Mark Sutcliffe August 14, 2015 Starting Out Why I’m speaking up about investments, and why I’m not trying to beat the market Fifteen years ago, I set up a self-directed RRSP. I put some of money into some telecom stocks and invested the rest in mutual funds. Why telecom stocks? Because someone told me they had a good future. How did I pick the mutual funds? I read about a long-time fund manager who had produced some strong results over the preceding five years and went with him. To be honest, I didn’t completely trust my own judgment. However, I figured that as an entrepreneur I knew a little bit about business and I shouldn’t simply be buying GICs. The telecom market was bound to grow. The mutual fund had received good reviews. Everyone else seemed to be making their own investment decisions. Why not me? Even so, I did have a bit of a nagging feeling that I didn’t really know what I was doing, that this was all very speculative. If I really thought about it, I knew I was betting my money on certain companies and products. If they were destined to do well, why wasn’t everyone else doing the same thing? We couldn’t all be right. So what if I was wrong? As it turned out, the telecom stocks went down over the next few years. The mutual fund did okay, but not as well as it had in the past. But even if all my investments had shot up, would that mean I was a genius, or just that I’d made good guesses? Then I met the folks from PWL Capital. They told me my hunches were right. I couldn’t outsmart the market. The evidence they showed me was conclusive: there is no magical way to pick good stocks or mutual funds; it’s impossible. Not only that, picking stocks costs more, it’s riskier and it’s more stressful. In the past 10 years, I’ve had an exemplary relationship with PWL Capital. That’s why I feel comfortable endorsing the company and why I’ve chosen to speak out about it and share my story. In the weeks ahead in this blog, I’ll share more of my own experiences and those of PWL Capital clients, and more of the evidence. Share: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email CIRO Advisor Report
Personal Wealth Mark Sutcliffe Beat the market? Most mutual funds don’t even meet the market Apr 26, 2017 Personal Wealth