What's Right for You?

The core elements of your portfolio should include a combination of stocks, bonds, and cash. To what extent you maintain exposure to stocks depends on how much risk you're willing to endure for the promise of greater returns. Sometimes the riskier the investment type, the greater potential for a higher return over a long period of time.

Determine Your Risk Tolerance
The fact is, over a ten-year period, stocks almost always outperform all other types of investments, including bonds and "cash instruments" such as CDs and money market funds.

So when you begin to build your investment portfolio, it's important to first determine what role stocks should play in your overall asset allocation. To do this, you must first establish your tolerance for market risk.

To help you determine your own level of risk tolerance, consider the following questions:

• Of the following three investment scenarios of $20,000, which would you feel most comfortable owning?
  • One with values fluctuating between $30,000 and $15,000 in one year.
  • One with values fluctuating between $25,000 and $17,000 in one year.
  • One with values fluctuating between $22,500 and $19,500 in one year.
• Say you've been earning 10% a year on your investment for the past five years. The next year you lose 20%. Do you…
  • Buy more of the investment.
  • Do nothing.
  • Sell all or a portion of your investment.

If you answered "a" to both questions, you probably have a high tolerance for market risk and may wish to allocate a larger portion of your investment to stocks.

If you answered "b" to both, you're probably medium tolerant and would do better with a portfolio balanced with a mix of stocks, bonds, and cash.

If you answered "c," you probably have a lower threshold for market risk and may prefer a comparatively lower designation of stocks.

Of course, there may be other factors--such as age, income, financial goals, etc.--that you should consider when determining your investment risk and portfolio allocation.

Allocating Assets

"If you can accurately predict the future, you don't need asset allocation. But for the rest of us mortals, how we divide our money is a fundamental part of what makes a portfolio sink or swim."

- Lorayne Fiorillo, author ofFinancial Fitness in 45 Days

There's nothing terribly complex about the strategy of asset allocation. It comes down to allocating your assets across different categories.

Balancing your investment among different asset classes will help you achieve your financial goals as well as help you reduce risk. To get started, ask yourself 3 questions:

• What are my financial goals?
• What is my investment time frame?
• What is my tolerance level for market risk?

The answers to these 3 questions will help you determine where your invested money should be allocated. A larger portion of your portfolio should be dedicated to:

Stocks, if...

• You haven't started a disciplined savings and investment program and have a lot of ground to cover to reach your goals.
• You have a relatively long investment time frame--such as 5 to 10 years or more.
• You have the tolerance for large-scale market volatility.

Bonds, if...

• You've made some headway on your financial goals and realize you need to diversify your holdings to preserve your investment as well as to maintain growth.
• You have a mid-to-long term investment time frame.
• You can withstand mild income fluctuation on the way to achieving your goals.

Cash, if...

• You just want to preserve the money you already have.
• You may need to access your money at any time.
• The thought of losing any of your money makes you queasy.

Page 14 of 15: Saving and Investing

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