Jeet Dhillon, Senior portfolio manager, TD Wealth

Firm: TD Wealth
Position: Senior portfolio manager
Years in wealth management: 20
Years as a portfolio manager: 11
Certifications: MBA, CFA

Jeet Dhillon's journey into discretionary management wasn’t exactly traditional. Working at TD Wealth’s head office as strategic manager, she assisted portfolio managers and provided the tools they needed to meet the demands of the high-net-worth segment. It wasn’t until she became a portfolio manager herself that client interactions became a personal responsibility. That was 11 years ago, and today those interactions are natural and vital part of her job.

“When we are onboarding a new client, there’s a lot of back and forth so we can put together a portfolio recommendation,” Dhillon says. “It is based on fully understanding the client’s financial situation, what objectives they have and their time horizon.”

In recent years, strong performance in the equity markets likely made for content clients. This year is a little different, so it’s important for a PM to keep expectations in check.

“Whenever there is volatility, it is natural human behaviour to be a little concerned,” Dhillon says. “As a portfolio manager, it is my job to connect the dots in terms of noise in the markets. So I discuss with the clients our portfolio strategy and how that’s going to achieve the client’s long-term goals."

“We feel that debt levels are high in the Canadian market and there might be some shocks due to what is happening with NAFTA. So we shifted a little more to the international space because valuations are much more reasonable from a pricing perspective”

In constructing a portfolio, Dhillon and her team use strategic asset allocation for each client, factoring in risk tolerance and need for liquidity. 

“A balanced investor might be comfortable with 50% in stocks, 50% in bonds, and we have a range of 60-40 around that,” she says. “That allows us to make shifts within that range that will allow us to manage risk or provide better opportunities if the markets are looking positive.”

At the moment, that allocation, in most cases, will have a heavier weighting in international stocks. “We feel that debt levels are high in the Canadian market and there might be some shocks due to what is happening with NAFTA,” Dhillon says. “So we shifted a little more to the international space because valuations are much more reasonable from a pricing perspective, and some of the concerns we have had with Europe are beginning to subside.”

With risk in the equity markets increasing, it’s also important to ensure the fixed-income segment receives attention, Dhillon explains. 

“Within the fixed-income space, our bias is towards corporate bonds,” she says. “As rates are going up and the spread between government and corporate is narrowed, there is still better yield potential in the corporate space. Our duration is more shorter-term bonds, because when there is a rising-rate environment, you don’t want to have a lot of long bonds that might take a bigger hit.”