 "Just ignore the noise!"
Many a financial advisor has uttered those words over the years. It sounds good and I too have preached this as I have seen the global economy ebb and flow over the past 13 years advising families with their wealth. But there is a difference between good advice and effective advice. There’s plenty of good advice anywhere you look these days but lots of people simply ignore it because it’s not easy to follow. Good advice is preaching to your clients to stay the course. Effective advice is building portfolios that are durable and behaviorally aware enough to help clients stick to their plan. Good advice is to ignore the noise. Effective advice is to create a comprehensive investment plan that focuses on those things that are within your control. It’s nearly impossible to ignore the noise today because you have a rectangular supercomputer in your hands all day long that constantly beats you over the head with news, alerts and social media posts. It’s amazing how connected we are to the world now, both good and bad in a lot of ways. It almost feels like you have to do something in times of duress and instability, but should you? History shows us quite clearly that in fact, doing nothing is the right approach. I had a call with a client this week. I had a whole market update ready with charts about oil, geopolitical risks and such to put the current environment into perspective. Then I asked the client what they thought about the situation. I haven’t really been paying attention. I have too many other things going on in my life and work right now. That was music to my ears! It was yet another gentle reminder that life goes on, despite what is happening in the world. Your children’s birthdays, their graduations, your trips you’ve planned for months, this cannot and should not just stop because of what is happening on the other side of the world. Life is going to pass us by whether we like it or not. Delayed gratification can only work for so long, and then its too late. My baby girl just turned 1 last week and I was astounded at how fast 365 days passed by. Life comes at you fast and to everyone who told me that life comes even faster once you have kids, you were right! As someone much wiser than me once said, the days are long but the years are short. Make 'em count! Enjoy the time you have today with the ones you love the most.
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 This is a question I receive quite often.
The prediction business is a horrible one to be in and I simply do not know. But I do know, if history is any indication, then lets take a look at what we can look for. These are the worst peak-to-trough drawdowns every year in the 2020s for the S&P 500:
That’s surprising, right? The year is still young but we have the Iran war going on, spiking oil prices, higher prices at the pump, geopolitical uncertainty, the software sell-off and more. Oh, and Canadian real estate is at 30 year record lows in terms of sales and new homes built. Yet the market has been resilient. The TSX (Toronto Stock Exchange) is up 3.52%* and the S&P 500 is currently down around 1%* on the year at the time of writing. What gives? Why won’t the stock market fall more in the face of all the scary headlines? The stock market is often counterintuitive. It’s forward-looking. The short-term doesn’t always make sense. Sometimes it’s a Teflon market. It’s possible investors are trying to avoid overreacting if this conflict is resolved in short order. Investors have also become accustomed to ignoring geopolitical headlines that don’t have a long-lasting impact on corporate profits or the market as a whole. For years, I have reminded clients that the market always climbs the wall of worry (literally every single time) and this time is not different. Thinking through why markets will rise or fall in the short run can be an intellectually stimulating exercise but it’s not something that’s helpful to your investment process on a consistent basis. Here are 5 things you can do today that are infinitely more productive for your wealth and mental health:
*These valuations were taken at the time of writing. This is not intended to provide investment advice. Every so often I see a chart that really makes me stop and think. Having sat across from hundreds of business owners, soon to be retirees and seasoned retirees I’ve often wondered if we are our own worst enemy when it comes to investing. There's a famous financial advisor quote that says “ A great financial advisor is the gap between you and stupid”. While made in jest, there is truth to this as most people left to their own simply do not perform well with their money, hard stop. Study after study shows that self directed investor not only under perform the broad markets, but they underperform their counterparts that work with a great advisor. The reasons? Well there are many. Think of how easy it is to react to news now versus even 10 years ago. I can move money around within seconds from my phone – this didn’t exist years ago. There was no gap to stop you from being irrational. You’re also being bombarded with news every day, every hour, most of which is no effect on your investments but they sure make it sound like it does! This chart below has tracked the largest 500 companies from 1950 to 2025 showing the drawdowns (red) and where the year ended (green). Study this, memorize it, send it to your best friends and show everyone that the markets are not broken! In fact, they are the most efficient vehicle on this planet to build wealth.  There will be another drawdown in 2026. Just like there was in every year before it. But downside volatility isn’t the enemy of high returns, it’s the reason they exist. Look at how many more positive years (green) than there is negative (red). If there is one chart every investor needs to see, this is it.
