First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to all of you for your continued confidence in the ability of the Frost Wealth Management Team to be the steward of your capital.

Our overall principal of investment advice is always goal-focused and planning-driven. This is in contrast to common approaches that are market-focused and driven by current events.

Long-term investment success comes from continually acting on a plan. Investment failure often results from reacting to current events in the economy and the markets.

You and I are long-term equity investors, working steadily toward the achievement of most cherished lifetime goals. We make no attempt to forecast-- much less time-- the equity market. Indeed, we believe this to be a fool's errand.

More thoughts from Greg

2019 was practically a mirror-image of 2018

 

The previous year, we saw a dramatic 19.8% peak-to-trough decline through Christmas Eve 2018.

This past year, we saw the exact opposite with an exceptionally good year for the market. Even though the economy slowed somewhat, manufacturing went into decline and the earnings of the S&P 500 ended 2019 down slightly year-over-year.

Read the whole post

Stay the course

A good portion of my time is spent in research. All of my current reading and past experience suggest to me that meaningful market setbacks have not historically occurred during huge waves of public pessimism and fear-- quite the contrary.

This is not intended as a market forecast. It is simply an invitation, as we look to the new year, to take some comfort from the rampant fear abroad in the land. Even after a decade or more of stellar returns-- let's hold off on the worrying. That is, until the stock market has become cocktail party conversation, your Uber driver starts giving stock recommendations and everyone around us gets excitedly bullish.

It is quite possible 2020 will not be as good for returns as 2019 has been. The fact-- or the truth-- is that those of us who are goal-focused, planning-driven investors enjoyed an exceptional year in 2019. We did so-- not by forecasting, nor jumping in and out of markets, but by patiently hewing to our long-term, balanced portfolios.

That is the lesson that I will carry into 2020.

Clement Gignac

First Vice-President,

Diversified Funds & Chief Economist

Industrial Alliance Investment Management

A look ahead with iA's chief economist