“I was very fortunate to be part of the first group of students in the Ken Woods Portfolio Management Program. I got to learn with real money and experts guiding us on how investments are done in the real world.”
In March 2020, stock markets crashed as COVID-19 shut down economies around the world, only to rebound to all-time highs in the following months. Philippe Hynes, founder and president of Montreal-based investment advisors Tonus Capital Inc., has put a lot on the line navigating these unprecedented times.
“I've put all my money personally in the fund, so my interests are truly aligned with those of my clients,” he says.
“It's been the busiest business year for us since the launch of our firm 12 years ago. The volatility has been so extreme that trends we thought would take five years to pan out happen in five months.”
His approach to investing
“My passion has always been stocks. The market is always throwing challenges at us. It's never boring; it's always exciting.
“Launching my firm, my No. 1 priority was to get the best return I could for my investors while protecting the downside, and that hasn't changed.
“I think to make good long-term returns, we need to think differently from the crowd. To find bargains, we need to either find stocks that are unknown or currently having some challenges and, over the longer term, the market will appreciate the real value of the company.”
Best investing insight
“The market is always looking out further than one might think, and the value of a company, which will drive the share price, is not going to change by 20 per cent, 30 per cent or 40 per cent in a matter of a month.”
Concordia’s influence
“I was very fortunate to be part of the first group of students in the Ken Woods Portfolio Management Program. I got to learn with real money and experts guiding us on how investments are done in the real world.”
Giving back to Concordia
“I've been teaching part time at Concordia since 2006 and I'm still teaching virtually this year. I choose to give back to the university by giving the students real-life experience and real cases. The financial market is a complex system to understand and I'm trying my best to give my opinion, my thoughts on what's happening. I've also been able to hire many of the students over the years.”