{"id":34911,"date":"2020-05-29T03:58:50","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T10:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=34911"},"modified":"2020-05-28T20:19:34","modified_gmt":"2020-05-29T03:19:34","slug":"financial-hopes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2020\/05\/29\/financial-hopes\/","title":{"rendered":"Financial hopes"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a Temple Sholom webinar May 6, ZLC Financial\u2019s Garry Zlotnik, left, and Jon McKinney spoke on the topic Financial Planning in a Pandemic. (photos from Temple Sholom)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Reflecting on previous financial downturns \u2013 in 1987, 2000 and 2008 \u2013 Garry Zlotnik, chair and chief executive officer of ZLC Financial, admitted he felt worse now, during the COVID-19 pandemic, than in earlier recessions \u2013 not because of the economic implications but rather the health issues currently confronting the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cA year from now, two years from now, we\u2019ll look back on this time and say, \u2018Wow, that was just the most ridiculous, crazy thing in our lifetimes.\u2019 But things will move forward in a positive way, with all the ingenuity that our population has,\u201d Zlotnik said, adding that, as in any market, there are winners, such as Zoom, the web conferencing platform on which the webinar \u2013 called Financial Planning in a Pandemic \u2013 took place May 6.<\/p>\n

Zlotnik was joined by Jon McKinney, ZLC\u2019s president and portfolio manager, in the hour-long discussion, which was part of Temple Sholom\u2019s Let\u2019s Talk About It<\/em> series.<\/p>\n

McKinney holds overall responsibility for client relations, business development and administration at ZLC and has almost 30 years of financial sector experience in both portfolio management and accounting. Zlotnik, who has close to 40 years of experience as a chartered accountant and formed ZLC Wealth in 2000 \u2013 ZLC Financial was established in 1946 \u2013 also has served in numerous positions within the Jewish community, including as board president and chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, co-chair of the Vancouver JCC Maccabi Games, co-president of Vancouver Talmud Torah, treasurer of B\u2019nai Brith Canada and president of the Richmond Country Club.<\/p>\n

Though the spread of the virus has been flattening lately, the economic statistics \u2013 jobless claims, consumer spending \u2013 have been grim, with Canada\u2019s economy further challenged by tense U.S.-China trade relations and a downward turn in the price of oil. According to McKinney, a silver lining has been the stimulus and bond buying by governments and central banks to prop up markets.<\/p>\n

McKinney cited a Warren Buffett maxim from the midst of the 2008 recession: \u201cBe fearful when others are greedy and be greedy when others are fearful.\u201d If one had heeded that advice in late March of this year, he said, then April would have seen the best returns for equities since 1987, particularly as the U.S. Federal Reserve had been displaying its willingness to pump liquidity into the markets. The S&P 500 index, for example, gained 12.7% last month.<\/p>\n

A principal message of the discussion was for investors to take a broad, long-term view. \u201cMarket timing is impossible,\u201d McKinney cautioned. \u201cBut we can tell you there will be a bottom, and holding investments in companies that can weather this storm will be profitable long-term.\u201d<\/p>\n

In outlining ZLC\u2019s own investment strategy, McKinney said, \u201cWe have reasonable diversification across different holdings and we pick good managers. We don\u2019t just buy the index, and we look for companies that fly under the radar. We also invest in long\/short funds and real estate.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, ZLC is concerned that there may be a retreat from the level the market is at now, as more bad news could filter through the system. Short-term, they believe, there could be a pullback and, if it comes, it will provide a great opportunity for\u00a0investors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are going to be some fairly volatile times ahead,\u201d Zlotnik predicted, mentioning that it will take some time for people to get used to spending as they once did in pre-coronavirus times.<\/p>\n

Oil and gas is one sector that has been beaten up in the past three quarters. It is, according to McKinney, contingent on the economy whether it rebounds, but many companies in the sector have seen strong gains through April and May.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery asset class has taken a hit,\u201d Zlotnik said, though he sees opportunities in corporate bonds, which operate like a bond when a company\u2019s price goes down and like equity when its price increases.<\/p>\n

As for the Canadian dollar, McKinney forecasted the loonie either staying where it is or moving slightly higher after the recent rush to U.S. dollars, which tends to happen during economic crises.<\/p>\n

For those with some money to put into the market, Zlotnik spoke of \u201cdollar cost average strategy,\u201d which means placing a fixed amount into a given investment on a regular basis. For example, if someone has $100,000 to invest, then they would place $10,000 in a given investment once a month for 10 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important to know what one\u2019s risk tolerance is and having a plan based on that,\u201d he noted. Since March 2009, investment risk, for Vancouverites especially, has not been a factor, as both the equity and real estate markets have headed in an upwards direction.<\/p>\n

A video of the webinar can be found on the Temple Sholom website: templesholom.ca\/video<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sam Margolis<\/strong> has written for the <\/em>Globe and Mail, the <\/em>National Post, UPI and MSNBC.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a Temple Sholom webinar May 6, ZLC Financial\u2019s Garry Zlotnik, left, and Jon McKinney spoke on the topic Financial Planning in a Pandemic. (photos from Temple Sholom) Reflecting on previous financial downturns \u2013 in 1987, 2000 and 2008 \u2013 Garry Zlotnik, chair and chief executive officer of ZLC Financial, admitted he felt worse now, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[9717,9784,7741,9910,1325,9911,9909],"class_list":["post-34911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-finance","tag-mckinney","tag-temple-sholom","tag-zlc","tag-zlotnik"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}