Are Your Investments Working for You?
How are your investments doing? Are your investments working for you? Do you even know what you want your investments to be doing?
For too many investors, the motivation and insight about investing is a one-time thing. The results are investments that seldom change, not because the investments aren’t performing as expected, but because of the law of investing inertia: Investments will continue along the same path until acted upon by an outside force, the investor.
The key to knowing if your investments are working for you is to know what kind of work your investments are supposed to be doing. Are your investments supposed to be generating income? Are your investments supposed to be paying for your teenager’s college in a few years? Are your investments supposed to be growing so you can buy that beach house when you retire?
These goals all require different kinds of investment portfolios. Once you know what your investments are supposed to be doing for you, you can evaluate if they are working for you. Those investments for college need to be ready for liquidation in a few years. A more conservative portfolio to minimize losses is in order. Income investments should be frequently evaluated to see how much income each investment is producing. Oftentimes, another similar investment may be paying a higher yield. If so, it’s time to consider if a trade is in order. Retirement investment portfolios should be well diversified and tied to your risk tolerance so you can hold steady through market fluctuations without panicking or making poorly timed sales. Annual or biannual rebalancing is all the work a solid retirement investment portfolio should need.
Once you know what your investments should be doing, you can answer whether your investments are working for you. If you don’t know what your investments should be doing, or if you know what they should be doing but they aren’t doing it, it’s time to talk to a professional financial advisor to ensure your investments are working for you.
If your company offers retirement plans for your employees, do you know whether their investments are working for them? Payroll Service Solutions partners with a group of financial advisors who can help answer that question, for you as well as your staff. Get in touch with PSS today to learn more!