Pankti A Joshi CFP^®  | 18 December 2025

How to Assess and Improve Your Financial Holdings

Regularly reviewing your investment portfolio is a cornerstone of successful financial management. Whether you are a seasoned investor or just beginning, a systematic review ensures your assets remain aligned with your goals, risk tolerance, and evolving economic conditions. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you conduct an effective investment portfolio review.

1. Define Your Financial Goals

Start by clarifying your short-term and long-term objectives. Are you saving for retirement, purchasing a home, funding education, or seeking capital growth? Your investment strategy should reflect these priorities, so review your goals at the outset.

2. Review Asset Allocation

Examine the distribution of your investments across different asset classes such as equities, bonds, real estate, and cash. A well-balanced allocation matches your risk appetite and time horizon. Adjust your holdings if market movements have caused your allocation to drift from your ideal mix.

3. Analyze Individual Investments

Scrutinize the performance of individual stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, or other assets in your portfolio. Compare each to relevant benchmarks and assess if they are meeting expectations. If an asset consistently underperforms or no longer fits your strategy, consider replacing or rebalancing it.

4. Assess Overall Portfolio Performance

Review your total portfolio return over relevant periods (annual, three-year, five-year, etc.). Evaluate both absolute and risk-adjusted returns. Check if your performance meets or exceeds your targeted benchmarks, and investigate any discrepancies.

5. Evaluate Risk and Diversification

Determine if your portfolio is adequately diversified to minimize risk. Ensure you’re not overexposed to any particular sector, region, or asset type. Use tools like standard deviation or beta to gauge risk, and rebalance holdings if needed to maintain a comfortable risk profile.

6. Check Tax Efficiency

Analyze your portfolio’s structure for tax implications. Consider tax-loss harvesting, capital gains, and the strategic placement of assets in taxable versus tax-advantaged accounts. Efficient tax strategies can enhance your net returns.

7. Update for Life Changes

Major life events—such as marriage, children, inheritance, or career changes—can impact your investment needs. Adjust your portfolio to reflect new circumstances and update your goals as necessary.

8. Create an Action Plan

Based on your findings, outline clear steps for any required portfolio adjustments. This may include rebalancing, shifting asset allocations, selling underperforming investments, or increasing contributions in line with your strategy.

9. Set a Review Schedule

Investment portfolios should be reviewed at least annually, or more frequently in volatile markets or after significant life changes. Setting a regular schedule helps you stay disciplined and responsive to changes in your financial situation or the market environment.

Conclusion

A disciplined approach to portfolio reviews can greatly enhance your chances of achieving financial success. By following these steps, you’ll ensure your investments remain in sync with your goals, minimize risks, and capitalize on new opportunities as they arise.

 Pankti A Joshi  CFP  |  29 November 2025

In an era of dynamic economic shifts, dizzying market volatility, and an overwhelming deluge of financial information, the role of a professional financial planner has evolved from a luxury service to an absolute necessity. Navigating personal finance today is far more complicated than simply saving a portion of your paycheck. It requires a comprehensive, holistic strategy—a roadmap that only a skilled financial planner can effectively design and guide you through.

1. Decoding Financial Complexity

The modern financial landscape is a labyrinth of options: diverse investment vehicles, ever-changing tax codes, complex retirement plans (like 401(k)s, IRAs, and pensions), and intricate insurance products. For the average person, understanding how these components intersect and interact is a full-time job.

• Expert Knowledge: Financial planners, especially those with credentials like Certified Financial Planner (CFP), are equipped with the expertise to translate this complexity into simple, actionable steps. They stay current on tax legislation, market trends, and regulatory changes, ensuring your plan is always optimized and compliant.

• Holistic Strategy: They don't just focus on one silo (like investments); they consider all elements of your financial life—debt management, cash flow, insurance, and estate planning—to create a cohesive, comprehensive strategy that aligns with your specific goals.

2. Emotional Discipline and Behavioral Coaching

Perhaps the greatest value a financial planner offers is acting as a behavioral coach. When markets soar, people get greedy; when they crash, panic sets in, often leading to impulsive and costly decisions like selling at a low point or chasing high-risk trends.

• Objective Perspective: A planner provides an objective, data-driven perspective, helping you maintain a long-term view and stick to a disciplined investment strategy, regardless of market noise. They prevent emotional reactions—fear or greed—from derailing your meticulously constructed financial plan.

• Accountability: They serve as an accountability partner, regularly reviewing your progress and gently correcting poor financial habits, helping you align your spending and saving actions with your ultimate life goals.

3. Navigating Life's Major Transitions

Life is punctuated by major financial turning points, and attempting to manage these alone can be overwhelming. Financial planners are crucial in guiding you through these moments with clarity and confidence.

• Key Milestones: They help plan for:

  • Starting a family: Balancing savings for college with retirement.

  • Buying a home: Determining affordable debt and down payments without compromising other goals.

  • Career changes or windfalls: Strategizing how to invest a bonus or inheritance.

  • Divorce or death of a spouse: Restructuring assets and income streams.

  • Nearing retirement: Creating a sustainable income and withdrawal strategy to ensure you don't outlive your savings.

4. Maximizing Long-Term Wealth Potential

A well-constructed financial plan is designed not just to save money, but to grow it strategically and protect it efficiently.

• Tax Optimization: Planners implement sophisticated tax strategies (e.g., maximizing tax-advantaged accounts, efficient tax-loss harvesting) to legally minimize your tax burden, ensuring more of your hard-earned money stays in your portfolio.

