Assessing Your Portfolio

Spring is a good time to clean or rethink about your investments because the start of a new season is the best time to assess your portfolio.

Lets look at some of the ways that can help you refresh your investment goals:

Reassess your risk tolerance level
There are certain events that take place in a person’s life that are not planned or expected which can have implications on your finances, may be you are becoming a parent or are reaching retirement. The performance of your portfolio over the year too can affect your risk appetite which may lead you to be more conservative this year or take on additional risk hoping for higher expected returns. The share market movements, political events and other external factors keep occurring over the short term which may make you rethink about your risk taking capability, however it is important to keep the long term goal in mind at all times in order to avoid financial damages based on these short term external factors.

Analyse the underperforming assets
Is your asset allocation still in line with your long term goal or has it skewed towards a position you are not too comfortable with? Check the assets that have been underperforming and assess their ability to provide returns that you set out to achieve from them. While it is good to stay invested and take a long term approach, it is vital to get rid of the underperforming or loss making investments in your portfolio.

Consolidate your accounts
We cannot stress enough on the importance of consolidating your accounts, it could be your superannuation, share brokers or different funds with same investment objective. Putting things in one place will help you not only reduce expenses, but also allow you to keep a track of all your investments and the paperwork related to them because different companies provide statements at different periods which you probably don’t even open. Superannuation is probably the most important item that requires consolidating. Have a read of our article on Finding Lost Super for more details.

See a financial adviser
It is not easy cleaning and hitting refresh to every aspect of your life regularly. Sometimes you need help and advice from people who work in the industry. Finance is an important part of your life and can be somewhat complicated, it is best to seek professional advice so you can discuss your personal circumstances and financial goals.

Working at JBS, I have realised the importance of getting an expert to look at your financial needs. May be on the outside the advice your financial adviser will provide will seem simple to you but the amount of analysis and work is put to come up with the recommendations is invaluable.

– Aakash Mehta –