Adjusting Your Plan

Consider the following life events:

• Have you changed jobs recently?
• Do you earn more or less money?
• Did you get married, have a newborn or take on a mortgage?
• Has your risk tolerance for investments increased or decreased based on a change in your priorities?
• Have you come into an inheritance or suffered a sudden financial loss?
• Have your monthly expenditures changed?

Any one of these life events will trigger a need to make adjustments to your retirement plan. In general your retirement plans should be reviewed at least once a year; however, it is recommended that you do it more often, especially after a significant life change. The type of changes you make to your retirement plan may include buying and selling certain investments to re-distribute your assets to maintain a desired asset mix.

For example:
Your investment portfolio has an original allocation of 10% cash, 30% fixed income, and 60% equities, but the equity portion has now grown 30% in value over your cash and fixed income components. Your asset allocation would need to be adjusted because the value of the equity portion in your portfolio is now greater than your original amount of 60%. If your risk tolerance levels and investment objectives remain the same over this period, you have good reason to sell off some of the equity portion in your portfolio, and purchase more cash or fixed income investments to “re-balance” or “re-allocate” your investment portfolio. The bottom line: Be proactive and treat investment reviews like a doctor’s appointment. Your financial health is at stake.

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HSBC Securities (USA) Inc. or any other member of the HSBC Group may from time to time underwrite, perform or seek to perform investment banking services for issuers or make a market or otherwise buy or sell as principal securities or other instruments, or together with the issuers directors, officers and employees may have either a long or short position in securities, commodities, currencies or other instruments or futures or options contracts convertible into securities or other instruments.

All decisions regarding the tax implications of your investment(s) should be made in connection with your independent tax advisor.