Ask Melanie | Ask Melanie: New Year's evolution
Melanie Nutbeam, a certified financial planner based in Hong Kong, addresses common personal finance queries. Send your questions to [email protected]
Here's a programme for the next 12 days, weeks or months.
these are the drivers of your planning. Discuss them with any significant other(s) and list them as short, medium and long-term targets. Referencing them to your age gives razor-sharp focus, for example to "providing college fees for two kids from when we're 47-53 years old" and "retiring when we're 60".
this snapshot of your current assets and liabilities indicates any gap to be bridged between the resources you have and those you need to meet your goals. It's your first glimpse into whether your goals are realistic.
putting your spending on paper is a very powerful way to change behaviour. Your savings, and your investment earnings, are the bridge across the financial gap. How much you save is largely within your control. By now you might be resolving to either change behaviour or modify your goals.
investors only need two strategies to navigate difficult markets. The first is sensible asset allocation based on personal circumstances and the second is disciplined rebalancing to maintain appropriate asset allocation. Your goals, your time frame, your current resources and your expected savings are an indicator of how much investment risk you may need to take to achieve your goals.
check for fee and tax drag on your investments.