Does Your Portfolio Need Direction?

Over the past several years, most investors have been disappointed with the performance of their investments. The declining stock market, coupled with an overly aggressive allocation of investments, produced market losses that many investors can’t afford if they are going to retire as planned. Partly, those losses can be attributed to assuming too much risk in an effort to achieve an unrealistic rate of return. The whole country was caught up in the speculation of the late nineties only to see the bubble burst and the stock market crumble. The lesson should be that investing for retirement is all about managing risk and consistent saving - not picking the next hot mutual fund. Financial experts agree, a properly diversified portfolio that matches your individual risk profile is the best way to meet your retirement goals. In other words, your portfolio should be comprised of an appropriate amount of stocks, bonds, and money market funds. If your portfolio needs a fresh start, we strongly recommend that you take the risk profile test to help you determine your risk tolerance and the right allocation.

Help is a Click Away

To provide you with the best investment plan that matches the amount of risk you can afford, the Registered Investment Advisor to your retirement plan, Slavic Mutual Funds Management Corporation, offers four pre-allocated portfolios: Aggressive, Moderate, and Conservative, and Matrix. These portfolios are automatically rebalanced annually to maintain the risk objective. You should also understand, these portfolio allocations are not designed to avoid losses only limit them and there is no guarantee of returns in the future. However, compare your results to these portfolios and, if you can see an improvement, maybe it is time to make a change. The portfolio illustrations are compared to the S&P 500 index, a common stock market benchmark. For example, most participants will fall in the moderate risk category: back testing 3 years from 3/31/03, that allocation lost 30% less than the S&P 500 Index. The conservative portfolio lost 60% less less than the market index. Therefore, diversification does work to control risk.

To view the Pre-allocated portfolios and to download prospectuses for the funds click .

To switch into a Pre-Allocated Portfolio, click .