Manage and invest your own money flexibly and with ease rather than having your investment advisor make the decisions – this option is available to PostFinance customers with fund self-service. If you’d like to manage your investments independently, you ought to first ask yourself a few questions to gauge what you know about funds and investing. By doing so you can actually check to see if you’re ready to start making investments independently, or if you’d prefer to rely on the support of investment experts. In our investment blog, you can find all the information you’ll need to help you fill in any gaps in knowledge you may have.
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Reading Time 3 Minutes
Created on 16.07.2020
Are you ready to manage your own investments?
If you’re an investor who wants to manage your own money independently online and invest based on your own needs and goals, then you’re certainly not alone. Before you get round to taking care of your own investments, it’s well worth doing a self-check: can you answer “yes” to these five questions?
How much do I know about funds? Five self-check questions
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Do you know what your personal investor profile is and what it consists of? Do you meet the criteria of your investor profile and your investment strategy? Or should you invest in other solutions as well? Are you a conservative investor or are you prepared to take risks? Do you want to make long-term investments, or can you only spare your assets for a short period of time?
It’s only by knowing what your personal financial situation, your risk appetite, your risk capacity and your investment horizon are that you can start looking for investment products independently that reflect your own options, goals and ambitions. You may then end up being a conservative investor, a balanced investor or one who is prepared to take risks. Find out how to make a start in the world of investment by looking at our comprehensive guide on the subject: "Investing money – how does it work".
Sokol Maliqi, Head of the Customer Area at the PostFinance branch in Winterthur, explains in 45 seconds what an investor profile is in the video "Put it simply please! Investor profile".
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Can you read a fund factsheet, compare funds and what they cost, and correctly assess risks and opportunities? Do you know what performance, ratings and the Sharpe ratio mean in relation to funds? If so, you are ready to start selecting funds independently. If you’re investing in investment funds without any advice, it’s very important that you know what you need to bear in mind when selecting funds. One thing you need to know is what individual funds consist of, and to what extent they fit with your own risk profile.
Find out in the article "How do I read a fund factsheet?" what information you can take away from a factsheet, and how it might be relevant to you. Our tip: before you start selecting investment funds independently, be sure to read factsheets for a variety of funds so you can test and improve your knowledge of funds.
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The world of funds is a huge one: equity funds, bond funds, asset allocation funds, money market funds, real estate funds and so on – but what exactly are they? Are you familiar with the different types of fund? If not, we recommend you first read the article "What types of fund are there?".
A relatively straightforward and efficient way to implement your investment strategy would be to use asset allocation funds, which you can read up on in the article "Asset allocation funds: the right fund to suit every requirement". Get to grips with the different asset classes a fund is made up of, how they differ and what risks and opportunities they come with before you start investing in funds independently. -
Do you want to invest in sustainability? Are you interested in technology companies? Do you want to primarily invest your money in Switzerland? Or are you more interested in emerging markets? Before you start investing independently, it’s crucial you know exactly where your investment priorities are, and how you can implement them. And remember: investing independently is also about regularly reviewing the priorities you have selected for yourself. This means continually monitoring the economic, social and political developments in these industries, countries or regions.
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Diversification is absolutely key when it comes to investing: the only way you can spread your risk as much as possible is to diversify your investments across different asset classes, industries, regions, areas, countries, currencies and so on. Investing in funds makes doing this a lot easier than if you invest directly in shares or bonds, and is possible with very small amounts.
For every independent investment you make, remember to diversify your portfolio as effectively as possible. Even if you’re more interested in some investment areas than others, this doesn’t mean you should exclusively invest in what interests you. Counterbalance your investments with additional investments. You can read more about why diversification is absolutely essential for investors in the article "Diversification – why you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket".
You’ve answered “yes” to all these questions, you feel at ease in the world of funds and don’t need any further advice? In this case, you can start investing independently with confidence. Subscribe to fund self-service in just a few clicks in e-finance and take control of your own investments.
You can also read our investment blog, which contains a lot of useful information, to learn even more about investing.
