As we settle into the dog days of summer here in Canada, many are making the most of the mountain trails and sparkling lakes, seizing every opportunity to be outside. We hope you’re finding time to enjoy the extra daylight hours, whether that means biking, hiking, kayaking, golfing, playing tennis, or simply burning off all that pent-up winter energy. It’s a short season, but a glorious one.
This annual wave of outdoor activity has made us reflect on habits and discipline. Without putting a damper on all the fun in the sun, summer can be a useful check-in: Am I healthy? Am I fit? Is my body letting me do the things I want this season, or am I feeling the effects of what I didn’t prioritize earlier in the year?
In a broader sense, these questions apply to your financial life as much as your physical. It’s the habits repeated often enough that, when the time finally arrives, you're free to actually enjoy it rather than scramble to catch up. With that in mind, here are ten indicators we use when thinking about “financial fitness” for our clients.
The adage, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”, holds true. A custom financial plan (not a one-size-fits-all approach) maps out your retirement, tax optimization, and estate planning, giving you a clear path forward. Think of your advisor as the "coach" who helps you build and follow it. It should also account for rising healthcare costs and the reality of funding more retirement years than past generations.
Every plan should account for short-term liquidity alongside long-term growth. What do you have coming up? A child's wedding, a new roof, a milestone family vacation? Stress testing a few planned and unplanned scenarios means the portfolio is never forced to sell into a downturn to fund something that could have been anticipated.
There will always be a new narrative, rate decision, or geopolitical shock pulling your attention to the short term. Knowing what you own and why you own it is what gets you through periods of volatility with conviction. We've been through enough cycles to know: time in the market beats timing the market.
Owning a great company isn't the same as owning it at a great price. Overpaying, even for the right business, can mean years of underperformance while the fundamentals catch up. We stay disciplined on valuation, patient for the right entry point to capture the upside. As Sharon Watkins always says, “It’s what you pay!”
A single stock, sector, or country can quickly grow into an outsized share of your net worth. Watch Sandstone Speaks: Concentration, Cycles & Conservatism, where we discuss South Korea's heavy concentration in two companies. Is your portfolio diversified and actively rebalanced?
Our clients’ portfolios are built around their cash flow needs, risk tolerance, time horizon, and unique family picture, so it will move differently than any single index, and that's by design. The right measure of success is whether it's on track to meet your goals, not how it compared to the S&P 500 that week.
It’s in the name, really: lifestyle creep has a way of sneaking up on you. When spending grows faster than your plan, it can erode the very goals you're working toward. That’s not to say living within your means has to be static. It can evolve with your life and financial stage. Just make sure it's sustainable, and sensible.
Involving heirs in the conversation can set early expectations and education around values. This can look like involving adult children in planning meetings, being transparent about the family's financial picture, or simply having honest and ongoing dialogue about what you hope the wealth will (and won't) do for them.
Structured giving, a family foundation, or a charitable gift allow clients to “pay it forward” for the causes and communities they care about. When philanthropy is built into the plan intentionally, it can also become a meaningful way to involve the next generation in the "why" behind the wealth.
We know this may sound cliché, but we could all use the reminder that wealth is a means, not the end. What is the life your portfolio is meant to support? What is important to you? Never lose sight of the big picture: family, health, community, purpose, giving back, legacy.
If your financial fitness routine could use a tune-up, let's connect and make sure your plan is keeping up with you.
Find confidence during confusing times by meeting with one of our wealth professionals.