Think of your investment stage in
terms of a life cycle. During your working or accumulation
years, growth-oriented strategies will likely attain higher total
returns than balanced-oriented or income-oriented strategies. As you approach
retirement, possibly a balanced-oriented strategy may be more
appropriate to conserve your accumulated assets. Finally, in retirement,
income and stability would most likely be your priorities, although some growth
is also important to help protect against inflation. However, these are general
guidelines -- your portfolio size, time horizon, return objectives and risk
tolerance should determine the
strategy that best represent the goals that you want to achieve.
All of the following strategies depict conservative, moderate and aggressive risk tolerances. The
primary differences
in all three risk
tolerances are (1) modification in allocations and (2) variation in fund categories.
Choose your strategy from the following --
age ranges are guidelines only:
Just
Starting (ages 25-40) -- for very long-term, growth-oriented objectives
Established Earner (ages 41-55) -- for long-term, growth-oriented
objectives
Soon
To Retire (ages 56-65) -- for long-term, balanced-oriented objectives
In
Retirement (ages 65+) -- for long-term, income-oriented objectives
Intermediate
and Short-Term -- for balanced or income-oriented objectives only