How to Rebalance Your Portfolio for The Year Ahead

As the new year approaches, it's a good time to take a look at your stock portfolio and see if it's properly balanced. Rebalancing your portfolio involves adjusting the allocation of your assets to align with your investment goals and risk tolerance. This can help to diversify your investments, reduce risk, and potentially increase your returns. Here are some steps you can follow to rebalance your stock portfolio for the new year:

1. Review your investment goals: The first step in rebalancing your portfolio is to review your investment goals and determine what you want to achieve. Are you saving for retirement, a down payment on a home, or another long-term goal? Are you looking for steady, moderate returns, or are you willing to take on more risk in pursuit of higher returns? Understanding your investment goals will help you decide on the right asset allocation for your portfolio.

2. Determine your asset allocation: Once you know your investment goals, you can decide on the right asset allocation for your portfolio. This is the percentage of your assets that you want to allocate to different asset classes, such as stocks, bonds, and cash. A common rule of thumb is to subtract your age from 100 to determine the percentage of your portfolio that should be invested in stocks. For example, if you are 30 years old, you might aim for a portfolio that is 70% stocks and 30% bonds and cash.

3. Check your current allocation: The next step is to compare your current portfolio to your target asset allocation. Look at the percentage of your assets that are invested in each asset class, and see if any adjustments need to be made. If your portfolio is heavily weighted in one asset class, for example, you may want to consider selling some of those assets and reallocating the proceeds to other asset classes to better align with your target allocation.

4. Rebalance your portfolio: Once you've determined what adjustments need to be made, it's time to rebalance your portfolio. This can be done through a combination of buying and selling different assets. For example, if you need to increase your allocation to stocks, you might sell some of your bond holdings and use the proceeds to buy more stock. Alternatively, if you need to reduce your allocation to stocks, you might sell some of your stock holdings and use the proceeds to buy more bonds or cash.

5. Monitor and adjust: Finally, it's important to monitor your portfolio regularly and make adjustments as needed to ensure that it remains properly balanced. This may involve rebalancing your portfolio annually or more frequently, depending on market conditions and your investment goals.

By following these steps, you can help to ensure that your stock portfolio is properly balanced and aligned with your investment goals. This can help you to manage risk and potentially increase your returns over the long term.