• Risk Management: They protect your accumulated wealth through proper diversification, asset allocation, and adequate insurance coverage (life, disability, long-term care), shielding you from unforeseen risks and catastrophic events.

• Estate Planning: Finally, they help create a lasting legacy by coordinating with legal professionals to establish wills and trusts, ensuring efficient and tax-advantaged transfer of wealth to future generations.

In a world where financial success is more about strategic planning and discipline than sheer luck, a financial planner is the indispensable professional who provides the clarity, expertise, and guidance needed to confidently achieve your most ambitious financial and life goals.

Would you like to know the typical steps involved in the financial planning process?

At Saavy Financial Services, our foundation is built upon the enduring trust and unwavering client dedication established by our visionary founder, Ashish K. Joshi.

Ashish created Saavy Financial Services in 2004 with the conviction that successful financial planning must be built on integrity and a deeply personal commitment to client well-being. He cultivated a business where every individual felt like a trusted partner.

The Foundation Built to Last

The sudden passing of Ashish K. Joshi in July 2020 following a brief battle with cancer was a profound personal loss to our family and the entire Saavy Financial Services community.

However, a testament to his professionalism and foresight, Ashish had deliberately structured the firm for stability, continuity, and longevity.

He ensured that the systems and the next-generation leadership were firmly in place to navigate any eventuality, guaranteeing that our commitment to our clients would remain seamless and unwavering.

His Guiding Principles

Ashish’s spirit and core beliefs continue to define our practice today:

1. Integrity and Trust: He taught us that ethical conduct and transparency are the most valuable assets, a standard we uphold in every client interaction.

2. Long-Term Vision: His focus was on creating generational wealth and secure futures, a strategy that remains central to our financial planning philosophy.

3. Client-First Service: He viewed every relationship as a sacred trust, a tradition that ensures our advice is always personalized and focused on individual goals.

Upholding Ashish's Trust

As the current generation of leadership, we are deeply honored to carry forward the incredible legacy of Ashish K. Joshi. The stability of our expert team and the consistency of our advice are direct reflections of the robust structure he implemented.

We promise our clients that the high standards of ethical counsel and genuine care that defined Ashish K. Joshi will always be the definition of Saavy Financial Services.

The Leadership Team, Saavy Financial Services

Pankti A Joshi CFP^® | 13 November 2025

Skipping a Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) installment may seem like a minor hiccup, but its cumulative impact can significantly derail your long-term wealth creation and financial goals.

Here are the critical ways skipping SIP installments hurts you:

1. You Break the Chain of Compounding

This is the most severe and costly consequence.

• The Loss of Time: Compounding is the process of earning returns on your original investment and on the returns previously earned. It works exponentially over the long term. When you skip a payment, you lose the opportunity for that specific installment's money to compound over the remaining investment horizon.

• The Real Cost is Huge: The money you skip is not just the installment amount; it's the potential final value of that installment after years of compounding. For example, skipping a ₹5,000 monthly SIP might seem small, but over 20 years, that single missed payment could represent a loss of ₹50,000 or more in final corpus (depending on the rate of return).

2. You Miss Out on Rupee Cost Averaging (RCA)

RCA is a core benefit of SIPs that helps you manage market volatility, and skipping payments disrupts it.

• How RCA Works: An SIP ensures you buy a fixed amount of a fund regularly. When the market is low, your fixed amount buys more units; when the market is high, it buys fewer. This averages your cost over time and is crucial for maximising returns.

• The Missed Opportunity: If you skip a SIP, especially during a market correction or dip, you miss the opportunity to buy units at attractive, low prices. Missing these low-cost purchases increases your overall average cost, thereby reducing your potential long-term returns.

3. It Disrupts Your Financial Discipline and Goal Planning

The primary advantage of an SIP is the discipline it enforces.

• Eroding Discipline: SIPs automate your savings, treating investment like a mandatory bill (like an EMI). Skipping one payment makes it easier to skip the next, turning a good habit into a pattern of inconsistency.

• Delaying Goals: Every SIP is typically linked to a specific financial goal (retirement, child's education, house down payment). An inconsistent investment flow means your targeted corpus will fall short of the original projection, potentially delaying your goal by months or even years.

4. Risk of Bank Penalties and Mandate Cancellation

While mutual fund houses generally do not charge a penalty for a missed SIP, the failed transaction can still cost you.

• Bank Charges: Your bank may levy a "failed auto-debit" penalty if the SIP deduction fails due to insufficient funds in your account. These charges can range from ₹100 to ₹750 per instance, quickly adding up.

• Cancellation: Mutual fund houses typically cancel the entire SIP mandate if payments are missed for a few consecutive months (often three). Re-registering the SIP requires fresh paperwork or online setup, which adds friction and further delays your investment.

How to Avoid Skipping SIPs

If you foresee a short-term cash crunch, do not simply let the payment bounce. You have better options:

1. Pause the SIP: Most Asset Management Companies (AMCs) allow you to pause your SIP for a predetermined period (e.g., 1 to 3 months). Use this option if your financial difficulty is temporary.

2. Step-Down the Amount: If the high amount is the issue, check if the AMC allows you to temporarily reduce the SIP amount to a level you can comfortably afford.

3. Ensure Sufficient Balance: The best way is to link your SIP to your salary or primary income account and treat the SIP date as the first bill you must pay each month.