Will there be temporary periods of volatility? History shows us this happens every year, this is not new. What history also shows us is that there are many more positive years than there are negative. To be a successful investor means you must invest through the good times and the bad; there is simply no avoiding this. But the reward is worth it! Just think about a lifetime of income that your family will never outspend. A legacy that can fund future grandchildren, or great-grandchildren who you may never have the chance to meet. Gifts to those who need it more than yourself. A retirement that allows your family to confidently spend every month, without encroaching on your capital. Staying ahead means staying invested and holding on even when everyone around you is being irrational and telling you to do the opposite. The rewards are incredible for the small percentage that do!  'It’s all too common to think that when the market temporary falls 10% or even 20% that people immediately want to say “something is broken” or “someone made a mistake”. The President made a mistake, or even *gasps* my CFP made a mistake - who is to blame for this catastrophe?
When the reality is, this is simply par for the course and dealing with that uncertainty and volatility is why you can do well over time, that is the cost of admission! The admission is you must be willing to pay to do well over time with your investments. And what if you don’t want to put up with uncertainty over time? Well, there are bank accounts and money market funds that will give you the meagre returns that you deserve. As the age old saying goes, you cannot have your cake and eat it too. Accepting that there will always be periods of instability and fluctuations is a mindset. You cannot avoid this. But, if you can put up with the (what seems to be daily) nonsense and endure it over time – the rewards for those that stick around can be extraordinary. It’s the idea that volatility is simply a fee, a cost of admission but it is not a fine. A fine means you did something wrong, and you are being punished. A fee is just you’re paying something to in return receive something of greater value, and that’s exactly what dealing with uncertainty is when investing. This fee can be hard to swallow when markets fall. I understand this and no one (myself included) likes to see their investments drop. But I believe that investors need to be reminded of this fee when times are good, and times are not so good. We recently helped an older couple with their tax and estate plan and while consolidating their portfolios, I was yet again amazed at what Albert Einstein coined as the 8th wonder of the world, compounding interest. This couple had been investing for over 50 years! And holding some of these positions for several decades. Think about that for a moment, they have held on through the crash of 1987, the Dot Com crash in 1999, the Great Financial Crisis in 2008 and then Covid! And every other catastrophe du’jour in between you can think of. All the while, their portfolios have produced returns that would make your brain do mental gymnastics. This is a couple who never earned high incomes, didn’t inherit sums of wealth or had a business they exited for millions. These are regular folks who raised a family and invested part of their income every month. For some reason we over complicate what building wealth really looks like. I love to see these types of investors because its another great reminder for me in several ways. First, building wealth takes time. There's a famous Warren Buffet quote that states that the stock market is "simply a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient." Secondly, and maybe most importantly, is that owning a well diversified portfolio of quality companies (stocks) is the absolute best way to build wealth over time. So the next time you see the markets take a temporary fall just remember, this is the price of admission and part of being a successful investor. I’m happy to report on another very successful year in our plan for the pursuit of your most cherished financial goals. Our plan, and therefore your portfolio, continue to be driven by these goals, rather than by any turmoil or crisis du jour around the economy or the markets. That will always be the case, throughout the coming year, and beyond. I’ll start by restating some of the core beliefs that guide our planning and investment approach, and then offer a few comments about the economic/financial backdrop.
