I am a firm believer in tailoring a portfolio to your individual needs. No two people or families are alike, so no portfolios should be, either. Many other advisors encourage their clients to invest in one of several pre-packaged, generic portfolios.
 

Asset Allocation

As you move through a typical economic cycle, the asset mix between stocks, bonds and cash should change. Studies have shown that asset allocation is far more important to performance than individual security selections. Yet, most advisors spend all of their time focusing on what stocks to buy while neglecting to direct the proper division between stocks, bonds, cash and real estate.
 

Steady, Consistent Performance

Steady, consistent performance is more important than average performance. Our goal is to shoot for a positive return every year, strive never to have a negative year, while working to maintain a competitive average return. We do not measure ourselves against common benchmarks like the TSX or the S&P 500.

We would rather earn an 8%* average with a low deviation year-to-year than earn 10%* fluctuating between up and down years. We feel this is the key to better yields in the long term. *Percentages are for illustrative purposes only.

The best way to achieve this is to focus on income investments. The usual product mix to gather income has traditionally been government bonds and blue chip stocks. I use these avenues but focus on less typical holdings such as convertible bonds, preferred shares, preferred securities, and income trusts.