One of the best strategies for investing is to invest and then forget about it. Study after study shows that people who select well-rounded funds and investment selections do better if they ignore market upswings and downswings than if they focus on potential gains and losses every day. This is great advice, especially if downswings make you nervous. But not doing any maintenance on your accounts can be nearly as dangerous. Here are three things you should check on ASAP:
1. Rebalance your accounts.
Having diversified accountings is a good thing. While that stops a sudden lucky gain from giving you thousands of dollars in potential profits, it also stops your investments from being devastated in a single day. Most investors have a mix of risky and conservative investments based on their age and investment goals. Unless you have a tool that automatically rebalances your investments, check in once a year or so.
2. Have you been keeping up with tax loss harvesting?
Again, automated tools can do a lot of heavy lifting. But tax loss harvesting also requires a manual touch. If you’ve experienced a lot of gains in the past year but you also have some potential losses and a high tax bill, you can sell off those losses at a loss. That offsets your tax bill and helps rebalance your expected returns while also offloading some bad investment choices.
3. Make sure deposits are actually invested.
The personal investing world has its own branch of horror stories. One recurring narrative is that you can deposit money into your investment platform without actually investing it. This is absolutely possible, and, if you don’t notice it, you could spend months or years with deposits that barely keep up with the time value of money. Even if you’re sure you’re automatically investing in your go-to funds, log in to make sure money isn’t waiting for you to confirm the movement.
Keeping on top of your investments’ tax obligations can pay off during tax season. Set an appointment with Roberts Tax & Retirement Planning to get the most use out of tax loss harvesting and more strategies.
