Over-managing may destabilize investment foundation Dollars & I Sense nvestors are programmed to fail. The culprit is our DNA. We are destined to have poor investment results and do so regularly. Life in the world outside of investing often rewards those who take as much control of their environment as possible. The frequent outcome of being proactive is success. That is not the case when managing your investment portfolio. Success requires the discipline of not over managing your portfolio. The popular expression of investing for the long term is your best guide. Have the patience to let things evolve slowly over time. Creating a good long-term portfolio does require some initial decisions. Investing requires a good foundation as with other things you build. Focusing on controlling the fundamental elements of investing is critical. We can determine the fee amount we are willing to pay and be aware of the transaction costs of buying and selling securities, but how much risk do we want to take? How much diversi cation is needed to adequately spread the investment risk between different types of investments and around different parts of the world? Answers to these questions provide your investment foundation. After carefully laying down the foundation, you need the discipline to not attempt to be pro-active and make shortterm decisions based on the news of the day. That is the dif cult part. The nancial media is constantly bombarding us with upto-the minute information. Investors are tempted to abandon their long-term investment approach by capitalizing on this news and use it as a tool for increasing their investment results. We talked about this a few weeks ago by looking at some of the headlines from the more credible U.S. media last year. Their bold headlines were misleading diversions from what was actually happening with investments. All the "noise" that de ects an investor away from the fundament details of investing is costly. The research group Dalbar analyzed the success of mutual fund investors. During the 20 years up to 2012, U.S. mutual fund investors underperformed the S & P 500 stock market index by four per cent per year. The sad outcome of that dismal performance was that all of these investors took the risk by investing in the stock market. As it turned out, those same investors also took the risk of mismanaging their portfolio. The stock market has enough risk without adding an extra layer by straying from the fundamentals of investing and by making poor decisions based on meaningless short-term information. The Dalbar report is consistent with other similar reports that have been produced on a fairly regular basis in both the U.S. and Canada. 25 | Thursday, March 27, 2014 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Peter Watson Guest Contributor Our recommendation is to avoid the trap of over managing your investments. Build a solid investment portfolio and invest for the long term. -- Submitted by Peter Watson, MBA, CFP , R.F .P ., CIM, FCSI., Certi ed Financial Planner Halton Region announces grants for 20 local groups Halton Region announced Wednesday it will award more than $311,000 in grants to 20 non-pro t programs and projects in Halton. The 20 one-year grants are part of the 2014 allocation for the Halton Region Community Investment Fund, which supports local community health and social programs. "Halton's Community Investment Fund make it possible for programs to expand their service, enhance their equipment or even try something new," said Regional Chair Gary Carr, noting eiligible programs align with what citizens identi ed as priorities in the Citizen's Priorities Action Plan. These goals include assisting Halton's low-income residents, providing affordable and assisted housing supports, ensuring a healthy , quality environment for children and youths, meeting the needs of seniors, and supporting programs that increase the capacity for not-for-pro t social services. The one-year grants awarded to community health and social service programs support short-term, time-limited, small capital and/or innovative projects. Grants are awarded for a maximum of one year and up to $20,000. The 2014 one-year grant funding recipients include: Active Chefs; ArtHouse for Children and Youth; Big Brothers Big Sisters of Halton; Canadian Caribbean Association; Community Living Burlington; Community Living North Halton; Community Living Oakville; Elder Technology Assistance Group; Elizabeth Fry Society of Peel-Halton; ErinoaKids Centre for Treatment and Development; Food for Life; Halton Multicultural Council; Halton Women's Place; Home Suite Hope Shared Living Corp; Hope Place Centres; Oak Park Neighbourhood Centre; Open Doors at St. Christopher's Church; St. Matthew-on-the-Plains Anglican Church; Support and Housing Halton and, Wellspring Cancer Support Foundation. For more, visit www.halton.ca/investmentfund.