投资管理
Investment Management
How a portfolio should be invested depends on when the money will be needed, what it is for, and how much volatility the family can live with. We first lay out the timeline for goals such as retirement, education and a home purchase, set an allocation for each pool of money, and rebalance at each annual review as markets and family circumstances change.
FAQ
Questions families ask
How much of my money should be in stocks?
There is no fixed percentage that suits every family. Money needed within a few years, such as a down payment or college tuition, generally shouldn’t carry much volatility, while retirement money you won’t touch for ten years or more can hold a higher share of stocks. We separate funds by purpose and timeline, then look at the maximum drawdown (the largest peak-to-trough decline) each pool can tolerate to set the mix of stocks, bonds and cash.
Does it matter which account I hold an investment in?
It affects your after-tax return. The same fund held in a taxable account, a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA is taxed differently on dividends each year and on the eventual sale. One common approach is to hold assets with the highest expected growth in Roth accounts, which are tax-free later, and interest-heavy bonds in pre-tax accounts; this is called asset location, and the right split depends on your future tax rates and withdrawal order.
I have assets in China and the U.S. Should I move everything here?
That depends on where you will mainly live and spend, what currency your assets are in, and your tax status. For U.S. tax residents, many foreign mutual funds are treated as PFICs (passive foreign investment companies), which are complex to report and can be taxed more heavily, so it is worth checking what you hold overseas before your status changes. We put assets in both countries on one sheet to see the overall currency and asset-class mix, then decide what to keep and what to change.
What should I do when the market drops sharply?
If the allocation was built around purpose and timeline, money you need soon isn’t in stocks, so a downturn usually doesn’t force you to sell. We rebalance at annual reviews or after large market moves, trimming what has risen most and adding to what has fallen, to bring the mix back to target. When your income, goals or tolerance for risk change, we change the allocation itself rather than trying to time the market.
