Jeff Somers

Maritime university graduates are being polled on what they are up to today.

The Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission is launching a survey of graduates who obtained a bachelor’s degree from a Maritime university in 2012.

The purpose of the survey is to gather information on graduates’ pursuit of further studies, employment, financing education, including debt and repayment experiences, and migration patterns.

The survey results are considered valuable to governments, universities, student associations and the graduates themselves in understanding the different pathways and key factors that affect successful transitions between education and work, or to further studies.

Graduates will be contacted by email or telephone over the coming weeks. The 2012 graduates who do not receive direct contact can do the survey by entering their information on the survey website: www.pra.ca/en/mphecgradsurvey.

“I would encourage graduates who are contacted to share their experiences and opinions,’’ said Catherine Stewart, interim CEO of the commission.

“Their responses will help us to understand the larger picture of university graduates’ transitions and will in turn inform institutions and governments as they develop policies and programs.’’

Stewart added the survey will build on the information gathered in the two-year-out survey of the same class and provide detailed information about the transition at two points in time.

Graduates who complete the survey will have an opportunity to enter their name in a random draw to win one grand prize of $1,500 or one of nine prizes of $500 each.

The survey is conducted by PRA, Inc., on behalf of the commission in both French and English and the responses of individual graduates will be kept strictly confidential.

The project is funded by the governments of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island and made possible through the collaboration of the participating Maritime universities.

More information about the survey program may be found at www.mphec.ca.

The commission expects to release a series of reports about the findings beginning in 2019.

Here’s what an emotional investor does: Checks the market constantly, worries about every uptick and downtick, rapidly realigns his or her portfolio at the first sign of a stock or market downturn, tends to jump into and out of the market chasing hot stocks and dumping down stocks.

And here’s one other thing an emotional investor does: Severely limits his or her chances for longterm financial success.

Rational investors know that the best approach is to take the emotion out of investing.

Many of them are business owners and replace emotional investing with a business-owner approach. They have found success incorporating these business-owner principles into their investment plans.

Rational investors set goals and have the discipline to stick to them. Yes, they want to make money but they set their return objectives against clear shortand long-term goals.

Successful business owners know they can’t do everything themselves so they hire capable people with the talent and ability to enhance their business. Similarly, rational investors delegate their investment decisions to professionals who have the talent and ability to help them achieve and sustain their financial goals.

Both rational business-owners and rational investors definitely want to create wealth but they also understand the need for wealth protection. That’s why their portfolios are carefully crafted and welldiversified to reduce risk and provide more stable returns over the long-term.

Rational investors make investment decisions based on facts not on feelings. They do not get caught up in “the investment flavour of the moment” and are careful to keep their emotions out of investment choices.

Rational business owners keep a daily watch on investment news and consider its implications but like rational investors, they also keep their focus on long-term trends not day-to-day fluctuations.

Rational individuals, business-owners and investors alike, trust their intelligence. They actively seek money-making opportunities — especially in a volatile market — by hedging, shorting and using other investment strategies to pick up assets at bargain prices.

If an unemotional business owner approach to investing appeals to you — and it should because it’s often a better path to financial success — then talk to your professional advisor about the investment strategies that work best for you.