This urge to act typically reaches a high point when there is plenty of "noise" in the investment markets with numerous people offering opinions about way which way asset prices may be heading.
Whenever you feel an urge to take decisive action, it can be a time to undertake a little investment housekeeping rather than trying to time the market - attempting to pick the best time to sell or buy. Market-timing often ends in disappointment.
Simple-yet-smart investment housekeeping can involve investors concentrating on factors that are under their control such as their ability to:
One of the simplest housekeeping exercises that an investor can take is to get rid of multiple superannuation accounts that often do little apart from adding to costs and complicating investment arrangements.
It can be tougher to keep track of your super when multiple accounts exist. (Of course, there are circumstances when multiple super accounts may suit a particular investor's strategies.)
The tax office has just issued a reminder to young super members in particular about the costs and complications of duplicated super accounts.
An investor's ability to consolidate multiple super accounts provides a textbook illustration of how investment housekeeping need not be complex to be effective.
By Robin Bowerman
Smart Investing
Principal & Head of Retail, Vanguard Investments Australia
21 April 2015
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