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w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le | T hu rs da y, A pr il 9, 20 20 | 4 ABOUT US This newspaper, published every Thursday, is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised of more than 80 community publications across Ontario. This newspaper is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. Complainants are urged to bring their concerns to the attention of the news- paper and, if not satisfied, write The National NewsMedia Council, Suite 200, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 2H2. Phone: 416-340-1981 Web: www.mediacouncil.ca editorial@waterloochronicle.ca facebook.com/waterloochronicle @wlchronicle WHO WE ARE VP, Regional Publisher Kelly Montague Regional General Manager Nelson Parreira nparreira@metroland.com Regional Director of Media Heather Dunbar hdunbar@starmetrolandmedia.com Advertising Representatives Cassandra Dellow, Jan Bodanka, Matt Miller, Lisa Humphreys, Sheri-Lyn Blair, Chris Rego Managing Editor Doug Coxson Online Editor Adam Jackson Reporters Bill Jackson Namish Modi CONTACT US Waterloo Chronicle 475 Thompson Dr. Cambridge, ON N1T 2K8 Phone: 519-886-2830 Fax: 519-623-9155 Web: www.waterloochronicle.ca Letters to the editor All letters must be fewer than 320 words and include your name and telephone number for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit, condense or reject letters. Published letters will appear in print and/or online at waterloochronicle.ca Delivery For all delivery inquiries, e-mail customerservice@metroland.com or call 519-894-3000 OPINION TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT WATERLOOCHRONICLE.CA In the throes of a global pan- demic, newspapers matter now more than ever. We are committed to delivering news and information to help you navigate the many unknowns brought on by the coronavirus public health crisis. And we want to assure you that we are doing so safely. We take the health and safety of our readers and carriers very seri- ously. That's why we've imple- mented a number of measures to ensure our carriers observe all precautions, including self-isola- tion if they have travelled. Where there is human contact in our production facility, we can confirm that a number of precau- tions have been taken. These in- clude the use of gloves when han- dling product and thoroughly sani- tizing all equipment multiple times per day. We also hope you find comfort in knowing that no known cases of COVID-19 has been transmitted via a newspaper or package arriving at a home. In keeping with the advice of public health officials, we encour- age you to wash your hands fre- quently -- after you've handled an object, touched a surface and even after you've read the newspaper. If you have questions about our processes please contact our circu- lation department: 1-866-838-8960. We're all in this together! WE ARE PUTTING SAFETY FIRST WITH NEWSPAPER DELIVERY ACCESS TO NEWS HAS NEVER BEEN MORE IMPORTANT THAN RIGHT NOW Evidence-based investing uses research and what is known about investing to the benefit of individu- al investors. The evidence applies to solid in- vestment principals and human behaviour that greatly impacts an individual's decision-making abili- ty. This column will provide seven solid principles of how to best man- age investments during this period of extreme stock market volatility as a result of the COVID-19 pan- demic. 1. Human behaviour during un- certain times can be your worst en- emy. During times of uncertainty and stress, human characteristics often result in poor decision-mak- ing. Understanding the normal in- ternal struggle between doing what you know to be right and what emotionally feels comfort- able is a starting point to making good decisions. 2. If you have a financial advi- sor, maintain open lines of commu- nication. Listen to the advice that is given and use that person as a sounding board for your own thoughts. Many people find talking to someone allows their thought pro- cess to evolve, and as a result have a better understanding of the best decisions to make. 3. Your thinking will be clearer if you understand that you will be okay or if action has to be taken to improve your financial situation. This is best done with a cash flow projection. Consider both short-term and long-term expenses. These include current living costs, assisting your children with post-secondary education and planning for your own financially secure retirement. Project where cash to pay for these expenses comes from. For ex- ample, current income, education- al savings plans, employer retire- ment pensions, government enti- tlements, and finally investments. 4. Stay invested. For hundreds of years, stock markets have been volatile and that is normal and expected. In every single past stock mar- ket crash, the market has fully re- covered and gone on to reach new highs. That too is normal. 5. Be properly diversified. Stock markets recover, but sometimes individual companies do not. Some companies go out of business. If you have concentrated posi- tions in just a few investments, the laws of "buy and hold" investing do not apply. Diversification is your friend. That is how you pro-active- ly manage normal investment risk. 6. Rebalance your portfolio back to your target asset allocation. For example, your investing ap- proach could have been 60 per cent stocks and 40 per cent bonds. If your stock portfolio has de- creased significantly. Sell some bonds and buy some stocks to re- balance your portfolio to 60/40. The objective when you rebal- ance is to maintain the same risk profile of stocks and bonds. It is not a prediction of how stocks will per- form in the future. 7. Tax planning is always a sig- nificant part of investing. It is very likely you'll want some professional assistance when deal- ing with these issues. This could involve tax-loss sell- ing, asset location -- which is the practice of arranging your invest- ments to be most beneficial from a tax perspective -- and making use of tax-sheltered investments like a Registered Retirement Savings Ac- count and Tax-Free Savings Ac- count. These are difficult times. Diffi- cult times require making difficult decisions. Peter Watson is registered with Aligned Capital Partners Inc. (ACPI) to provide investment advice. Investment products are provided by ACPI. ACPI is a member of the Investment In- dustry Regulatory Organization of Canada. The opinions ex- pressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of AC- PI. Peter Watson provides wealth management services through Watson Investments. 7 STEPS TO BUILDING AN EVIDENCE-BASED INVESTMENT STRATEGY USE WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT INVESTING TO YOUR BENEFIT, WRITES PETER WATSON PETER WATSON Column These are difficult times. Difficult times require making difficult decisions. EDITORIAL