After a cold, hard Canadian winter, there’s nothing like those early signs of spring – the days start to stretch longer and all that snow begins to recede.

Most people’s spring cleaning to-do list includes the usual items like decluttering the house or cleaning up your garden, but it’s also a great time to check in on your investment portfolio.

Here's a checklist of 6 spring cleaning ideas you could do to help keep your portfolio on the right track.

Fear of Missing Out

Fear of missing out, also known as FOMO, is the fear that someone else is doing something better or more interesting than you are.

FOMO can have a big impact on you as an investor. When colleagues or friends boast of windfall profits on the stock market, it can cause you to feel envious, dissatisfied with your returns, and question your own investment strategy. This fear can affect your decision-making and potentially derail your investment plan. Read our new article

Mark White is the Chief Executive Officer of the new Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA). When operational, FSRA will regulate many sectors that are important to Ontario consumers and pension plan beneficiaries:

• property and casualty insurance,
• life and health insurance,
• credit unions and caisses populaires,
• loan and trust companies,
• mortgage brokers,
• health service providers (related to auto insurance), and
• pension plan administrators.

The OSC's Investor Office recently sat down with Mark to learn more about him, what FSRA does and what people can expect from the new regulator. Meet Mark

Behavioural Insights and Fraud

Many people fall victim to investment fraud every year. Fraudsters may use clever tricks or technology to their advantage, but often times, they take advantage of our human nature, exploiting our behaviour.

We rely on intuitive judgments when making decisions. In complex financial situations, we may use intuition to help simplify our decision-making process but it can also lead to unwanted outcomes, like falling for an investment scam. By understanding our behavioural biases and decision-making processes, we can better protect ourselves from investment fraud. Read our new article

Red Flags of Fraud

If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Look for these red flags when thinking about an investment opportunity. Fraudsters may try different tactics to steal your hard-earned money, but knowing what to look for can help prevent you from becoming a victim of fraud. Learn more 

Telephone townhalls are a way for the Investor Office to connect with thousands of Ontarians at a time, in the comfort of their own home. Telephone townhalls work much like a call-in radio show where OSC staff provide information, answer questions and conduct live polls over the course of one hour.

Register for our free March 27 telephone townhall. As part of Fraud Prevention Month activities, OSC staff will share tips on investment fraud prevention and answer your questions. Free registration

Volatility-linked ETFs

Despite their name, volatility-linked ETFs are very different from most other ETFs. Some of these products do well when there are major swings in the market such as a stock market crash while others do well when the market is stable and there are no major changes. You could risk major losses if you buy, sell or own volatility-linked ETFs without fully understanding how they work. Read our new article

Self-Directed RRSPs

A self-directed registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) allows you to play a more active role in choosing and managing your investments. This type of account is popular with do-it-yourself investors.

You can buy and sell many types of investments, such as GICs, stocks, and mutual funds. This can make it easier to control your desired asset mix and investment strategy for retirement. However, you'll also have to spend time doing your own research and be comfortable in making investment decisions independently. Learn more

Portfolio Benchmark Calculator

How has your investment portfolio performed compared to the market? Use our Portfolio Benchmark Calculator to see how a hypothetical portfolio would have performed in comparison to common benchmarks over various time frames.

Plan for Emergencies

Imagine your car breaks down, your roof leaks or your fridge dies. Do you have enough cash available to pay for these unexpected expenses? Or would you have to use a credit card or other loan to handle emergencies?

A general rule for emergency savings is to have enough to pay today’s bills plus living expenses for 3 to 6 months. But there are other things to consider. What’s right for you depends on whether you’re single or raising a family, how much you earn and what sources you can tap into if you need money fast. Learn more

Identity Theft

Identity theft is when someone uses your personal information to commit fraud. They may use your name, your social insurance number, your credit card number or other information to take money from your bank account, use your credit card, open an account or apply for a loan or credit card – without your knowledge. Follow these 6 tips to help protect against identity theft

Ask Us An Investing Question

Investing and the investment world can be complex. Our Re: Investing website offers clear, unbiased answers to your questions about investing, from a trusted source. Here are some recent questions and our responses:

“How is a RRIF setup?”
“How do I figure out how much I need to save for retirement?”
“How do I choose an asset mix, what investments should be included?”