General Principles: • We are long-term, goal-focused, plan-driven investors. Our core investment policy is to pursue your goals by investing in broadly diversified portfolios of quality companies. • We believe that the economy cannot be consistently forecast, nor the markets consistently timed. Moreover, we find no predictable pattern in the way markets react to, or choose to ignore, economic developments. • We conclude from these beliefs that the only way to be reasonably confident of capturing the full return of equities is to ride out their frequent, sometimes significant, but historically always temporary declines. • We do not react to, much less try to anticipate, economic and/or market events. As long as your long-term goals remain unchanged, so will our plan for their achievement. And as long as our plan remains constant, so will your portfolio. • We believe that long-term compounding of quality equities is the most important force guiding us toward the achievement of your goals. And we’re obedient to the late Charlie Munger’s quote, “The first law of compounding is to never interrupt it unnecessarily.” Trying to time the market and thinking you can avoid economic downturns by going to cash is a losing strategy and one we will not employ for clients. Our portfolios are built to withstand economic volatility and this has been proven over time. Current Market Commentary: In 2025, the broad equity market completed its third straight year of double digit returns, driven by a strong economy and significantly increased corporate earnings. The S&P500 ended the year up 15%. You might wonder, how can this continue? We can also look back to pundits in 2022 who said the sky was falling (this time for certain) only to have missed out on 3 years of double digit returns. All the while, those that blissfully ignored the news and stayed focused on their plan have created more wealth for their family then they could have possibly dreamed of. Without a doubt, we are hearing more of AI than ever before and we are still in the early days of the AI revolution. To try and predict what life will look like in 3, 5 or even 10 years is truly hard to wrap my head around, we simply don’t know. What we do know, is that diversification is more important than ever in 2026. Not trying to pick stocks but rather having a globally diversified portfolio of the highest quality companies in the world is how we not only protect our wealth but continue to grow it sensibly. All of this suggests to us that the next significant market shock, and there always is one; will probably come out of deep left field. And like all the shocks past, and all those yet to come, it will have very little to do with us, other than as a potential bargain- hunting exercise. I’m reminded of the Morgan Housel quote, “Risk is what’s left after you’ve planned for everything”. We are following a plan that has always “worked” in the very long run, in that it has ultimately achieved the goals of investors like us. We do not accept that “this time is different” regardless of what “this” may be at any given moment. We don’t go to cash during market panics, and we don’t bet the ranch on “new era” miracles…like AI. We are building and preserving our wealth sensibly through proven investment strategies, this will never change. Finally, I wish all my friends and clients, because to me they’re the same thing, a healthy, happy and prosperous 2026. I'm always here to address your questions and concerns. Thank you for being clients. It is a privilege to serve you. Every few months, social media decides the RRSP is a terrible idea. The latest version? “Don’t grow your RRSP too much or you’ll get crushed by taxes in retirement.” The reality is less dramatic. A large RRSP isn’t a tax trap – it’s a planning opportunity, if you know when and how to draw it down.
Myth vs. Fact Myth: Most people end up in a higher tax bracket in retirement, so you shouldn’t max out your RRSP. Fact: The vast majority of Canadians retire in a lower tax bracket, thanks to income splitting, CPP and OAS deferral options, and the flexibility to draw down RRSPs strategically before age 71. The issue isn’t the size of your RRSP – it’s how and when you withdraw from it. It seems everywhere you scroll these days there’s a short reel or post screaming: “If you keep maxing your RRSP, at age 71 the government forces you to withdraw massive sums and you’ll be back in a high tax bracket!” “Most people won’t be in a lower tax bracket in retirement, so your RRSP is a ticking time bomb!” “The RRSP trap nobody warns you about!” You may have seen something like this: someone with a $1.5 million RRSP at age 65, then at 71 they must withdraw about $79,500, pay roughly $31,800 in tax (40%), and suddenly they’re “back in a high tax bracket.” The screenshot gets shared, alarms go off, and the message spreads fast. But this is highly misleading. The problem isn’t a big RRSP. The problem is poor timing of withdrawals and not using all the tax tools available to you. Let’s walk through the myth, what these posts are really describing, and how proper planning turns this supposed “trap” into an advantage. What the claim says Here’s what the “large RRSP equals big trouble” narrative says: when you reach age 71, you must convert the RRSP to a Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF) and start taking minimum withdrawals. Because your RRSP has grown large, the mandatory withdrawals are large too. Big withdrawals mean high taxable income and, therefore, a high marginal tax bracket in retirement. The argument continues that most people