Investing & Insurance
Do you want to be a savvy investor? Make smart decisions by understanding a few basics of investing to avoid the mistakes so many make.
A Quick Refresher on Investing and Moves to Make in Q4
Knowing When to Seek Financial Help
Are you being financially smart with employee benefits?
The time is approaching when many individuals will be required to make significant decisions regarding their employer-provided benefits. Too often we gloss over this as just a decision about benefits, but in reality, it has a major impact on...
Can you refinance any loan or just a mortgage?
Typically, when a person hears the term refinancing, they might immediately jump to the conclusion that this is only for mortgages. In fact, this is not true at all. Any loan you have from credit cards to student loans including car loans and...
Managing Financial Stress
Handling financial stress can be challenging, but there are several strategies that can help you manage it effectively. It is important to handle financial stress because it can cause physical ailments, impact your relationships, and even have...
Taking the appropriate amount of risk with your investments makes the most difference on maximizing your growth. It is always important to balance risk and reward. Low risk usually means lower returns, higher risk provides opportunity for higher returns but also bigger losses. Balance or diversification is really the long term strategy that provides the best chance for success.
There are two very important concepts to remember. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t true. And never invest in anything that you don’t understand. Knowledgeable investing is responsible investing - always do your research before making any investment.
Rebalancing. People who have diversified portfolios need to rebalance their holdings annually. It is very likely that investments will grow at different rates. If you never rebalance, you might not be as diversified as you hoped, which can impact your risk level or your future growth.
Not having the appropriate level of risk within their investments. Younger investors can take more risk, and if they are too conservative they lose the opportunity to have higher returns. As someone matures, their risk tolerance should decrease because they don’t have the time to make up any possible losses.
The very first step is to remain calm and not start following the market on a daily basis. If your portfolio is adequately diversified, market downturns won’t have a huge impact on your return. The mistake that people make is to try to time the market by getting in and out, which rarely works out for most people.