Investment Education | What You Need to Get Started

What You Need to Get Started

No matter which asset allocation tools you use, you need to know a few bits of information first. For starters, you will need to know your investment goal. Let's say it's to have $1 million when you retire. Next, you'll need three other pieces of information to determine your asset mix.

1. The number of years to reach your goal. For example, let's say you want to retire in 30 years.

2. How much money can you invest right now? In this example, you have $20,000 set aside.

3. How much money you can contribute periodically? Let's say you can invest $800 per month.

Once you've identified this information, it's time to choose an asset allocation or mix that can help you achieve your goals given your financial situation and time horizon. We offer the Portfolio Review Tool and the Retirement Savings Calculator to help you find and implement an asset allocation strategy that meets your needs and helps you take a disciplined approach to investing.

Read Next: Using Scottrade Portfolio Review Tool's Asset Allocation Tools

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