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A recent column on benchmarking the growth in your tax-free savings account has generated some bragging and some frustration.

An annualized return of 4 per cent was used for a balanced TFSA containing both stocks and bond, with a tilt toward the stocks, while an 8-per-cent return was used for an all-stocks portfolio. Both figures are after fees. A few readers e-mailed to say they had been wondering how their TFSAs had done on a comparative basis and were pleased to see they had beaten the benchmark return. And then an investment adviser got in touch. She reported a couple of calls from clients who read the column and wondered why their accounts lagged.

Here are four reasons she cited for TFSAs underperforming the 4-per-cent benchmark return:

- You didn’t start contributing in 2009: The return data used in the benchmarking column assumed you started with TFSAs from the get-go.

- You started in 2009, but kept your money in a high interest account for a while before moving into investments: No shame – people needed time to get used to TFSAs.

- You invested monthly instead of at the beginning of every year: The benchmarking numbers were based on maximum contributions at the beginning of every year.

- You weren’t a consistent investor: You may have missed a year and caught up later.

Here are a few additional reasons that explain underperformance:

- You withdrew money from your TFSA and then put it back (or not).

- You let money sit in cash for extended periods rather than getting it invested right away.

- Your stock-picking left you with more losers than winners.

Less-than-optimum TFSA results should be a prompt to bring more discipline to your investing. Make your contributions first thing every year if possible and pick investments that are suitable for long-term results as opposed to chasing trends. If you’re flailing, consider getting help from an adviser or robo-adviser. For roughly 0.5 per cent, a robo-adviser will build you a cheap portfolio of exchange-traded funds that would work well for a long-term TFSA investor. The ETFs you hold have modest fees of their own, but you should still have enough left to get good results from your TFSA.

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