06/01/2026
What your financial advisor may not know about your portfolio!
(Especially if you are investing in mutual funds or other managed products.)
As a former broker and portfolio manager, the 2008 financial crisis was the most difficult period in my career. Meetings with clients and prospects were not easy and were often very emotional.
At the time my clients were invested in mutual fund products with a portfolio manager who was responsible for all the investment decisions.
When the stock market cratered on the collapse of Lehman Brothers the focus of investors turned to their portfolios. The number one question that clients asked was if they owned any stocks exposed to the financial and real estate sectors, specifically the US housing market.
Investing in a mutual fund has many benefits, one being the diversification of up to several hundred stocks picked by a professional portfolio manager. Those portfolios often change dramatically on a regular basis making it difficult to know for certain what stocks are in the portfolio at a given moment in time.
So back in 2008, I couldn’t answer with certainty what stocks they were invested in yet I was licensed to provide that product which I didn’t have the details about.
As 2026 gets underway, it is important that you know at a minimum what the top 10 holdings are of the fund(s) that you are invested in. If you can obtain a full list, even better.
But don’t stop there, take some time to research and learn about the companies that are responsible for providing the majority of the return in your portfolio. You can even have some fun with your favourite Ai tool with a query to provide you with a summary of the company or even an analyst report.
The more you know what you own, the better prepared you will be for:
- Market volatility
- Significant downturn in the markets
- Measuring the portfolio managers performance
If you are managing your own portfolio and picking your own stocks, don’t forget to:
- Write down the reasons you bought the stock
- Compile a simple summary to explain what the company does
- Revisit this list when market volatility hits to ensure the reasons you bought the stock are still holding true.