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By Tony Wanless
Special to the Ottawa Citizen
Excerpt, Sunday, April 1, 2001
Investor Alan Dickson of Duncan, who "lost" more
than 50 per cent of his portfolio in the recent
plunge, isn't crying in his beer.
"I didn't lose sleep over it," drawls Dickson,
49, who used to be in the mutual fund and insurance
business and has "semi-retired" to Vancouver Island.
"It was my play money. But, if it was my life
savings and I was five years away from retirement,
I'd be panicking. And, if I was still selling
funds, I would be very upset because many of my
clients would be hurt."
Dickson, who's putting together a book called
Free Parking: A 2nd Look At Financial Planning
about the mutual fund industry, has been an active
investor for some time, even changing his Internet
password to "short" a year ago. So he's not surprised
by big corrections.
"I pulled out some and still have some there
but it's undervalued, so I'll just leave it,"
he says. "This is quite a drop but it's not as
gut-wrenching as what happened in '87. Then there
was wholesale panic."
Also, Dickson is a simplicity advocate and believes
in living on less. So whatever he has in the market
is there as much for entertainment as to generate
returns.
"People's assumptions that they can't be happy
without money are wrong," he explains. "You can."
Still, as an unbiased observer, Dickson doesn't
dismiss the market volatility. He feels it isn't
over yet.
"It bothered me that I wasn't smart enough to
do a few things but, generally, I'm not too worried,"
he says.
"I check what I have every day but my retirement
isn't based on it and the pendulum always moves
back.
"You always have to ask yourself, when looking
at a stock under these conditions, 'If I had money,
would I buy this stock at this price?' If you
can't say yes, maybe you should sell it."
Pointing out that this is just another bear
market, one of 10 since the Second World War,
Vancouver investment counsel Adrian Mastracci
of KCM Wealth Management suggests that
the people who worry the most are suffering from
information overload.
"People are coming to me and they're totally
confused," Mastracci says. "We have lost the long-term
perspective. People want instant results. But,
if you can't see at least five years out, you
shouldn't be in the markets." "People spend far
too much time on the selection process and not
enough on the long-term asset-allocation process.
They've become very transaction-oriented and often
don't know why they're doing what they do."
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