Investing in the Stock Market: Plan, Act, and Monitor

To help you invest as wisely as possible during your working career, your Desjardins adviser will recommend a simple, proven, six-step plan:

Identify your investment plans, priorities, and objectives
Establish your investor profile
Set up a long-term investment strategy
Choose a diversified portfolio that suits your investor profile
Invest in the stock market
Monitor your investments regularly—and stay the course over the long run

Identify Your Investment Plans, Priorities, and Objectives

Your personal situation, needs, and expectations are all used to establish your investment priorities. So what’s important to you?

Maximizing your investment returns?
Cutting your income taxes as much as possible?
Simplifying the management of your investments?
Having access to your money at all times?

Establish Your Investor Profile

Are you a cautious investor, a moderately confident one, or an aggressive growth seeker? Your adviser will have you complete a questionnaire to determine your risk tolerance. It will take the following four aspects into consideration:

Your financial situation
Your plans
Your priorities
Your tolerance for market fluctuations

Your investor profile will also reflect your “investment horizon,” or how much time remains before you begin drawing on your savings. Your investment horizon won’t be based solely on your age - it will also take into consideration how you plan to use your investment savings.

Your investor profile is really the cornerstone of your investment strategy. So put some effort into making it an accurate reflection of your status - and do your best to stay true to it.

Set up a Long-term Investment Strategy

Fluctuations in stock market values over the short term are common, and can divert your focus from your financial objectives. That’s why advisers tell investors to :

Develop plans that are based on long-term investment horizons - and then stay the course.
Consider tax ramifications.
Get in the habit of making regular investments.

Choose a Diversified Portfolio that Suits Your Investor Profile

One proven and effective way to invest involves putting your money in a variety of different asset categories :

Cash or liquid assets
Fixed Income securities
Growth stocks
Specialized investments

Including different asset classes in your portfolio—and staying true to your investor profile—helps protect against the effect of financial market fluctuations and optimize your returns.

Invest in the Stock Market

Some stocks are referred to as “growth stocks.” Stocks that offer higher long-term returns than other asset classes let investors protect their portfolios against inflation. But there’s a trade-off you must accept: short-term returns can fluctuate more widely.

There’s never a right or wrong time to get into the stock market. That’s why when it comes to long-term investing, setting up automatic deposits can be a winning strategy:

Buying shares at different prices—depending on current stock market conditions¬—lets you benefit from dollar cost averaging
You won’t feel pressured to make quick decisions in response to world news or events

Monitor Your Investments Regularly—and Stay the Course Over the Long Run

Each year you should carefully review your portfolio and look at how your investments have done.

Your financial planner or adviser will modify your investment strategy based on changes in your personal and financial situation, your needs, and your priorities.