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Market Commentary

August 2020 Update

A page of history is worth a volume of logic. – Oliver Wendell Holmes


Markets

I am pleased to report another month of positive performance from each of the four portfolio strategies. Notably, Canadian Growth continues to outperform the TSX Index by a substantial margin over the past twelve months. Our strategies have adapted well to the new market environment by focusing on positive trends and identifying new growth opportunities in spite of obvious turmoil.

There is no doubt that the influence of passive investing, coupled with the recent entrance of government into financial markets, is redefining investment norms and creating new relationships between assets. I believe this unique and new environment ideally supports our numbers-first, rules-based approach, which enables us to concentrate on selecting companies that benefit disproportionately from these positive capital flows. I also believe that investors relying exclusively on theories and heuristics developed over the past 150 years may come up short-changed, as already so many traditional investment relationships have been rendered null in the past 200 days. If there was ever a time for evidence-based investing, it is now.

Financial Planning
An Estate Freeze is an estate-planning technique used to lock in the current value and tax liability of property (business, real estate, holdco, etc) for the estate owner, while attributing the value of future growth to beneficiaries. This may be an ideal time to consider setting up an estate freeze since lower market value benefits the estate owner by lowering tax liability. If you have questions about your particular plan or would like to review with our team here, please be in touch.

Recommended reading
Five long term trends that got sped-up by covid  https://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/here-we-are-5-stories-that-got-us-to-now/

A good review of economic statistics and how the Fed is likely to respond https://blogs.uoregon.edu/timduyfedwatch/2020/07/20/federal-reserve-themes-in-the-second-half-of-2020/

Cordially,

Ben W. Kizemchuk
Portfolio Manager & Investment Advisor
Wellington-Altus Private Wealth

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