Financial Planning and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Conversation with David Victor

David Victor is a colleague of Richard’s at Scotia Wealth who prepares financial plans for clients with larger portfolios and complex issues. He is a former tax lawyer with work experience at some of the larger firms on Bay Street, and is also a chartered accountant, which he did before law school. His broad experience in working with tax issues and finance issues, and just the business world in general, renders him an ideal fit for his current role with Scotia Wealth.

During today’s podcast, David and Richard discuss the impact that the pandemic and the market downturn may have had on their financial plans, explore retirement projections and estate plans, and look at the need to understand risk profiles before making asset allocation decisions. Throughout the episode, David also offers a number of useful examples, suggestions and
strategies to assist investors in each of these areas.

Download the full transcript here

Highlights:

– David has a great deal of advice to offer about preparing a retirement plan involving
illiquid investments.

– It’s useful to go back and actually evaluate where you are specifically in your unique
situation, and compare your projections against the actual.

– It’s a very good idea when there is a major change, such as the potential impact of
this pandemic, to give wills, powers of attorney, and retirement plans a review and
make sure they still make sense.

– In times of depressed values as is happening now, it can be good to look at something
like an estate freeze or tax loss harvesting.

– Three things that Richard looks at when determining asset allocation are risk
tolerance, risk willingness, and capacity to take the risk.

Quotes:

“ One of the things that’s great about what we do at Scotia Wealth in my role, is that we create
very, very customized bespoke plans for clients.”

“ We’re planning to make sure or at least do our best to make sure that there are the fewest
amount of surprises. And I think everyone would agree, nobody wants to run out of money when
they’re 90…”

“Don’t just look at the market, don’t read the paper, look at your own particular situation.”

“I think most people, they make their estate plan and then they throw it in a folder and forget
about it for years, and years, and years until someone prompts them to take another look at it.”

“The decision around the asset allocation has a greater impact on the overall rate of return than
the actual selection of the individual stocks that you choose.”

“Don’t assume more risk than you have to.”