won’t be in a lower tax bracket in retirement than they were while working, so RRSP contributions simply defer tax – you’ll pay it all later, possibly at higher rates. That sounds convincing on the surface, especially with a scary spreadsheet. But it skips the most important part of the story. The real issue: timing and sequence The real trigger isn’t the size of your RRSP – it’s the window between retirement and age 71, and how you use it. When you retire, your employment income disappears – usually your highest-taxed source of income. That creates a “golden window” between retirement and age 71 to draw from your RRSP at relatively low tax rates. Withdrawing strategically during these years reduces your RRIF balance later, keeps future minimum withdrawals manageable, and smooths out taxes across your lifetime. Waiting until 71 or later to start large withdrawals can cause a collision of income sources: CPP, OAS, RRIF minimums, and investment income – all stacking in the same year and pushing up your marginal tax rate. In short, it’s not a large RRSP that creates a tax problem – it’s waiting too long to draw it down. What to do instead: turning the RRSP into a planning tool Here’s a practical playbook. Retire first, withdraw second. Once you stop earning, use those early retirement years to withdraw from your RRSP at modest tax rates. Start withdrawals in your 60s to reduce your future RRIF balance and smooth taxes. Delay CPP and OAS to 70 to defer taxable income and boost future guaranteed benefits. Split income wherever possible – RRIF and pension splitting can cut your household tax bill dramatically. Use your TFSA and non-registered accounts strategically to fund spending without pushing up taxable income. Plan your drawdown order, focusing on RRSP and RRIF withdrawals first, then moving to non-registered and TFSA accounts (if necessary). And keep tabs on RRIF minimums by modelling future withdrawals to avoid surprises later (this is exactly why we update your Plan every time we meet!). Final Thoughts: The real problem isn’t the RRSP, it’s ignoring your drawdown plan until age 71. RRSPs, like a TFSA or a rental property is merely a tool in your financial tool box. When used correctly, this tool can be an incredible wealth builder and provide income for decades in retirement with proper planning. Used incorrectly and with no oversight and planning, unnecessary tax will be paid – invest and plan accordingly.  I’ll never forget the day a couple in their 80s sat across from me and said those words. They were worth just shy of $3 million. They had done everything “right,” saved diligently, invested wisely, lived below their means. But now, sitting in my office, they carried a regret heavier than any financial mistake.
It wasn’t that they ran out of money. They ran out of time. After more than a decade in financial planning, I’ve heard this story far too often. And the data backs it up according to research from BlackRock; retirees keep about 80% of their nest egg even 20 years into retirement. Eighty percent. Two full decades of golden years, and most people barely touch what they’ve worked their whole lives to build. That same couple had spent years dreaming of strolling through Italian villages together. But by the time they retired, their mobility made those cobblestone streets impossible to navigate. The account balance? Untouched. The dream? Gone forever. Another client told me they were waiting “just a little longer” before taking their cross-country road trip just one more market upswing, one more year of savings. When they finally felt ready, a medical diagnosis changed everything. The retirement fund kept growing. The adventure never happened. Here’s the truth I wish more people would talk about: The real risk in retirement isn’t running out of money. It’s running out of time to enjoy what your money can buy. Your portfolio can’t purchase: → Missed sunsets with your spouse → Postponed family gatherings → Adventures you’ll never take → Time with loved ones Most people save like they’ll live forever, then realize they won’t. So maybe the question isn’t “Can I afford this?” Maybe it’s “Can I afford to wait?” Because balance in retirement isn’t about perfect math. It’s about perfect timing. Because at the end of the day, financial planning isn’t just about building wealth it’s about using it purposefully. It’s about creating a plan that gives you the freedom to live fully now, without jeopardizing your future later.  Canadians for the most part (and more specifically, my clients) are really good at saving
and accumulating wealth. I see it day in and day out; folks automate their savings like clock work each and every month for decades at a time and slowly the 8th wonder of the world works its magic. Of course, I'm talking about compounding interest. Fast forward and what seemed like a daunting feat at age 25 is now almost here, you’re ready to retire as your nest egg has grown larger than you could have ever imagined. This is exactly where I see those heading into (and already in) retirement have the biggest problem. They don’t know how to spend their money! I have come to the conclusion that retirees don’t have a savings problem in this country, but they might have a spending problem. At first I thought spending was like a science, but the longer I work with clients the more I see it as an art. Art can’t be distilled into a one-size-fits all formula. Art is complicated, often contradictory, and covers things like individuality, greed, jealousy, status, and regret. But, I think you can use money to build a better life. I think buying nice stuff can bring you joy. I love ambition, hard work, and, most of all, independence. Still, after working with clients for 13 years I am constantly amazed at how bad most of us are at knowing what we want out of money, or how to use it as anything more than a benchmark of status and success. Here are a few ideas that resonate with me: 1. There are two ways to use money. One is as a tool to live a better life. The other is as a yardstick of status to measure yourself against others. Many people aspire for the former but spend their life chasing the latter. 