Canadian investors staying the course despite market volatility

Investors staying the course despite market volatility

By Special to MoneySense on February 9, 2016
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

58% polled said they're sticking to their long-term strategies

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TORONTO – Falling stock markets have not changed how most Canadian investors view their portfolios, a new poll suggests. The online poll released Tuesday and conducted for CIBC (TSX:CM) found that 58 per cent of people surveyed say they’re sticking with their long-term investment strategy despite the recent market volatility. This compared with 18 per cent of investors polled who say they plan on taking on a more defensive strategy to protect their original investments, while five per cent say they plan on investing more aggressively to achieve higher returns. RRSP guide 2016 » Overall, 56 per cent said they did not achieve the returns they expected over the last year. The survey also found that investor expectations vary greatly: — The majority (27 per cent) say they need a return of four to six per cent on their stock portfolios to meet their investment goals — 18 per cent say they need a six to eight per cent annual return rate — 13 per cent say they need a two to four per cent return rate — seven per cent say they need an eight to 10 per cent return rate — five per cent say they need more than a 10 per cent return on their portfolios annually — four per cent of investors surveyed say they need an annual return of two per cent or less Canada’s best stocks 2016 » Another 26 per cent admit to not knowing how much of a return they need to reach their goals, the poll found. The Toronto Stock Exchange has shed nearly two per cent since the start of the year. The poll, conducted by Vision Critical, was based on an online sample of 1,003 adults between Jan. 20 and 22. The polling industry’s professional body, the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.