Developing Your Investment Strategy
Investing is not about outsmarting the market or timing your trades perfectly. It's about having a well-thought-out investment strategy based on a solid understanding of your financial goals and risk tolerance. In this article, we'll explore the importance of developing a sound investment strategy and how to avoid the pitfalls of speculation and market timing, which are common mistakes that novice investors make.

Setting Goals
First, you need to set your goals. By understanding your investment objectives, you can create a well-rounded investment portfolio that helps you achieve the desired results.
Many of us share similar investment goals, including saving enough for a down payment on a house, having enough money for retirement, or achieving financial independence. While having big aspirations and dreams can be motivating, they can also be too vague or open-ended. It might be challenging to turn these hopes and dreams into tangible outcomes without a concrete plan.
Having specific and measurable goals can help increase the likelihood of achieving them. You can create a roadmap for success and track your progress. These goals should be attainable and aligned with your priorities and should have a clear time frame with a target date.
Although you may currently lack the resources to fully pursue your objectives, planning for them and making even the smallest of contributions can significantly enhance your chances of eventually achieving your goals. By saving and investing early, you can set yourself up for success and work towards realizing your goals over time.
Having a list of your goals and setting concrete deadlines will help you determine your time horizons. In turn, your time horizons will inform your investment choices. By determining how much time you have to reach your goals, you can choose suitable investments for your specific situation.
For example, if you have a short-term goal, such as saving for a down payment on a house within the next few years, you may want to consider investments that offer lower risk, more predictable returns, and a higher level of liquidity, as you will need to access the funds relatively soon. For your long-term goals, such as saving for retirement, you may be able to take on more risk in your investments, as you have a longer time horizon to ride out market fluctuations.
Determining Time Horizons
An investment time horizon is your investment time frame - the time you expect to hold onto a particular investment. For example, someone who is saving for a short-term goal, such as a down payment on a house, might have a shorter time horizon, while someone who is saving for retirement might have a much longer time horizon.
Your investment time horizons will help you decide what type of investments to make and how to allocate assets based on their risks and returns in your portfolio. Here are some examples of different time horizons:
Short-term goals: These are goals that are typically achieved within a few years or less. Examples of short-term goals are saving for a down payment on a house, paying off credit card debt, or saving for a trip.
Medium-term goals: These are goals that are usually achieved within a few years to a decade. Examples of medium-term goals are saving for a child's education, paying off a mortgage, or saving for a major home renovation.
Long-term goals: These are goals that are typically achieved over several decades, such as saving for retirement or planning for estate succession.
There is nothing wrong with having a mix of financial goals with varying time horizons, as people have multiple financial goals. Your time horizons may include short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals, which may require different investment strategies.
The appropriate type of investments for different time horizons will depend on your risk tolerance, but here are some general guidelines for choosing investments based on different time horizons:
Short-term goals: For reaching goals that will take no more than a few years, it's generally best to choose relatively low-risk investments with more predictable returns. These investments may include cash equivalents such as money market accounts or short-term bonds, and conservative mutual funds.
Medium-term goals: For reaching goals that will take a few years to a decade, a mix of low-risk and moderate-risk investments may be appropriate. Depending on an individual's risk tolerance, these investments could include a combination of cash equivalents, bonds, and stocks.
Long-term goals: For goals that will take ten years to several decades, such as saving for retirement, a mix of moderate-risk and high-risk investments may be appropriate. These investments could include a higher allocation to stocks to take advantage of their long-term growth potential and some bonds. Depending on an individual's risk tolerance, a portfolio may also include assets such as real estate, and potentially high-risk, high-return investments like private equity or venture capital.
In most cases, the longer the time horizon, the less money you need to invest, and due to compounded interest, the more money you will have at the end.
Note that these are just general guidelines. The appropriate mix of investments will depend on many factors, including your risk tolerance.
Assessing Your Risk Tolerance
Risk tolerance is your willingness and ability to take on risk in your investments. Your risk tolerance is another important factor in developing your investment strategy. Your risk tolerance can influence the types of assets that are appropriate for your portfolio.