2. Money is a tool you can use. But if you’re not careful, it will use you. It will use you without mercy, and often without you even knowing it. For many people, money is a financial asset but a psychological liability. Blind lust for more can hijack your identity, control your personality, and wedge out parts of your life that bring greater happiness. 3. Spending money can buy happiness, but it’s often an indirect path. Money itself doesn’t buy happiness, but it can help you find independence and purpose which are both key ingredients for a happier life if you cultivate them. A big, nice house might make you happier, but mostly because it makes it easier to have friends and family over, and the friends and family are actually what are making you happy. 4. Enduring happiness is found in contentment, so those happiest with money tend to be those who have found a way to stop thinking about it. You can value it, appreciate it, even marvel at it. But if money never leaves your mind it’s likely you’ve found yourself with an obsession, where it controls you. The best use of money is as a tool to leverage who you are, but never to define who you are. 5. If you’re confused about what a better life would look like, “one with more money” is an easy assumption. But that can sometimes mask deeper problems. Money is so tangible that it’s an easy goal to strive for, and pursuing it can become the path of least resistance for those who haven’t discovered what truly feeds their soul. 6. Everyone can spend money in a way that will make them happier. But there is no universal formula on how to do it. The nice stuff that makes me happy might seem crazy to you, and vice versa. Debates over what kind of lifestyle you should live are often just people with different personalities talking over each other. No one can predict the future and what will happen with one’s health, interest rates, inflation or even the economy. But here is what I believe; using wealth to create incredible experiences with those you love pays the biggest dividends today and in the years to come.  What if you could be wrong half the time and still make a fortune?
Steamboat Willie put Walt Disney on the map as an animator. Business success was another story. Disney’s first studio went bankrupt. His films were monstrously expensive to produce, and financed at outrageous terms. By the mid 1930s Disney had produced more than 400 cartoons. Most of them were short, most of them were beloved by viewers, and most of them lost a fortune. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs changed everything. The $8 million it earned in the first 6 months of 1938 was an order of magnitude higher than anything the company earned previously. It transformed Disney Studios. All company debts were paid off. Key employees got retention bonuses. The company purchased a new state of the art studio in Burbank, where it remains today. By 1938 he had produced several hundred hours of film. But in business terms, the 83 minutes of Snow White were all that mattered. The idea that a few things account for most results is not just true for companies in your portfolios, its also an important part of your behaviour as an investor. Most financial advice is about today. What should you do right now, and what stocks look like good buys today? But most of the time today is not that important. Over the course of your lifetime as an investor the decisions you make today or tomorrow or next week will not matter nearly as much as what you do during the small number of days, likely 1% of the time or less, when everyone else around you is going crazy. Consider what would happen if you saved $1 every month from 1900 to 2019. You could invest that $1 into the stock market every month, rain or shine. It doesn’t matter if economists are screaming about a looming recession or new bear market. You just keep investing. Lets call the investor who does this Sue. But maybe investing during a recession is too scary. So perhaps you invest your $1 when the economy is not in a recession, sell everything when its in a recession and save your monthly dollar in cash and invest everything back into the market when the recession ends. We’ll call this investor Jim. Or perhaps it takes a few months for a recession to scare you out, and then it takes a while to regain confidence before you get back into the market. You invest $1 into the market when there’s no recession, sell 6 months after a recession begins, and invest back in 6 months after a recession ends. We’ll call you Tom. How much money would these 3 investors end up with? Sue ends up with $435,551 Jim ends up with $257,386 Tom ends up with $234,476 Sue wins by a mile. To give a more recent example: How you behaved as an investor during a few months in late 2008 and early 2009 will likely have more impact on your lifetime returns than everything you did from 2000-2008. There will always be reasons to not invest – this will never go away during our lifetime. When you come to peace with this and realize