Friday 17 February, 2012

Investment Financial Planning


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Risk is defined as the probability of loss or to expose to loss. Anytime or anywhere you are investing your money you are exposed to some level of risk. Even if you have your money in relatively safe investments such as savings accounts or bank CD's there will always be a certain risk associated with that action. In this case it may be the risk of losing purchasing power to inflation do to the low return on investment.

When it comes to investment financial planning, it is critical to know what risk tolerance level you can withstand. When most people think of risk tolerance, they think, "How much can I stand to lose before I start to struggle." Risk is a huge part of investing because it dictates what sort of investment vehicles you can put your money into, how much money you can invest and for how long. Knowing your risk tolerance is one of the biggest keys to successful investing.
There is more to risk than just fear of losing money. There are other "risk factors" such as not meeting your financial investment goals, working with an incompetent financial adviser or putting investments in the wrong products at the wrong time. The most common goal when setting up your investment financial planning is for retirement. Risk can run the extremes of losing your shirt to being so conservative with your investments that you don't meet those goals.

The first thing you need to do is to take a personal assessment of your own risk and develop what is known as an investment personality. Everyone's personality will be different, they are unique like fingerprints. Some investors can stand to take some big chances now with the lure of a potential payoff down the road, while others who may not have much time between the time they start investing and the point where their financial goals need to be realized and can't take big risks.

This is where your investment financial planning comes into play. Using a retirement calculator to assess what your retirement needs will be can help you put together a plan that can tell you what you will need to save and what level of return you will need to meet those goals. You can then look at the options you have available to get there and choose the method that most closely matches your risk tolerance.

A good barometer to judge what your risk will be is how will you feel if your capital goes up, down or stays the same? Are you willing to be patient and accept small increases, or do you want to see the most possible movement? If you're sitting at your computer right now ringing your hands in fear that you might lose money on your investment, you should already be able to tell exactly what sort of investor you are. Losing sleep because you lie in fear of what is happening with your portfolio is absolutely not an option.

I developed a savings and investment program that can meet the risk tolerance levels for most people. The portfolio is broadly diversified and allocated to smooth out many of the bumps associated with investing in the stock market. The performance has exceeded the average stock market return since the portfolio was put together in 2003, which makes it ideal for people just starting to put their investment financial planning together or even those approaching their retirement date.

Assessing both ends of your risk tolerance is quite possibly the most important single financial decision you can make. Knowing how much money you can invest, how long you need to invest it and what kind of investments you want to buy into is very important. Once you determine your own risk tolerance, you will be ready to take the next step and start investing.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4521129

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