Building a successful investment plan requires a thorough understanding of your current circumstances, your needs, long-term goals and your investment time horizon—how long you might need your money to last. However, understanding your investment options and knowing how to successfully allocate the funds in your investment portfolio can be challenging. In this article, we will cover some important steps to get started with your investment plan as well as some investment-related considerations.
Investors are different and may have unique approaches to retirement planning based on their individual circumstances. However, if you are like many investors, your overarching investment plan objective may fall within one of the following categories:
When evaluating your investment goals, carefully assess the risks in each option. Most people associate investment ‘risk’ with market volatility. Market volatility can have a significant impact on the sustainability of your portfolio, but there are other risks to consider as well. If you need portfolio growth to achieve your long-term goals but invest your savings in low-yielding securities, you may introduce the risk of not meeting your long-term needs, which may mean you need to re-evaluate your long-term goals. Alternatively, aiming solely to maintain your account balance may run the risk of losing purchasing power due to the ongoing cost of inflation.
When you make the decision to invest your funds in assets—such as fixed interest securities, equities or other options—you may benefit from working with a trusted adviser. By getting an outside perspective on your investment objectives, risk tolerance and financial goals, you may get the advice necessary to optimise your personal investment plan to fit to your personal situation and goals.
How much money will you need to achieve your investment goals? When evaluating your future cash flow needs, a good place to start is to calculate how much you spend now. Then estimate how much that may change in retirement, which may be easier said than done. Will your current investments fund your essential spending, such as daily living expenses and tax bills, and also discretionary spending, such as travel and hobbies? If not, could you afford to save more? What about being able to fund unexpected needs? Due to the effects of inflation and unexpected costs, you may need to reconsider how much money you need in order to reach your long-term goals.
Then you will need to assess what investment options or investment products best suit your long-term financial needs. To do so, it is a good idea to develop an investment strategy.
One of the most important aspects of investment planning is asset allocation—your portfolio’s mix of equities, fixed interest and other securities. You may hold these assets directly, or collectively, within funds. We believe a majority of portfolio returns over time can be attributed to achieving the right balance of assets for your personal situation and goals. After all, if you need long-term portfolio growth to fund your investment objectives, an all-cash portfolio may not the best investment choice for you. A financial adviser may be able to help you explore your investment options both for long-term financial planning and tactical investment choices. Fisher Investments UK may be able to evaluate your situation and recommend an investment asset allocation we think is right for your situation and goals.
Avoiding emotional or shortsighted investing decisions is often a difficult task for an investor—luckily this is not something that you have to do on your own. Fisher Investments UK can help qualified investors—those with £250,000 or more of investable assets—by recommending an asset allocation fit for their financial goals and situation. Contact us today to speak with one of our qualified financial professionals or download some of our educational content as the first of our ongoing insights to learn more.
Investing in financial markets involves the risk of loss and there is no guarantee that all or any capital invested will be repaid. Past performance neither guarantees nor reliably indicates future performance. The value of investments and the income from them will fluctuate with world financial markets and international currency exchange rates.