to day short term fluctuations in market value. For those with a shorter time horizon, such as the retiree or parents with children in high school, I have their names on a short watch list. That means I am monitoring their investments more often. Also, hopefully we are in regular discussion regarding future plans. A client and financial planner must work as a team to ensure success in reaching their financial goals. Also these clients are more conservatively invested to begin with.

So what did my client and I discuss? It turns out that since her initial investment in February 2016, her investment had increased by about 8%. This was not reflected in her June statement. She took the absolutely correct action to phone me with her question. Her call shows me she is engaged and interested in her financial future.

By the way if you have questions about the format or information on your statement please let me know. Also if you have trouble accessing your statement online please contact me. Thank you to all my clients who made the switch to e statements to facilitate fund facts delivery compliance.

 
Beginning in January 2017 you will see more information on your statements, which pertains to your cost to invest. Future blog posts will detail these changes.