that staying invested is the only way to build true wealth - you acknowledge that staying the course is what drives your investment success. A good definition of an investing genius is the man or woman who can do the average thing when all those around them are going crazy. There will be another period where everyone around you is telling you to panic, sell everything, a recession is all but guaranteed, or so they say. I don’t know when this will happen, I will never claim so. But I do know what I will be doing during this time of panic. I will be doing the exact same thing I advise my clients to do; keep calm and carry on. I will continue to invest every month, just as if the economy was reaching new highs. All the while picking up the incredible quality companies we already own, at a 10% or even 20% sale. It’s what you do during these small moments in time, that truly shape your success. Tails drives everything.  One lesson I’ve learned from my retired clients is that it’s human nature to feel anxious
about spending money especially when the paycheque stops and you’re drawing down your own savings and investments. After decades of watching account balances go up, it’s deeply uncomfortable to watch them go the other way. It just doesn’t feel good. What happens next is often a retirement of chronic underspending. Even worse, when you really think about it, are the decades of saving too much and forgoing some of life’s pleasures along the way during your working years, only to see that money sit there, untouched, in retirement. No one wants to die with millions in the bank and regrets in their heart. Bill Perkins, author of Die With Zero, puts it plainly: the point of life isn’t to die with the most money in your account. And no, it’s not about literally dying with zero dollars, either. It’s about dying with zero regrets. Now you may be thinking Brandon, you’ve always preached that living below your means and saving every month are key pillars to building a secure retirement – and it’s still true. Slowing Down and Turning OFF the Savings Tap I’ve taken this lesson to heart, both through my clients’ experiences and in my own life. In my 20’s I was saving 50-70% of everything I earned. I was laser focused on building my nest egg early while my expenses were low and I knew I could live modestly before starting my family. And it worked! I did a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to retirement savings so that I can now let the most powerful tools we have, which are compound interest and time, take over for the next 3 decades. Time in the market will always beat trying to time the market. If I had stayed on that trajectory of a high savings rate, aggressive investing, frugal living I would have reached retirement with more money. But at what cost? Trips not taken, memories not made, and health potentially neglected all come to mind. What Spending Looks Like for Us Now I believe that in life we have different seasons. My wife and I are now in the season of raising our daughter and it is all hands on deck. I want to spend as much time as I can with her before she grows up and is way too cool for mom and dad. These years are precious and they go by quick. I can't believe Brielle is already 5 months old! Brittany is now on maternity leave, so our household income is reduced. Are we saving as aggressively as we once were pre-baby? Not a chance, and that is okay. We are still planning an incredible trip later this year and hitting our goals financially. We are giving ourselves permission to take the pedal off the gas to enjoy this season of life we're in, while we're in it and not just in hindsight. Can Slowing Down Increase Your Happiness? Economists call it consumption smoothing; spending a consistent, reasonable amount over your lifetime, adjusted as your needs and priorities shift. That could mean elevating your lifestyle now while you're healthy, active, and have your kids at home so you don’t reach the end with a bunch of unspent money and a list of missed opportunities. Is it a difficult mental shift? You bet! Many in their 50’s, 60’s and 70’s might struggle with it. The Key Is... Balance This is not about YOLO-ing today and neglecting your future self. And it’s not about depriving yourself today for a chance to live it up in the future. It’s about balance. For us, balance means we're still maxing out our TFSA’s annually. Balance means we're still maxing out Brielle's RESP annually. Balance means planning some amazing international trips while Brittany is still off on maternity leave to make incredible family memories together. I believe with balance and a solid plan, you can live for today while still saving responsibly for tomorrow. What This Means For You If you’re in the savings phase, here’s my encouragement:
And if you’re already retired, or close to it, and feel stuck in saver mode? Remember that you’re not alone. You’ve done the hard part. Now it’s time to get professional advice to evaluate your financial plan and give yourself the gift of peace of mind to spend. Not wastefully. Not recklessly. But intentionally with your values aligned to the strength of your portfolio and assets. Because after working that hard, you deserve to enjoy your wealth and live your dream retirement. |
AuthorBrandon Yanchus is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ with over a decade of experience. This is his personal blog where he shares what he's learned helping families, professionals, business owners and retirees grow and protect their wealth. Archives
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