Sandra Genereux, an advisor with National Bank Financial Ltd. in Kelowna, B.C., is passionate about the importance of education.

Genereux believes that if she educates her clients about the market, they will be better equipped to make sound decisions and less inclined to react emotionally to the inevitable ups and downs.

“I explain the kind of invest-ments that we are placing their funds into and the type of volatility that they can expect,” she says. “I let them know that the market works in cycles, that it cannot always go up.”

She often sees the benefits of keeping clients prepared.

“If clients take a long-term view and know what a market cycle looks like,” Genereux says, “they are not surprised by the occasional down year. In fact they often say, ‘You said there would be times like this’.”

—JOANNE SOMMERS