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29 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,M arch 25,2021 insidehalton.com Let your community know you're open for business. ommunity c ourt yeL To help our communitieswe have created an online business directory that features local businesses that are open, hours of operation and how customers can safelymake purchases from your store. Our business directory can be accessed from anyone of our 25 Community sites in Ontario. Visit metroland.com to find the community site in your area. Signing up is easy and free. 1 Visit our community website in your area and click on the banner at the bottom of the page 2 Click the "Add Business" link 3 Complete and submit the formSubmit www.metroland.com One the most significant risks of investing is letting your emotions push you into panic selling. Another risk we face in life is fire; for that, we may be prepared because of prac- tising a fire drill. The importance of being prepared can also be useful in managing your invest- ments. What type of "fire drill" procedures should be in place in case, suddenly, stock market values start to plummet and so does your portfolio? Here are a few sugges- tions. Start by managing your expectations. For example, looking at the U.S. stock market over close to 100 years we see a pattern. Markets suffer an annual decline about 25 per cent of the time. So, about one out of every four years you should expect to lose. Occasionally, the stock market has suffered back-to- back declining years. That said, there has never been a market decline that has not fully recovered and gone on to post new record highs. Having a well-balanced and diversified investment portfolio is key. Owning just a few companies can be risky. Focus on your long-term goal. Preparing for a retire- ment that will last many de- cades should not be nega- tively impacted because you have a few bad years of in- vestment returns. Those bad years caused by declining stock values should be considered as nor- mal investment risk. A suggestion. Write out your own investment fire drill. - Peter Watson is regis- tered with Aligned Capital Partners Inc. (ACPI) to provide investment advice. Investment products are provided by ACPI. ACPI is a member of the Invest- ment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of ACPI. Watson provides wealth management services through Watson Invest- ments. He can be contacted through www.watsoninv- tesments.com. FINANCIAL FIRE DRILL: BE PREPARED OPINION PLAN HOW YOU WILL REACT WHEN STOCK PORTFOLIO PLUMMETS, WRITES PETER WATSON PETER WATSON Column Stay Inside. Stay Informed. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, we will be making some changes to our website and newsletter. In regards to Canada's federal government advising against all unnecessary travel, we will not be promoting any flights, travel deals and travel packages until further notice. But, just because our travel deals have been put on hold, our team is dedicated to providing YOU, our amazing subscribers, with inspiring and informative blog content during this time! If you haven't done so yet, please sign up for our weekly newsletter so we can keep you up to date! Please Visit Travelalerts.ca for fresh travel content, exclusive tips and more!