INVESTMENT STRATEGY

Achieving your financial goals and obtaining better long-term investment results may sound like a difficult New Year’s resolution, but by simply selecting the right asset allocation strategy, you can set up your portfolio for success.

How you allocate your assets is an investment strategy that aims to balance risk and reward by apportioning your portfolio’s assets according to your goals, risk tolerance, and investment horizon.

The three main asset classes – equities, fixed-income, and cash and equivalents – have different levels of risk and return, so each will behave differently over time. Establishing your asset allocation is a crucial building block for you on your path to achieving your financial goals.

Unfortunately, things can get complicated quickly, so how do you combine long-term goals, like buying a vacation home, with short-term needs, like cash flow, while adapting to ever changing economic environments and market conditions? A prudent solution would include a plan to utilize both a strategic and tactical asset allocation, which will seek to optimize your returns through varying market climates and help you realize your financial goals sooner.

Strategic Asset Allocation

A personalized strategic asset-allocation serves as a long-term road map for getting you, the investor, where you want to go.

It will consist of the different asset classes that will make up the portfolio, as well as the target percentages for each asset class. A standard example is a balanced portfolio with 50% in equities (stocks and stock-based mutual funds) for growth and 50% in fixed income securities (bonds) to generate income.  

Your personalized strategic asset-allocation is determined based on two important factors: your ability to take risk and your willingness to take on risk. Both of these factors are equally important, as a sound strategic allocation will allow you to reach your goals, while making sure you’re comfortable, confident, and able to sleep at night.

Tactical Asset Allocation

A tactical asset-allocation employs slight variations from the strategic asset-allocation, with the intent of making the trip a smoother ride while also improving return potential. Further, your portfolio’s risk profile can be altered by overweighting or underweighting the asset classes specified in your strategic asset allocation for short periods in response to market conditions and/or your short-term financial goals and needs.

How Can We Help?

At GGM we use our data-driven economic and dynamic risk management models to tactically adjust your asset-allocation, thus adding or removing risk with the goal of softening the impact of market downturns and taking full advantage of bull markets.

Put achieving your financial goals on your New Year’s resolution list and take the first step in establishing your personal asset-allocation strategy by determining your risk tolerance. Take our Riskalyze survey and get your Risk Number today!