by Scott Ronalds

We’re excited to announce a new initiative, the Steadyhand Retirement Withdrawal Program.

The program is designed to help retirees draw a steady income from their portfolio — a paycheque, in essence — without having to worry about selling their investments at the wrong time (i.e., when markets are down).

It is based on an approach known as the ‘Spending Reserve Strategy.’ Put simply, the program involves:

1. Allocating a portion of your portfolio to cash (typically two years’ worth of your annual spending requirements), in the Steadyhand Savings Fund.
   
2. Investing the balance of your portfolio according to your desired long-term breakdown of stocks and bonds (what we call your Strategic Asset Mix).
   
3. Taking all regular withdrawals from your cash reserve (Savings Fund).
   
4. Replenishing your cash reserve based on our advice (further details below).

Importantly, you still earn a return on your cash reserve, based on the prevailing yield of the Savings Fund. The key benefit of this strategy is that it provides you with protection from market volatility and greater peace of mind. You aren’t forced to draw from your growth or income assets at an inopportune time — i.e., when stocks or bonds are down.

Market pullbacks are a natural part of investing and cannot be avoided. When they occur, the spending reserve strategy allows your portfolio time to recover while you continue to draw a regular income from it.

What makes the program unique is that we will advise you when to replenish your cash reserve (by selling some of your equity and/or fixed income investments). Our advice is based on the three things we pay the closest attention to when evaluating the current investing environment: valuations, corporate fundamentals, and investor sentiment.

By enrolling, you’ll receive an email from us every quarter advising you whether we recommend any action. If we suggest it’s a good time to top up your cash reserve, you simply need to call us to place the necessary trades. We will work with you to determine which of your Steadyhand holdings you should sell to replenish your reserve, and of course help with any math. Note: we will not make any trades without receiving instructions from you.

We’ve designed the program to make it flexible (you can make changes to the amount and frequency of your withdrawals if your personal circumstances change) and cost friendly—it has no additional fees associated with it!

If you think the Steadyhand Retirement Withdrawal Program might be suitable for your personal situation, we encourage you to read our Guide, which provides all the details, or book a meeting with one of our Investor Specialists to learn more. Enrollment is easy—simply call us at 1-888-888-3147.

We’re excited about this initiative, as we believe the spending reserve approach is highly effective and can take some of the worry out of retirement.