2025 has been a rollercoaster year for investors – from plunging on global trade-fuelled volatility before climbing to all-time highs driven by AI advances – markets have once again been characterised by unpredictability. For Kiwi investors, this year’s market volatility is a timely reminder of the importance of ensuring your investment portfolio continues to remain fit for purpose.
Whether you’ve been investing for years or just getting started, now’s the perfect time to perform an annual investment health check. The key here is to check your portfolio still aligns with your investment objectives, stage of life, and to ensure it’s on track to achieve your long-term financial goals.
As the year winds down, the next month or two is the ideal time to conduct a health check, even if you’d rather be relaxing at the beach. The best thing is, you can do it in just four simple steps, and there are helpful tools to help you at every stage:
Review your portfolio(s)
Take a moment to review how your investments have performed over the past 12 months. Look at your portfolio’s overall value, performance, and any changes during the year.
Even if you’ve checked your balance regularly through the year, it’s worth understanding how this all fits in with the bigger picture.
Ask yourself:
- Has my overall portfolio value grown in line with my goals?
- Have my contributions been consistent, or could I increase them in 2026?
- Am I still comfortable with the level of risk in my current funds?
The last few years have seen strong returns in many asset classes, while others have been marked by persistent volatility. Periods like this can create opportunities, but they also test whether your portfolio is still aligned to your long-term objectives.
When reviewing your investments, consider: :
- Your level of diversification – are your investments well spread across different asset types, industries and regions?
- The weightings of your investments – are these still in line with your investment goals, constraints and individual circumstances?
- The fees and tax been paid – these can have a noticeable impact over time.
Small tweaks now can make a big difference to your investment outcomes later.
Revisit your investing principles
This year has been a good reminder of why sticking to solid investment principles matters. Significant market volatility earlier in the year saw markets plunge following Trump’s tariff induced panic. Unlike during the initial COVID-19 market crash though, fewer investors rushed to cash this time round and continued to invest regularly. By staying disciplined, many investors were rewarded as the market has rallied strongly ever since.
While it’s important to stay informed, it’s even more important to avoid overreacting to market noise and to stick to a long-term investment plan.
InvestNow’s Investing Workshops are an excellent way to refresh your knowledge and refocus your strategy. Each session is only around 30 minutes and is built around the InvestNow Investing Principles – time-honoured guidelines on how to grow and protect your investments over the long-term.
Here’s a quick summary of the most important takeaways from each workshop:
- Invest now: Time in the market matters more than timing the market.
- Have a plan: Know what you’re working toward, and how your investments support those goals.
- Stay informed: Keep up with markets without getting overwhelmed by daily headlines.
- Investing is not a game: Treat your money with care and patience – a long-term, considered approach is the key to investing success.
- Understand risk: All assets behave differently – knowing how they work helps you stay confident through market cycles.
- Asset allocation is crucial: The right mix of investments will drive most of your returns over time.
- Diversification matters: Spread your risk so no single event can derail your plans.
- Align your portfolio to your individual risk tolerance: Knowing how much risk you can stomach makes it easier to stay invested through the market’s ups and downs (rather than to panic and pull out).
- Keep an eye on fees: Over decades, small cost differences can have a surprisingly large impact on your final balance.
- Understand tax rules: Different investment types are taxed differently. Knowing how that works can improve your after-tax returns.
Each workshop builds on the last, so whether you’re reviewing your strategy or building one from scratch, they’re a great way to strengthen your foundation for 2026 and beyond.
Reassess your risk profile
Your tolerance for risk isn’t fixed; it changes with your circumstances, age, goals and other life events. That’s why we recommend reviewing it at least once a year. If you’ve experienced major life changes, such as retirement, a new job, downsizing or family shifts, your investment strategy may need adjusting too.
Start by evaluating your Risk Profile. This is a short survey that can help to confirm whether your current portfolio still matches your comfort level with risk and volatility. See how comfortable you are with the result, and make any adjustments you feel you need to.
Pro tip: When you’ve calculated your risk profile, record the results. It can be a handy reference for next year’s annual health check.
Check your KiwiSaver Retirement Balance
InvestNow’s Retirement Balance Calculator is a great tool for projecting how your KiwiSaver balance might look as you get older – in particular, what you can expect to have at retirement, and how much income it could generate.
It’s also valuable if you’re already retired and want to gauge the impact of any drawdowns, you’re planning on making.
You can use it to test how adjusting your contribution rate or fund type will impact your long-term balance.
Bonus tip: Maintain perspective
It may have been a bumpy year for investors, but market cycles are normal. They always turn, even if they test your nerves before they do. There’s every chance financial markets will face more volatility and challenges in 2026 and beyond. The key is to avoid short-term reactions and stay anchored to your long-term plan. Markets reward discipline and patience.
If you’ve got a diversified portfolio, a clear goal and regularly review your investments, you’re already doing most of the important things right.
The bottom line
Small actions like these, done consistently, compound into big results over time.
So, before the year winds down completely, take a few minutes to give your investments their annual health check, and start the new year knowing you’re on track.
Other useful resources
Here is some additional information and resources you may find useful for completing your Investing Health Check
- InvestNow range of Managed Funds
- Managed Funds performance data
- The range of investment options on the InvestNow KiwiSaver Scheme
- InvestNow KiwiSaver Scheme funds’ performance data
- InvestNow Term Deposits
- InvestNow Tax Guide
- InvestNow FAQs
- InvestNow’s library of articles
Disclaimer: This information is provided by InvestNow Saving and Investment Service Limited (“InvestNow”). The information and any opinions in this publication are based on sources that InvestNow believes are reliable and accurate. InvestNow, its directors, officers and employees make no representations or warranties of any kind as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this publication and disclaim liability for any loss, damage, cost or expense that may arise from any reliance on the information or any opinions, conclusions or recommendations contained in it, whether that loss or damage is caused by any fault or negligence on the part of InvestNow, or otherwise, except for any statutory liability which cannot be excluded. All opinions and market commentary reflect InvestNow’s judgment on the date of this publication and are subject to change without notice. This disclaimer extends to any entity that may distribute this publication. The information in this publication is not intended to be financial advice for the purposes of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013, as amended by the Financial Services Legislation Amendment Act 2019. In particular, in preparing this document, InvestNow did not take into account the investment objectives, financial situation and particular needs of any particular person. Professional investment advice from an appropriately qualified adviser is recommended before making any investment decision. All investments involve risk.
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