When readers submit their requests for our weekly portfolio clinic, we ask them to fill in a questionnaire to get a better idea of their circumstances. Of those questions, the most important for us by far is: what’s your financial aim, and how can our experts help?
The answers are often relatively vague. Readers may want to know whether their portfolio is diversified enough, if their strategy makes sense, or whether they should add a different asset class. But our experts can only respond properly if they also know what the investor is trying to achieve, when they are going to need their money, and roughly how much they will need.
A lot of people dip their toes into investing with the general idea of seeing how it goes, hoping to make as much money as possible. It is easy to carry some version of that beginner’s mindset into your more mature investing years, but taking the time to consider your goals can both give you a financial edge and make your life easier.