Staying in Control
Brock Wealth Management - Jan 01, 2026
Indeed, it was just over a year ago that we implemented a tactical shift for client portfolios, recommending a modest underweight to equities (defined as being at 90% of one’s equity target).
Winter 2026 - Newsletter #26
We are a skiing family. Not a racing family, as that involves a commitment to the slopes that we never pursued. I should also specify that my wife’s skiing career ended after three bunny-hill lessons at Mont Cascades. At that point, she made a lifelong commitment to contribute to the pastime by providing logistical support to her boys (and her husband), but not to partake herself. By the way, if anyone knows anyone who is looking for a pair of barely used purple and teal 152-centimetre Rossignols, as well as a pair of women’s Salomon front-entry boots, we may be able to help out!
For the last few winters, we have spent the latter part of the Christmas holiday, and every second weekend after, skiing at Tremblant with friends. Skiing with my boys is just about my favourite thing in the world. I love watching them progress, the conversations we have on the chairlift to the top of the mountain, and following them down the hill – more often than not through the ridiculous monkey trails that line the sides of the main slopes.
My youngest, Nicolas, is just at the point where he is more consistently skiing in parallel, rather than relying on a snowplough technique. I’m encouraging him in this, and this past weekend, at the top of the Edge, staring down the “Action” run, I encouraged him to really practise his carving technique and see how it felt. He decided to “send it”, throwing caution to the wind, and in a series of sweeping, giant-slalom-like turns, descended the mountain at the very edge of control—in fact, maybe a touch beyond the edge of control, if I had to be honest. It’s hard to describe the feeling of watching your four-foot five-inch youngest child, wearing a bright neon yellow ski jacket, absolutely shatter his personal speed record down an advanced-level slope. It was a successful descent for him and he was very proud of his technique, but I did find myself reminding him at the bottom that raw performance should always come second to staying in control.
That very sentiment has emphatically guided our approach to client portfolios over the course of the last year. Indeed, it was just over a year ago that we implemented a tactical shift for client portfolios, recommending a modest underweight to equities (defined as being at 90% of one’s equity target). That decision was not meant as market-timing call, but rather a safeguard against what we believed would be an environment defined by elevated volatility—particularly around trade policy.
In its immediate aftermath, the timing of that shift was fortuitous as markets experienced a sharp bout of volatility in April 2025. Since then, markets have been meaningfully positive (see Figure 1)1, driven largely by two assumptions: that the U.S. Federal Reserve would eventually cut interest rates, and that the artificial intelligence investment theme would continue to gather momentum.