There are many potential risks to the market right now: Washington, consumer behavior, and tensions abroad are all contributing factors to recent volatility. So, how can you improve your portfolio when it has been subject to volatility? Today I’ll walk you through two simple steps to improving your investments.
Step 1: Identify Problems
Utilize benchmarks to determine how strong or weak your portfolio’s performance truly is. Once you know how you compare to similarly structured investments, determine the reasons why performance may be poor. Are all of your assets correlated to each other? To the stock market? How is the sector performing this quarter? How long has it been performing in a certain manner? These are all questions to ask during a thorough analysis. If you struggle with analyzing the performance, do not hesitate to visit an advisor for an in-depth analysis. Once you have properly dissected the problem, you must decide if the investment itself is causing your portfolio woes or if the economy is the overarching issue. Regardless of the result, don’t sit idle. Create a plan of action to get your investments back on track.
Step 2: Create Solutions
Common reasons for under-performance are investing into the wrong sectors of the market, companies reporting poor earnings, or brokerage downgrades. One potential solution for this is paying close attention to sector news (i.e. healthcare changes, energy changes or retail announcements if you are invested in these market sectors.) If your investments are down but are in a well performing sector, have good earnings and have positive ratings by Wall Street, most likely the market and the economy are doing poorly overall. You should key-in to Wall Street and economic news in this scenario. Decide if you’d like to be in the market at this point. If this is not the case, another option is to re-allocate your portfolio so the performance at least matches the indexes. I recommend heavily researching how these indexes operate if you are going to try this without the help of a financial advisor.
The Bottom Line: There are no guaranteed strategies to boost your portfolio, but there are many ways to analyze your current performance and seek solutions. The best strategy is always to stay informed, which can be a full time job. Need help staying on top of your investments and goals? Contact Reno financial advisor Jon G. Sanchez for an in-depth analysis of your portfolio at (775) 800-1801 today.
Jon Sanchez is a registered representative offering securities and advisory services through Independent Financial Group, LLC (IFG), a registered broker-dealer and investment advisor. Member FINRA/SIPC. OSJ Branch: 12671 High Bluff Drive Suite 200 San Diego, CA 92130. Sanchez Wealth Management, LLC and IFG are not affiliated entities. CA Insurance Lic. #0772626.