Year End Housekeeping

As we near the end of 2010 and spend time with family and friends during the holidays, let’s not forget to take some time to review the past year. It’s a time to review some of the goals you set for yourself and family at the beginning of the year. Were your goals reached personally and/or financially? For those goals not reached, was there something that kept you from attaining that goal and can that be avoided in the future by making a change today?

From a financial perspective, it’s a time to ask and evaluate the person who manages your investments. For some that may very well be you, for others it may be a professional manager or a bank trust department. In any case, now is the time to take a look at your performance versus the appropriate benchmark (for example the S&P 500) and evaluate the effectiveness of your investments and the manager. Take into account the economic environment of the last year, as sometimes an evaluation of returns may not be as simple as a number comparison.

When it comes down to it, if you achieved your financial goals or are pleased with the results you have no reason to make a change. However, if you failed to achieve the goals you set at the beginning of 2010 then you need to ask what it will take to achieve those goals in 2011 and start taking the steps to make those changes.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!