How to tailor your investment plan to your goals

Chances are, you have certain financial goals. Whether you want to retire by 40 or just manage your investments effectively by losing the least amount of money as possible, you should tailor your investment plan to your goals.

The following are a few things to keep in mind when tailoring your investment plan to your goals:

Know what you have
In order to properly invest, you need to know what you have to invest in both assets and time and what risks you are willing to take. Begin by taking the most recent statements you have from investments or plans you have now and figure out what percentage of your assets are stocks and bonds and what percentage is cash. This will give you a good idea of what you can afford. In addition, determine how much time you'll be willing to spend researching investments and stocks.

Line up your informational sources
Research is crucial for investing, and most investment research is not difficult to obtain. Some websites will charge a one-time or monthly fee to access all of their information and stock research tools. Whether you opt to do this or not is up to you, but many times you will be able to find the same research elsewhere for free. Magazines, newspapers, finance websites, television, and stock screeners are all good sources of information for investments. It is wise to familiarize yourself with these before you begin your investment plan.

Determine your strategy
It's important to decide which areas of the market you are most interested in investing in. This could be stocks, bonds, treasuries, or currencies. From there, you can look up a general market index like the Standard and Poor's 500 and consider the top stocks. In addition, you may also want to keep an ongoing watch list of stocks you have researched and found interesting. This list should be reviewed weekly and studied to keep on top of things. Once you sell a stock or bond or other form of investment, your watch list will be a good place to turn to.

Evaluate your strategy
Your strategy may work for the present, which is great. However, it's important to continually review and re-evaluate your strategy in order to make sure your investment plan is meeting your goals. If it isn't, rework it so it is more balanced and it can properly meet your goals.

Consider outside help
If you're absolutely stumped or feel you are out of your league, you may want to consider an investment management service. An investment management service's job is to be accommodating in regards to how involved you would like them to be in your investment. This can include helping you to set reasonable goals and objectives and then tailoring their services around that. A good investment manager will also be willing to discuss your goals, questions, and concerns with you as often as possible in order for you to be comfortable with your investments. These services do not come cheap, but they may be worth it.

Your financial goals are the starting point when it comes to making an investment plan. Determine what you have and what you can afford to invest, and then draw up a strategy to meet your goals. Finally, review your financial goals and objectives frequently to make sure your plan is meeting them.