Typically, those with a longer time horizon and more stable financial situation may be more comfortable taking on investment risk. For example, a younger person in good health with a steady income and promising career prospects may be more inclined to choose riskier investments that may offer the potential for higher returns.
An older person or someone in poor health who relies on limited savings for daily expenses may be more conservative with their investments, choosing lower-risk options with more predictable returns. The reason is the younger person has more time to recover from potential losses and earn additional income, while the older person may not have the same financial flexibility.
Designing your portfolio with your risk-bearing capacity in mind can also help you avoid making impulsive or emotional decisions, such as selling off your investments to avoid further losses when your portfolio is affected by market downturns. Making investing decisions on market movements is speculation but not an investing strategy.
It's Personal
While general guidelines can help understand how different time horizons may affect an investor's risk tolerance and investment choices, note that these trends may not hold true for all investors. For example, a younger person with children may prioritize saving for their education and choose more conservative investments while an older person with substantial assets may be more focused on creating wealth for their grandchildren and be willing to take on more risk. In these cases, the time horizon and investment strategy may be flipped from what might be expected based on general trends.
All people are different. Some personalities may have a higher risk-bearing capacity and feel comfortable investing during market volatility and taking on riskier investments, regardless of their time horizons. Others, however, may be more risk-averse and prefer to focus on preserving their wealth rather than taking on additional risk.
You can see that investment strategies are highly personal and greatly depend on personal circumstances.
Choosing Asset Allocation
Your financial goals, time horizons, and risk tolerance will influence the appropriate investment mix in your portfolio. Asset allocation is splitting your investment portfolio among different asset categories, such as stocks, bonds, and cash alternatives. The goal of asset allocation is to diversify the portfolio and manage risk by including a mix of assets with different characteristics that are likely to behave differently in various market conditions.
Diversifying Further
While asset allocation and diversification are often used interchangeably, they are related but distinct strategies when used together. While asset allocation refers to the percentage of different asset categories in your portfolio, diversification involves spreading your assets within asset categories.
Diversification is spreading risk and reducing the impact of volatility on the overall portfolio by choosing a variety of assets within each asset class. By combining asset allocation and diversification, investors can further mitigate the volatility of their portfolios. By combining asset allocation and diversification, investors can further mitigate the volatility of their portfolios.
Related: Diversification: Important Concept in Investment Management
Things Change
As we go through life, our circumstances and financial goals are likely to change. Therefore, our financial strategies should also evolve to reflect these changes. That's why your strategy should be well-defined, so you can revisit and revise it to ensure it remains relevant and effective.
Differences in market performance can impact the allocation of your portfolio over time, potentially making it more aggressive or conservative than intended. In addition to revising your investment plan, you will need to adjust your asset allocation by rebalancing your portfolio.
Portfolio Rebalancing
Your portfolio allocation will drift over time because of differences in market performance, and you will need to rebalance it. Portfolio rebalancing is the process of adjusting the mix of investments in your portfolio to align it with the initial target mix or in response to new circumstances.
You can rebalance your portfolio by selling off assets that have become relatively more expensive and using the proceeds to buy assets that have become relatively cheap. Or by simply adding new money to underweighted asset classes. Financial experts recommend rebalancing your portfolio at least once a year or whenever the allocation strays significantly from the target mix.
Disciplined Investing
While developing an investment plan may be relatively straightforward, the real challenge is sticking to it, especially during market downturns. Regularly reviewing and adjusting your investment strategy, and rebalancing your portfolio to maintain the desired mix of investments, is advisable to ensure that your investments align with your goals.
However, abandoning your well-thought-out plan and reacting to events and market swings - is not. Disciplined investing separates successful investors from speculators, who may be more prone to making impulsive or emotional decisions with their investments.
Emotional investing can lead to poor long-term returns as investors may be prone to selling assets during market downturns and buying during market highs. Many investors fail to achieve their investment objectives by pursuing higher-risk options during market booms and shifting to lower-risk investments during market slumps, thereby missing out on potential recovery opportunities.
Related: Emotional Investing Can Cost You: What It is and How to Avoid It
Maintaining a long-term focus on your investment time frame, rather than getting caught up in short-term market fluctuations, is key to successful investing.