Wow, Calgary’s 9-day summer has just flown by. We’ve been very busy these last few months; not the usual holiday lull. IWM’s new advisor, Sandor Kiss and I have had many meetings with new Client Families who reached out to us to serve their wealth management needs. Our exceptionally competent new Business Manager Soraya Rahemtulla is working her client service and administrative magic. And our Portfolio Managers have been doing a phenomenal job minimizing the effects of Equity Market volatility on our Clients’ portfolios. We’re grateful for all of this, except the summer that wasn’t. Oh well.
Growing up in Oliver, B.C. – now “The Wine Capital of Canada” – I always pined for the Labour Day long weekend. It marked the shift from the overbearing Okanagan heat & physical challenge of outdoor summer jobs to the cooler nights, a new school year, the fall colors & smells, and re-engaging in my sporting passions: soccer, track, and especially basketball. What an idyllic time and place to be born and raised. Despite the challenges of my childhood, there is so very much to be grateful for. I’m sure many readers can relate.
This year we’re looking forward to our webinar on September 28th, Josef Schachter’s Energy Conference on October 19th, and Martin Armstrong’s World Economic Conference in late October.
As the seasons shift, I’m reminded of how winter is coming – literally and figuratively. While most of us no longer work in agriculture, there is something incredibly timeless and profound in the sayings and tales from our agrarian history: “Make hay while the sun shines,” and the allegory of the Ant and the Grasshopper spring immediately to mind.
Taking advantage of opportunities with hard work during fair weather and the necessity of deferring gratification are not merely annual rhythms; they apply to our lives, including the importance of saving diligently after 50, and building durable structures to protect the grain we’ve gathered into the barn from the worst that Mother Nature can throw at us in the coming winter. And the same cycle applies to preparation for major financial crises. Timing is literally everything.
On August 3rd, I did an interview with Michael Campbell and introduced our Financial Health Assessment tool. The central theme was, “Stop being complacent and get serious about preparing for the next financial crisis now…before it starts.” If you’ve not yet taken the Assessment, you should. It will take less than 10 minutes, and you’ll learn that either a) you’ve got all your bases covered, or b) that you don’t have all your bases covered. The only risk is NOT taking the Assessment and finding out during the next financial crisis that you could have avoided big losses by getting informed now. Go to our home page and scroll down a bit to start our assessment.
It would be extremely easy to shift gears here to detail some of the recent and imminent craziness in our world, but I’m going to resist that impulse. Instead, I will offer this single comment: markets ALWAYS climb a “Wall of Worry.” Today’s environment is no different; we merely have different lines spoken by new actors…and increasingly, more bad actors.
There’s still money to be made by patiently riding this major Equity market uptrend. Our Clients can rest assured that our Portfolio Managers are constantly vigilant for signals that warn of catastrophic risk to their capital. For now, this is volatility to ride…NOT volatility from which to hide. In the meantime, the Alternatives in our portfolios are throwing off yields north of 6% with zero volatility.
We know that catastrophic volatility will happen again at some point. We’re very well prepared for this eventuality, and right now we’re crazy busy preparing for our next webinar to share exactly how our portfolio management teams are positioned. “Protect & Prosper Through the Coming Global Chaos” will be on Saturday Sept 28th at 11:05 AM Mountain Time, right after the Money Talks radio show. I’ll be doing another interview with Michael Campbell at 9:53 AM that day as well. In a couple weeks we’ll start broader promotion. Today we’re giving our readers the first opportunity to register for this free webinar, which we expect will be fully subscribed. [Watch the recording of the webinar by accessing our Video & Webinar Library.
Our friends at Schachter Energy Report have very graciously offered our readers a very substantial discount on tickets for their second annual Schachter Energy Conference in Calgary on October 19th.
Given the importance of our Oil & Gas sector to the entire country’s economic and fiscal wellbeing, the industry insights from Josef and his line-up of expert speakers will be exceptionally valuable. As an added bonus, you might run into Victor Adair and Drew Zimmerman from Polar Futures Group.
If you’re ready to chat about how we might be able to serve your Family’s wealth management needs, simply reply to this email and our team will be in touch shortly.
Patience and Discipline are accretive to your Wealth, Health and Happiness so focus on these.
