HACK 208 Celebrate Your Money Anniversary

Look at your investment portfolio too often and you’ll work yourself into a frenzy about the performance of each and every one of the index funds, ETFs, and other investment vehicles you’re relying on for your future comfort and prosperity. But if you never look at your portfolio, you basically have your head in the sand. You can’t make smart decisions for your finances if you’re not paying attention at all.

Find a happy medium by reviewing and rebalancing your investment allocations once each year. It doesn’t matter when you do it—the start of the year, right after Tax Day, your birthday—it just matters that you make time to regularly review your portfolio.

When you do it, check in on the following areas:

• Your Money Goals: Are you contributing enough of your income to your retirement account? Experts usually say to aim for 15 percent.
• Your Portfolio Performance: Regardless of any big peaks and valleys you see on the line graph for the past year, are your investments generally growing?
• Your Age and Risk Tolerance: Do you have a mix of stocks and bonds that fits the level of risk you’re comfortable taking on right now?
• Your Fees: Your annual check-in is a great time to review the expense ratio for each of your investments. An expense ratio of more than 1 percent means it’s time to move on.