Feast or Famine?

The annual fig feast is one of my favorite things about going to see my mom. I have wonderful memories of picking hundreds of figs with my sons when they were young, and then making fig preserves.

This week while visiting Mom in Mississippi, I was more than a little disappointed about the fig crop. My conclusion is that figs are feast or famine. And, again, here we are, with a life lesson that can relate to money, beyond the fact that figs are crazily expensive in the grocery stores and are both fresher and free on trees in our friend’s and family’s yards!

Does your money feel like feast or famine due to the gyrations in your investment accounts? Do you feel as though your investment capital is growing one year and depleting the next year? You may be really feeling this unsettling concern right now, with all of the volatility in the stock markets over the summer.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to get rid of that feast or famine feeling about your money? Did you know that there are some simple solutions you can put in place to smooth out investment performance in your accounts? This is one of the topics I’ll be covering in depth in one of my investing courses this fall, so be on the lookout.

In the meantime, let me leave you with a few ideas:

• Diversify to reduce your overall portfolio risk
• Have a set level chosen using a logical method (not emotional!) at which you will sell, or at least reduce certain holdings if those accounts decrease in value to that predetermined level
• Know the objective and estimated related time frame for each of your investment accounts
• Rebalance your portfolio annually or bi-annually, which naturally causes you to sell as prices rise and buy when prices are lower

Of course, there is a lot more detail to know for each of these ideas. Just be aware that devastating losses do not have to be a part of your investment accounts. Financial women show leadership in protecting and growing their money by being aware of smart investment strategies and solutions.