John De Goey, portfolio manager at Wellington-Altus Private Wealth
Focus: Personal finance and ETFs

MARKET OUTLOOK

While people should always maintain a diversified portfolio that is customized to their needs, circumstances and risk profile, now is likely not the time to be taking extra risk. Pretty much every indicator is suggesting we’re nearing the end of what has already been a historically long bull market. Now is not the time to be greedy. I write this while noting that, according to Dennis Gartman, margin on the S&P 500 is at an all-time high, so there are obviously plenty of people out there who are pushing their luck.

Furthermore, for the first time in more than half a decade value stocks have begun to outperform growth stocks. It seems the easy money has been made and it would likely be prudent to trim your winning positions if you haven’t re-balanced your portfolio lately. My hope is that markets remain at around current levels until the end of the year so that I can take profits while deferring tax liabilities in early January. At that time, I fully expect to take more defensive positions with the cash freed up by the profit-taking.

TOP PICKS

SMARTBE GLOBAL VALUE MOMENTUM TREND INDEX ETF (SBEA NEO)

BMO ULTRA SHORT TERM BOND ETF (ZST/L:CT)

FRANKLIN LIBERTY CANADIAN INVESTMENT GRADE CORPORATE DEBT ETF (FLCI:CT)

PAST PICKS: JULY 23, 2019

PURPOSE BEHAVIOURAL OPPORTUNITIES FUND (BHAV NEO)

• Then: $21.15
• Now: $21.01
• Return: -1%
• Total return: -1%

VANGUARD FTSE EMERGING MARKET ALL CAP ETF (VEE:CT)

• Then: $33.73
• Now: $33.66
• Return: -0.2%
• Total return: -0.2%

FRANKLIN LIBERTY CANADIAN INVESTMENT GRADE CORPORATE DEBT ETF (FLCI:CT)

• Then: $19.88
• Now: $19.62
• Return: -1%
• Total return: -1%

Total return average: -1%

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