James Dietrich of 4 Corner Financial has been doing what he can to help provide information to individuals and businesses as both the Federal and Provincial governments announce programs that are being put in place to help provide financial assistance through the COVID-19 pandemic.
People all over the world are trying to navigate their way through the current situation, and one of the scariest parts of this is the financial unknowns. “Our goal is to take the information that is out there and help people by summarizing it into something that is a little easier to understand,” Dietrich said.
When things in our own country began to see the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, Dietrich said that the income within their business was hugely affected – down approximately 50%, with little activity taking place. Now, 3 to 4 weeks later, some of that activity is coming back and things appear to be settling into a “new normal”.
Through this pandemic, Dietrich notes that the market definitely saw some impact, which had people quite concerned, but stated that people need to realize that, “the market is always forward looking and has always recovered from any downturn that we have seen. We have seen the market already responding to the downturn and have since seen the best week that we have had since 1974. The loss was close to 40% of the market and more than half of that is back already, so we are intently worried about the stock market when it is in a significant downward trend, but not as worried when it is in an upward trend.”
One of the most important pieces of advice that Dietrich has is to have trust in your financial advisor. “Something I will always tell people is to know what you own, know why you own it, and have that relationship with your advisor. Trust your advisor and check in with them, but allow them to do what you want that advisor to do in both good and bad times. Don’t go changing the rules during a downturn. At this point to make all sorts of changes could potentially be a very significant downturn in your own recovery.”
For those that are self-directed when it comes to their investments, Dietrich said that this is a huge opportunity for them to act a little more aggressively. “We have seen money managers working more diligently in the last two weeks than they probably have over the past ten years because of the strength in the market.” For Dietrich, the main thing that he watches for is how much of the fund is held in cash. “In doing this, it tells me what the expectation is of that fund. If there is cash being held, they feel there is a correction coming.”
Although times are a little uncertain at the moment, Dietrich advises people not to put all of their time and energy into the negative information that is out there. “If it is all bad that we are hearing, it is going to affect our mental health. There are positives to what is happening; you just have to be open to them. The recovery is positive. If you had a strategy from before this started, you are not in a bad place. You will be reasonably protected.”
For more information and to view regular updates on programs provided by the government, visit https://www.4cornerfinancial.ca/.
