Those questions about market developments, Hastings notes, are asked every day whether a major macro event occurred or not. The approach that his team takes when volatility does increase, though, is to help provide that context and consideration that comes with a daily study of the markets.
While Hastings and his team stay prepared to help manage worried clients and support advisors in answering their questions, he highlights that their work stems from a place of empathy towards these clients. Their concerns are understandable and a natural extension of difficult moves in equity markets that we see so often. Moreover, he acknowledges the inescapability of trade and tariff uncertainty in 2025. The way this issue has shaped news, markets, and politics has made it a feature in every client’s mind. Combining this issue with questions of national identity has also served to make these flare up more visceral and emotionally charged.
Much of Hastings’ work in these moments involves parsing the instructive developments in the news from the distractions. Time horizon helps with that distinction. Hastings and his team are largely working to serve clients with long-term outlooks of 10+ years. If a development has an impact that could be measured out over that period, then it can be instructive to a change in overall strategy. If the events’ impacts are extremely short-term in nature, then can be dealt with some tactical tweaks but shouldn’t elicit a change in that long-term strategy.
Canadians have also been given a firsthand instruction of the distinction between economic growth and equity markets this year. A year that has included at least one quarter of negative GDP growth has also seen a double-digit increase on the TSX. Hastings is quick to point out that there is a long-term correlation between economic growth and corporate earnings growth, but that in the short-term we can see these metrics move independently. Moreover, news developments can see individual stocks move in ways that don’t necessarily reflect their fundamentals. Demonstrating that short-term reality can be helpful.
It’s one thing to identify areas where clients need reassurance and support, it’s something else to deliver that to them. Hastings notes that his team’s communication methods begin with written updates, distributed across social media channels, websites, and email lists. Webcasts, conference calls, webinars, and other video sessions play a key role, as is the rollout of those multimedia recordings. Despite all the digital communications tools at his team’s disposal, Hastings insists the most important delivery system that any firm has is their advisory team, who can use their relationships with their clients to deliver messaging that resonates with the individuals and families they serve. At Hastings’ firm, that message centres on a core philosophy of investing.
