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While there are no certainties to help make you a more successful investor, you can structure your investment strategies and plan to meet your goals and accommodate the changes in your life. After all, investing success doesn’t happen overnight.
Determine your investment goals, assess whether you’re investing for college, retirement, a home or a combination. By identifying your motivators and knowing your time horizon, you can establish an investment strategy to support your goals. As your financial needs change, you’ll need to balance and rebalance how you have allocated your investments to keep pace with your investment targets.
Review how much time you have until you’ll need the money you have invested. Your retirement generally will be invested for long-term growth and can therefore weather short-term fluctuations in the market. However, if you’re saving to purchase a home, you may only have a few years before you need the funds. For a down payment on a home you probably will need more liquid investments.
Article: Focus on Time in the Market, Not Market Timing
Spend some time reviewing your overall portfolio performance. Don’t focus on one investment that isn’t where you want it to be. Keep your eye on the big picture. Work with a Financial Advisor to keep your portfolio strategies in tune with your income and family changes. You’ll be able to easily view and track progress with our Command Asset Program, because it combines your banking and investing needs in one relationship. You can use Online Brokerage to review your status when it’s convenient for you—anytime, anywhere you have Internet access.
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Dollar cost averaging is when you invest a fixed amount of money in regular intervals. The advantage of this strategy is that you can reduce your average cost per share in a security or mutual fund over time. For example, as the share prices of an investment fluctuates; you buy fewer shares when the price is high and more shares when the price is low, thus lowering your overall cost per share. However, this approach does not guarantee a profit and doesn’t protect you from losses in a downturn in the market.
Article: Pay Yourself First (and Regularly) Through Dollar Cost Averaging
Compounding lets you earn interest on your interest. The way your money may grow through compounding is the greatest single benefit a long-term investment plan can offer. When you invest, you not only have the potential to earn money on what you've contributed; you also have the potential to earn money on your earnings. This is especially important since life expectancies are increasing and we will need greater assets to rely upon in retirement.
Put your money to work with compounding:
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Related Links
•College Savings Worksheet
•Retirement Goal Worksheet
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