Fidelity’s Feingold: 5 Investing Strategies for 2015

 With the holiday season upon us, we should make time to reflect on the past year and think about our financial goals, milestones we hope to reach in 2015 and how we can better prepare for retirement.

It’s also important to remember tax season is around the corner. Therefore, now is also a great time toreview your investments and your saving and spending behaviors. Next, you can determine resolutions that may be right for your financial situation.

As you plan your 2015 resolutions, here are five tips to consider that may help you enhance your investing and retirement planning strategies.

1. Give your portfolio a tuneup. Now is a great time to review portfolio holdings and performance, and to determine how to maintain an investing strategy to help reach your goals. Take a look at your investments. Does your portfolio align with your risk tolerance? You can find online tools through brokerages to help you understand your portfolio’s gains and losses. Investors can create a diversified portfolio with multiple ETFs, for example. Using dollar-based investing, you can streamline the asset allocation process.

2. Maximize retirement contributions. According to ShareBuilder's Financial Freedom Survey, released in March, which conducted 1,008 interviews of adults 18 and older from Feb. 13 to Feb. 16., 57 percent of working Americans are concerned they won’t save enough money in time for retirement. By taking advantage of your employer’s retirement plan, you can work toward growing your retirement nest egg.

Beginning in 2015, employees will be able to contribute up to $18,000 annually to their 401(k) plans. Determine how much you can comfortably contribute. If possible, you may want to max out your 401(k) contributions and your employer match if you have one. If you can swing it, setting aside the full amount can be a great way to maximize your long-term investments.

3. Think about putting that holiday bonus to work. Examine your personal financial situation, and determine how you can best use the additional funds from a work bonus or holiday gifts. You may want to consider starting an investment portfolio, building an emergency fund or using that money to help a reach milestone like a down payment for a car or home.

Once your account is established, you could continue to grow it through automatic contributions. Programs, including ShareBuilder’s automatic investing plan, enable you to invest a set dollar amount on a regular basis and at a low cost. Becoming accustomed to putting away money on a regular basis is a critical first step – and it may build over time.

4. Set attainable goals that may help you feel good about your progress. Committing to a budget and making regular investments is similar to establishing other habits, such as working out or eating right. The more you do it, the easier it may become. Most people receive quarterly statements that update them on their retirement accounts, making it easy to check in on their progress a few times a year.

Consider using these check-ins to set quarterly goals, such as increasing your weekly or monthly contribution to your individual retirement account, or your automatic investing plan, or increasing your 401(k) contribution by a certain percentage. To stay motivated, it’s important to have clear goals and think about your timelines. Make sure to balance your short-term goals (a car or vacation, for example) with long-term goals, such as retirement or a down payment for a home.

5. Consider exploring international markets. When determining if international exposure is right for you, make sure you have a well-rounded portfolio with investments that match your financial needs and goals. Various apps and online tools may help investors educate themselves about international investing and offer insight on everything from broad country exchanges to stock-specific data.

When thinking about international investing, it’s important to keep the risks in mind as well. International investing can provide your portfolio needed diversification, but remember, this will not guarantee a profit or protect against market losses, and fluctuations in currency and changes in political or economic conditions could impact your investments.   

These steps may help you make headway toward reaching your investing goals in 2015. Remember, it is never too early or too late to get started planning for your financial future. And although those first steps may seem daunting, there are many quality tools and resources that may help you along the way.

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Automatic investments are recurring or one-time purchases on Tuesdays. All sales are made with market or limit orders and are subject to applicable commissions.

Diversification does not guarantee a profit or protect against market losses.

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