What Is Goals-Based Investing?
In doing retirement planning, first begin with the lifestyle you want to enjoy. Then figure out how much it’ll cost you. Then evaluate your current investment strategy to see if they’ll do the job. Your portfolio return in this approach becomes the means, not the end. In other words, start with your goals, figure out how much it’s going to cost you, and determine how you should invest to accomplish those goals.
Performance-Based Investing
This approach is very different from performance-based investing, where you pick the top performing fund or funds for your portfolio as the first order of business. This approach looks at past performance, which is not necessarily an indication of future results.
There Is a Crucial Distinction Here
Most people end up focusing on the current investment return. This is sort of natural, in that who doesn’t want to invest in the top performing asset in its category?
So why don’t more people take a goals-based investing approach? It’s more difficult. It takes two steps instead of one. It is easier to choose an investment or portfolio without a clear, thought-through strategy than it is to make a plan to achieve what you want. And when I say strategy, please note that retirement is not quite a strategy.
Retirement is a nebulous term that is thrown around and can mean a lot of things. Typically, when doing retirement planning we ask our clients questions such as: What are your objectives? What do you want to accomplish? How much do you need to live on? Is extensive travel part of the retirement picture? The answers to these questions get to the heart of the client’s objectives. From the client’s objectives we develop an investment strategy.
The Sequence of Planning Events
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Identify the lifestyle you want. This is your objective.
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How much will it cost? Quantify your objectives.
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Look at current investments as a strategy toward achieving those objectives. The end, ultimately, is you the client achieving your personal goals or objectives in retirement. That’s why portfolio construction is informed by your goals, and not vice versa.
In this way you turn your money into a good servant, instead of letting it become a poor master.
You can find more information at Asset Bubbles and Frequently Asked Questions.
