Advice for beginner investors building out their portfolios

62% of Americans own stock, according to a Gallup poll. So are you making the most of your investments?

Fidelity Investments VP and financial consultant Ryan Viktorin, CFP, joins Wealth! to discuss her top tips for beginner investors.

"I think it's really important to just zoom out and create a framework for yourself," Viktorin says. The first step in creating this framework is to narrow down 'the who, the what, the when.'" Investors should think about whether they're investing for themselves or for their family, as well as if they're planning for any milestones like buying a home or retiring.

Next, they should figure out what kind of investor they are and research the investments that work best for their goals.

"It really just depends on what that goal is and then how you feel comfortable with your own knowledge base and whether or not you really want to pick stocks yourself, or you want to go with funds that represent the stocks that you're kind of interested in," she explains.

Viktorin acknowledges how much emotions can be tied to money, noting that it can drive a lot of fear.

"When you start to feel a little bit anxious about it, or even if you're just fearful to even get started in this process, just start to think about, 'okay, is what this investment is doing or either is going to do, I think, before I buy it, is it supporting that goal that I have?'" she says.

Even in periods of market volatility, she encourages investors to take a breath and reevaluate whether the investments still make sense for their goals in the longer term.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Wealth!

This post was written by Melanie Riehl

Transcripción del vídeo

62% of Americans own stock according to Gallup.

For everyone else, the investment process might feel daunting to break down how you can get started in the market.

We have Ryan Victorian who is the fidelity investments VP and financial consultant and certified financial planner.

Ryan.

Great to have you here in studio with us.

Thanks so much for having me.

So first and foremost, I mean, it's really boiled down to something so simple as how do you just get started?

How do you identify by where you should be building a strategy and making sure that you can become an investor?

Like the other percentage of people who were cited in that Gallup poll?

I'm absolutely.

And I think it's really important to just zoom out and create a framework for yourself.

So I'll give you a quick three parter that I like to, you know, phrase it around.

Um One is the who the what and the when, who are the important people in your life that you're planning for?

Are you married?

Is it just you, do you have kids?

What is it?

So who are the people?

Second is what, what are we actually planning for.

What's this goal that you're actually working towards?

Are you young and you're trying to buy your first house?

Are, is retirement a goal for you, which it is for most people.

And then also, you know, do you have a baby?

Are you trying to send your kids to college?

Whatever the invest, you know, uh sort of goal is.

And then the sec the third I should say is when, when are these goals happening?

Are you five years from retirement and you're now in the position to, you know, start saving?

Is it 30 years away?

Are you buying house in five years?

10 years?

What's the goal?

So that's the framework to start with and then you can get started with what to do next.

So how do you even go about picking out, say a security, an equity, a stock and then tracking the performance as well?

I mean, I think the first place to start is what type of investor are you really?

Right.

Is it an actual stock that you're looking for?

Is it a fund that has stocks?

Is it that you need a little bit more help than that?

And you want to sort of evaluate it?

But once you know how much stock you want in your account, you also wanna know really?

Is it still serving the purpose and will this work with what I want to do down the road?

Right.

Um But when you think about how much risk you wanna take, how much you put into any one stock, which is really important.

Um, because, you know, you don't want too much of a good thing that takes too much risk, obviously.

Um, but it really just depends on what that goal is and then how you feel comfortable with your own knowledge base and whether or not you really want to pick stocks yourself or you want to go with funds that represent the stocks that you're kind of interested in just as a follow up to that.

I mean, there's a lot of emotion when it comes to money.

How do you remove emotion from your investment strategy?

Emotion is there and it, it really drives a lot of fear, right?

And so I always say I, I have to say it again, zoom out and go back to that original framework and when you start to feel a little bit anxious about it, or even if you're just fearful to even get started in this process, just start to think about, ok, is what this investment do is doing or either is going to do, I think before I buy it, is it supporting that goal that I have?

And especially when there's things like, you know, the fed is gonna potentially raise rates or there's market volatility or whatever it is sort of move past the noise, try to take a deep breath and come away from the fear about it and say, is this still serving my purpose so that we can see?

Do we keep it, do we sell it?

Do we need to protect it?

And how far away are you from the goal?

We'll drive a part of that too.

How do you decide if you should be actively looking for new investments or just holding assets long term?

That's a really great, great question.

So one is, you know, obviously, again, is it's still serving the goals, but also I would say, what account is it in?

Um because it's been an, you know, and non ira the IRS just loves being involved in whatever we do.

So we have to make it from a, you know, a tax decision as well.

Um But whether or not you still think it's serving your purpose and I'll give you an example, let's say you are in retirement, ok?

And now you don't need as much growth as much income.

So we say, ok, maybe I don't need a pure growth, maybe I need one with a dividend that might come off it and maybe you're much younger and nowhere near retirement, you say I really wanna grow this.

And so I wanna keep it for the long haul.

So it kind of depends on the timing while we have you.

What, what do investors need to know about selling stocks?

You've held on to something for a while, perhaps, maybe 5, 10 years, even what about when you're ready to sell.

Yeah, I think again, taxes is a consideration.

Right.

Again, it's like, you know, hopefully grown that investment 10 years and, uh, you have to be kind of careful and, and, um, understand what the implications are.

But again, it's, it's always going back.

Is it still actually serving me?

But when you do sell it, um, you have to think about where is it gonna go?

Is it, are we selling it?

And we're just putting it in cash because we might need it now or selling it because we want to get into a different investment.

So it's a kind of a two parter when you sell it.

Ryan Victorian, who is the fidelity investments VP and financial consultant CFP.

Thank you so much for taking the time.

Thanks.