2-minute guide to reviewing your investments

By Staci West on 12 January 2026 in Basics

It’s a new year and a perfect moment to give your investments a quick health check.

Don’t worry I’m not about to suggest hours of spreadsheet wrangling to feel confident about where your money is. Think of this as a friendly catch-up with your future self over a good coffee.

1. Start with your “why”

Before you look at numbers, remind yourself why you invested in the first place. Were you saving for retirement? A home? Long-term growth? Goals change, that’s life. If something’s shifted in your world, your investment plan might need a tweak too. It’s okay to revisit your “why” every year.

2. Take a quick look at performance 

Log into your investment platform and check the direction your portfolio has moved over the past year. Has it grown? Fallen? Stayed roughly the same?

Don’t get bogged down in day-to-day market noise. Instead, think in terms of trends. Seeing the big picture helps you avoid knee-jerk reactions that don’t serve your long-term goals.

3. Compare against your expectations

Ask yourself: Is this closer to what I expected a year ago?

Most platforms show you basic stats for each fund. If something has consistently underperformed similar options (or far outpaced them) it’s important to understand why. That doesn’t mean you must act immediately, but it’s important to be aware and understand why a fund is performing a certain way.

4. Check your risk against what you own

Just like your wardrobe, a portfolio can change shape over time. Markets move, and suddenly you might be taking on more risk (or less) than you planned.

Take a glance at your:

• Asset mix: are you still comfortable with the balance between shares, bonds and other assets?
• Diversification: do you still feel spread across regions or sectors?

If something feels off-kilter, rebalancing back to your target mix can help keep your risk in check. 

5. Think about what’s changed in your life

Sometimes the reasons to adjust your investments have nothing to do with markets.

Have you:

• Changed jobs?
• Taken on new financial responsibilities?
• Changed how much risk you actually want to take?

If your life feels different from the last time your reviewed your portfolio, that’s a perfectly good reason to review your investment choices.

6. Decide what (if anything) to do next

After a quick check-in, you’re left with three possibilities:

• Do nothing — and that’s perfectly fine. Sometimes less is more.
• Rebalance your portfolio to your target mix.
• Research and adjust particular holdings that aren’t working for you.

The most important thing?

Make changes intentionally, not reactively. A once-a-year review can make a world of difference to your confidence as an investor and it doesn’t have to take long. Think of this as a quick friendly conversation with your money.

If reviewing your investments ever feels a bit emotional, second-guessing yourself, worrying about market noise, or wondering whether you’re “doing it right” you’re not alone. Investing is as much about psychology as it is about numbers.

That’s why we created our Psychology of Money course. It’s a practical, beginner-friendly course designed to help you understand how your mindset influences your financial decisions and how to build confidence that lasts through market ups and downs.