Taking a Strategic Approach to Your Portfolio Checkup

June 13, 2025

Market volatility often acts as a wake-up call. It encourages many investors to examine their financial portfolios more closely. While regular portfolio reviews are a smart practice, they become even more critical during times of significant market swings or life changes. Evaluating your investment strategy periodically ensures that your asset mix remains aligned with your financial goals, timeline, risk tolerance, and personal circumstances.

If you already have a plan in place, these reviews help keep you on course. If not, now is the perfect time to establish one. Below are four steps to help guide your portfolio checkup and maintain your long-term financial health.

1. Define and Revisit Your Financial Goals

The foundation of any investment plan is a clear set of financial goals. Your portfolio should reflect your personal objectives, whether that’s saving for retirement, purchasing a home, funding education, or generating income during retirement. Before reviewing your investments, revisit your goals and update them as necessary to reflect any changes in your life.

For individuals still in the accumulation phase, regular contributions to savings and investment accounts remain crucial. Automated savings programs can help ensure consistent progress toward your goals. If you are already taking money from your portfolios, it is important to check your income sources. Make sure your withdrawal plan is still sustainable.

Think about planning your next portfolio checkup ahead of time. You can do this quarterly, semi-annually, or annually. This way, reviews will be a regular part of your financial routine.

2. Evaluate Your Asset Allocation

Your mix of stocks, bonds, and cash should be balanced. This balance depends on your risk tolerance, investment timeline, and financial situation. Over time, market performance can cause this allocation to drift, potentially increasing risk or limiting growth. For example, a prolonged stock market rally might leave your portfolio more heavily weighted in equities than originally intended.

Life events may also warrant adjustments. A marriage, the birth of a child, a new job with stock options, or nearing retirement can all affect your ideal asset mix. Take the time to assess whether your current allocation still fits your evolving needs.

Diversification is key within each asset class. For stocks, this may include exposure to:

●     Company size: Small-cap, mid-cap, and large-cap companies

●     Investment style: Growth and value stocks

●     Sectors: Technology, healthcare, energy, and others

●     Geography: Domestic, international, and emerging markets

For bonds, diversification includes:

●     Sectors: Government, corporate, and municipal bonds

●     Maturities: Short-, medium-, and long-term bonds

●     Credit quality: High-grade investment bonds versus higher-yield, higher-risk bonds

●     Geographic exposure: Domestic and foreign debt markets

Don’t simply build diversification once and forget it—ongoing monitoring ensures your portfolio remains properly balanced. Use rebalancing techniques, such as reallocating new contributions or periodically shifting funds from overrepresented to underrepresented asset classes.

3. Review Individual Holdings

Beyond your overall allocation, individual investments deserve scrutiny. Review your stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to ensure they still align with your financial strategy.

For individual stocks, assess:

●     Company fundamentals: Earnings, revenue growth, and valuation ratios like price-to-earnings

●     Market outlook: Industry trends and analyst projections

●     Position size: Avoid over-concentration by limiting exposure to any one company, especially if holdings exceed 5% of your total portfolio.

For bonds, monitor:

●     Credit ratings: Downgrades may increase your portfolio’s risk profile

●     Duration: As bonds mature, reassess how sensitive your portfolio is to interest rate changes

●     Issuer concentration: Avoid placing too much capital in bonds issued by a single entity

Mutual funds and ETFs should be compared to their stated benchmarks. Review fund performance, management changes, fee structures, and investment strategies. Lagging performance or significant changes in management philosophy may warrant a replacement.

Consider tax implications and trading costs before making any changes to your holdings.

4. Measure Overall Portfolio Performance

Finally, step back and evaluate your portfolio’s total performance against your long-term goals and market benchmarks. This helps you determine whether your current investment approach remains effective.

Use appropriate benchmarks for different asset classes:

●     U.S. Stocks: Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Index

●     International Stocks: MSCI All Country World Index (excluding the U.S.)

●     Bonds: Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index

●     Cash Equivalents: Short-term Treasury bill indexes

While short-term fluctuations are inevitable, long-term underperformance may indicate that your strategy requires adjustment. If your investments consistently fail to meet expectations or exceed your risk tolerance, consider revisiting your asset allocation, contribution rates, or withdrawal strategy.

Stay Committed to Your Plan

Successful investing requires discipline and consistency. Regular portfolio checkups help you stay on track with your goals.

They let you find problems early. This way, you can make changes before reacting emotionally to market ups and downs. Make time for periodic reviews, and consider consulting with a financial advisor to gain professional insights and refine your strategy as life evolves.

By staying engaged with your portfolio, you not only protect your financial future but also build the confidence to weather both calm and volatile markets with resilience.

Sources:

https://www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/investing-ideas/portfolio-checkup

Disclosure:

This information is an overview and should not be considered as specific guidance or recommendations for any individual or business.

This material is provided as a courtesy and for educational purposes only.

These are the views of the author, not the named Representative or Advisory Services Network, LLC, and should not be construed as investment advice. Neither the named Representative nor Advisory Services Network, LLC gives tax or legal advice. All information is believed to be from reliable sources; however, we make no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. Please consult your Financial Advisor for further information.