Investment goals
Setting financial goals for investors allows them to focus on decisions that will contribute to their overall objectives, rather than monitoring the outcomes for a range of individual investments.
Goal setting in life is important because it can help individuals to focus their behaviour and remain motivated. This in turn can lead to better performance on tasks, helping contribute towards higher levels of personal and professional success. The story is no different in finance.
Setting financial goals for investors allows them to focus on decisions that will contribute to their overall objectives, rather than monitoring the outcomes for a range of individual investments. This is important because individual investors are prone to the ‘disposition effect’, a widely documented behavioural bias whereby investors are more likely to sell their better performing holdings than their losses. Over time, this effect can adversely affect total investment returns.
Yet faced with constantly moving financial markets, the possibility of changing financial circumstances or investment requirements, as well as a wide range of financial products and capabilities, investors need to put in place a robust and realistic investment framework.
A good start would be for investors to ask themselves the following key questions:
Investment Goals Podcast
AXA IM Select’s Lorna Denny sat down with Capital Group’s Claire Swinden to discuss how investors might approach their investment goals and the importance of investment planning. Concise and highly informative, it highlights some essential issues for consideration as well as providing investors with a helpful checklist.
The first in our Investment Basics podcast series, it’s ideal for those starting out on their investing journey but should also prove useful for more experienced market participants. Happy listening!
Starter Guide to investing
When you’re new to investing, getting started can seem like an uphill struggle. That’s why we decided to create a starter pack to help demystify the process and provide an introduction to the basics.
Download guide