Though it no longer seems like the craze it once was, we have officially entered RRSP season. A jubilant time of year in the dead of winter where investors assess their taxes owing and scramble to make a contribution to defer the blow of high taxes on their previous year’s income. It is also the time December 31st investment statements come out and paint the picture for investors of the year that was.

I recall this period back in 2012. The preceding calendar year wasn’t particularly strong: the TSX lost 11% and the S&P500 was barely positive. I was working as an independent advisor back then and I had a friend in the business that I used to go to lunch with regularly, a support group really. One day before going to lunch, this buddy asked me to hold up a minute as he was leaving a message for a client in Labrador. The message was simple “Bill, it’s Joe here, it’s that time of year again and I was just wondering if you’d be making your annual RRSP contribution? Give me a call back to chat about it.”

We went on to lunch, had a couple of hamburgers, picked up coffee and returned to the office to get back at the grind by 1pm. When Joe got back and checked his voicemail, Bill had gotten back to him. “Joe, it’s Bill here. Got your message. I did some quick checking around over lunch and as it turns out I can get -7% anywhere – don’t think I’m gonna bother with the RRSP anymore”.

Managing money isn’t always easy and most advisors do take it personally because they want the best results for their clients. I hold onto anecdotes like the one above because you have to keep a sense of humour in this tumultuous industry.

Our audited December 31st numbers were released this week. I’m pleased to say our calendar year 2022 gross return was 22.36% against a benchmark that returned -8.28%. Of the 87 Tactical Growth peer mandates at CIBC Wood Gundy across Canada, we were #1.