The 5 Steps of a DIY Annual Investments Review

January 16, 2025·32 min·2 clips

Being invested in index funds is not proof that you are diversified.

1. Real Personal Finance lays out a five-step DIY annual investments review focused on account aggregation, allocation, diversification, tax buckets, and rebalancing. 2. Scott Frank, founder of Stone Steps Financial, and Meg Bartelt, founder of Flow Financial Planning, host the episode because they both use RightCapital in practice. 3. The episode asks what investors should check each year to make sure their money still matches their goals. 4. The first step is to pull together 401(k), IRA, HSA, taxable, company stock, and old retirement accounts in one place. 5. Scott and Meg name Monarch Money, Quicken, Empower, and Fidelity Full View as retail tools that can link accounts. 6. They also suggest adding home value, mortgage, loans, checking, and banking accounts to build a net worth view. 7. The hosts say account aggregation tools are often finicky because links break and companies are less willing to share data. 8. They frame account clutter as a possible sign that money is spread across too many companies and custodians. 9. The next step is to look at asset classes, including stocks, bonds, cash, crypto, and real estate. 10. Meg says a portfolio can look diversified at the top level while still being concentrated in company stock, tech, or the Magnificent Seven. 11. Scott uses the late 1990s and the S&P 500’s negative 10-year return as a reminder that strong recent markets do not predict the future. 12. They say bonds act as ballast and help fund spending during downturns while stocks support long-term purchasing power. 13. The episode compares someone with a 20-plus-year horizon and a stable job to someone saving for a house in the next year or two. 14. It also compares that short-horizon example with a 40-year-old aiming for early retirement at 45 to 50. 15. Meg says she often sees clients with no international stocks and no bonds, even when they hold many mutual funds. 16. Scott points out that the Magnificent Seven can make up 45% of QQQ, about 34% of the S&P 500, and roughly 21% of an all-world index. 17. The tone is conversational and practical, with Scott and Meg trading examples, corrections, and jokes about ballast, boats, and Grandma. 18. The format is a guided checklist discussion rather than an interview, with each point tied to a real financial decision. 19. Listeners who want a practical yearly investing checklist will get the most from it. 20. Listeners who want deep stock-picking advice will probably skip it.

As heard by us

A year-start reset for checking whether a portfolio is broader than it looks.

This episode opens with a straightforward year-start check on whether a portfolio still matches the story its owner tells about it. Scott Frank and Meg Bartelt move from the big picture to a sharper question: whether a mix of holdings is truly diversified, or just looks that way…

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Why you'd press play

Reset your portfolio before another year of drift piles up.

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