<\/p>\n
An expertly managed, well-diversified portfolio or fund could help your wealth flourish over the long term. Crucially, it could also keep the value of your money ahead of rising prices.<\/p>\n
Consider your reasons for investing <\/strong> For example, you might be: <\/strong> Determining your reasons for investing now will help you work out your investment objectives and influence how your investments are managed in future.<\/p>\n Decide on how long to invest<\/strong> Short-term<\/strong> Medium-term<\/strong> Long-term<\/strong> As you approach retirement, you might sell off some of these riskier investments and move to safer options with the aim of protecting your investments and their returns.<\/p>\n How much time you have will make a big impact on creating your investment portfolio. As a general rule, the longer you hold investments, the better the chance they\u2019ll outperform cash \u2013 but there can never be a guarantee of this.<\/p>\n Establish an investment plan<\/strong> Build a diversified portfolio<\/strong> Diversifying your portfolio in a few different ways through funds that invest across:<\/strong> A diversified portfolio is likely to include a wide mix of investment types, markets and industries. How much you invest in each is called your \u2018asset allocation\u2019.<\/p>\n Make the most of tax allowances<\/strong> Review your portfolio periodically<\/strong> Changes to your financial goals <\/strong> Asset allocation<\/strong> Diversification <\/strong> Performance<\/strong> Influence how your investments are managed in future You need to consider what you really want from your investments. Knowing yourself, your needs and financial and lifestyle goals, and your appetite for risk is a good start. Bumpy rides in the stock market are nothing new, but they can be hard for investors to deal… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paulyoungifa.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3582"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paulyoungifa.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paulyoungifa.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paulyoungifa.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paulyoungifa.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.paulyoungifa.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3582\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paulyoungifa.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paulyoungifa.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paulyoungifa.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIt\u2019s important to know why you\u2019re investing. The first step is to consider your financial situation and your reasons for investing.<\/p>\n
\nlooking for a way to achieve higher returns than on your cash savings
\nputting money aside to help pay for a specific goal, such as your children\u2019s or grandchildren\u2019s education or their future wedding
\nplanning for your retirement<\/p>\n
\nIf you\u2019re investing with a specific financial and lifestyle goal in mind, you\u2019ve probably got a date in mind too. If you\u2019ve got a few goals, some may be further away in time than others, so you\u2019ll need to have different strategies for your different investments. Investments rise and fall in value, so it\u2019s sensible to use cash savings for your short-term goals and invest for your longer-term goals.<\/p>\n
\nMost investments need at least a five-year commitment, but there are other options if you don\u2019t want to invest for this long, such as cash savings.<\/p>\n
\nCommitting your money for at least five years opens up a selection of investments that might suit you. Your investments make up your \u2018portfolio\u2019 and, if appropriate, should contain a mix of funds investing in shares, bonds and other assets, or a mixture of these, which are carefully selected and monitored for performance.<\/p>\n
\nLet\u2019s say you start investing for your retirement when you\u2019re fairly young. You might have 25 or 35 years before you need to start drawing money from your investments. With time on your side, you might consider riskier funds that can offer the chance of bigger returns in exchange for an increased risk of losing your money.<\/p>\n
\nOnce you\u2019re happy and have set your financial and lifestyle goals, the next step is to get your investment portfolio in place. We\u2019ll help you identify the right type of investment options suitable for you.<\/p>\n
\nHolding a balanced, diversified portfolio with a mix of investments will help protect it from the ups and downs of the markets. Different types of investments perform well under different economic conditions. By diversifying your portfolio, you can aim to make these differences in performance work for you.<\/p>\n
\ndifferent types of investments
\ndifferent countries and markets
\ndifferent types of industries and companies<\/p>\n
\nAs well as deciding what to invest in, think about how you\u2019ll hold your investments. Some types of tax-efficient accounts normally allow you to keep more of the returns you make. It\u2019s always worth thinking about whether you\u2019re making the most of your tax allowances too.
\nYou also need to bear in mind that these tax rules can change at any time, and the value of any particular tax treatment to you will depend on your individual circumstances.<\/p>\n
\nPeriodically checking to see if your portfolio aligns with your goals is an important aspect of investing.
\nThese are some aspects of your portfolio you may want to check up on annually:<\/p>\n
\nHas something happened in your life that calls for a fundamental change to your financial life plan? Maybe a change in circumstances has changed your time horizon or the amount of risk you\u2019re willing to handle. If so, it\u2019s important to take a hard look at your portfolio to determine whether it aligns with your revised financial goals.<\/p>\n
\nAn important part of investment planning is setting an asset allocation that you feel comfortable with. Although your portfolio may have been in line with your desired asset allocation at the beginning of the year, depending on the performance of your portfolio, your asset allocation may have changed over the period in question. If your actual allocations are outside of your targets, then perhaps it\u2019s time to readjust your portfolio to get it back in line with your original targets.<\/p>\n
\nAlong with a portfolio with a proper asset class balance, you will want to ensure that you\u2019re properly diversified inside each asset class.<\/p>\n
\nConsider if there are certain aspects of your portfolio that need rebalancing. You may also want to consider selling to help offset capital gains you might take throughout the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"