Protect your clients against volatility

An island of stability in a sea of change

Help your clients deal with uncertainty

During periods of market volatility, partner with a financial institution that has everything you need to earn - and keep - your clients' trust.

What does volatility mean for you?

Based on market data, staying invested can be a winning strategy over the longer term. While markets may be unsettled in the short run, their long-term trajectory has historically been upward. With that in mind, selling during a market downturn can have lasting consequences for investors.

To help reassure them, you can share examples of past market downturns to illustrate how markets have recovered following such events:

Event Bear market period Decline (from the previous high to the bottom) Time to return to the previous high Performance in the year after hitting the bottom Performance during the stock market recovery
Oil embargo 10/1973 – 12/1974 -37% 4 years 14% 182% in 6 years (19% / year)
Black Monday October 1987 crash 08/1987 – 10/1987 -31% 2 years* 20% 42% in 2 years (18% / year)
Dot-com bubble 09/2000 – 10/2002 -50% 3 years 33% 165% in 6 years (19% / year)
Housing bubble and financial crisis 06/2008 – 03/2009 -50% 5 years 58% 89% in 2 years (36% / year)

Source : Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF)

Assumptions: Dividends paid were not taken into account. The “event” column is a simplification of actual events. Daily data were used. Source of data used to prepare the table: Thomson Reuters.

*Exceptionally, the time indicated is two years despite the fact that, at that point, the index had fallen again during the subsequent crisis without having reached the previous high. The index would have returned to its high after two years if dividends had been taken into account.

As always, highlighting diversification remains a key discussion point with your clients to help maintain a healthy portfolio.

Do your clients invest in mutual funds? If so, have you discussed dollar-cost averaging with them? Not only does it simplify their financial routine, it could also increase their chances of achieving a more favourable average cost per unit and help them benefit from market opportunities along the way.

A market downturn may even generate investment opportunities, depending on each person’s objectives. Every situation is different, so don’t hesitate to reach out for further discussion.

Products that allow you to reassure your clients

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