Last Updated on 16th March 2026
Reviewing the performance and stability of your portfolio at least once a year is highly advisable, as it ensures you are up to speed on how your investments are doing, can make timely changes if necessary, and know whether your assets remain in line with your goals.
This worksheet is designed as a guide to help you through a portfolio review. Although we recommend working alongside a qualified wealth manager or financial adviser, it highlights some areas to include.
1. Have Your Investment Objectives or Circumstances Changed?
Creating a clear plan with a professional adviser ensures you set out the specific goals or targets you want from your portfolio, which can differ significantly depending on your age, time until retirement, capital, and general finances.
Step 1: Confirm or Rank Your Current Big-Picture Goals
☐ Investing for retirement
☐ Financing children’s education
☐ Protecting and growing wealth
☐ Purchasing real estate
☐ Generating a passive income
Planned retirement age _________________________
Target retirement income per year_________________
Any changes to goals from 12 months ago ___________
Step 2: Identify Major Life Changes
☐ Relocation
☐ Change in tax residency
☐ Marriage/divorce/separation
☐ New child/dependent
☐ Sale of a business or property
☐ Inheritance or additional income
If any of your primary goals or circumstances have changed, you may need to adjust your investment timeline and strategy, level of accepted risk and contributions to your investment fund.
2. Is Your Portfolio Delivering the Income or Returns You Expect?
Tracking portfolio performance is essential to making adjustments to your investments, whether doubling down on high-performing stocks and assets or rebalancing when other products aren’t meeting expectations.
Step 1: Review Performance Against Targets and Benchmarks
| Your Portfolio | Your Target | Relevant Benchmarks | |
| 12-month returns | |||
| Three-year returns | |||
| Income yield |
Step 2: Verify How Your Portfolio Has Performed
Has your portfolio outperformed inflation in the last 12 months? ☐ Yes ☐ No
Has the income received met your expectations? ☐ Yes ☐ No
Have returns been achieved at unacceptably high risk? ☐ Yes ☐ No
If you are satisfied that performance is consistent with expectations, you may not need to make any changes, but should seek advice if you have any concerns.
3. Does the Risk Level Within Your Portfolio Still Meet Your Needs?
All investments carry some level of risk, but you need to ensure you are comfortable with this and know what risks are built into your portfolio.
Step 1: Check Your Comfort Levels With Your Risk
From one to 10, how comfortable are you with volatility in your portfolio? _______________
From one to 10, how would you rate the current risk level of your investments? _______________
Do these factors match? ☐ Yes ☐ No
Step 2: Consider Your Reaction to Market Changes
If there were a market shock tomorrow that prompted a 20% fall, what would you do:
☐ Remain invested
☐ Invest more capital
☐ Feel anxious but hold your position
☐ Sell
Expat investors who have selected ‘sell’ may need to make adjustments, as this indicates a potentially higher risk than is suitable for their needs.
4. When Will You Need to Make Adjustments for Retirement?
Expat investors generally require more risk-averse portfolios as they approach retirement. In contrast, those with decades left before retirement tend to adopt a more aggressive strategy, since they have time to recover from potential losses or downturns.
Step 1: Calculate Your Anticipated Years Until Retirement
How many years until you expect to retire _____________
Generally, your focus should be on growth if you have 20+ years, on balancing your portfolio if there are 10 to 20 years, on preserving capital from 5-10 years before retirement, and on stability for those with less than 5 years.
Step 2: Assess How Well Your Portfolio Will Meet Your Retirement Financing Needs
Estimated annual retirement income your portfolio will provide _______________
Calculated annual retirement budget needed_______________
Any gap that needs to be addressed_______________
5. Are the Fees You’re Paying for Your Portfolio Competitive?
Investment and fund management come with a cost, and knowing what you are paying, and what those fees mean in terms of value, is important to ensure you aren’t unnecessarily eroding your portfolio.
Step 1: Add Up Portfolio Fees
| Annual Cost | % of Portfolio | |
| Platform fees | ||
| Fund charges | ||
| Advisory costs | ||
| Other outgoings |
Total costs paid as a % of your portfolio _____________
Step 2: Assess Whether Fees Are Reasonable
Are you paying more than 2% in fees? ☐ Yes ☐ No
Do you know what you are paying for? ☐ Yes ☐ No
Independent advisers can assist if you believe you’re paying more than you should or need clarity about any of the charges associated with your portfolio.
6. How Well Are the Assets Within Your Portfolio Diversified?
Diversification splits your assets across currencies, countries, asset classes, and sectors to ensure that if anything happens that causes a downturn in one area, it won’t affect the entire portfolio.
Step 1: Check Diversification by Location
| Allocation | % of Portfolio | |
| North America | ||
| Europe | ||
| Asia | ||
| Emerging markets |
Step 2: Check Diversification by Currency
Currency in your place of residency______
Proportion of portfolio held in this denomination______
Step 3: Check Diversification by Asset Classes
| Allocation | % of Portfolio | |
| Equities | ||
| Bonds | ||
| Property | ||
| Cash | ||
| Alternatives |
If any aspect of your portfolio constitutes 60% or more, you may need to rebalance investments to ensure you benefit from diversification.
7. Is Your Portfolio as Tax-Efficient as Possible?
Tax efficiency is vital for expatriates who manage cross-border taxes.
Step 1: Identify Major Tax Reforms
Place of tax residency?________________
Rule changes in the last year? ☐ Yes ☐ No
Action required following international tax reforms? ☐ Yes ☐ No
Step 2: Revisit Tax-Efficiency Measures in Place
Does your portfolio:
Include assets held within tax-efficient wrappers? ☐ Yes ☐ No
Attract unnecessary withholding tax? ☐ Yes ☐ No
Include income-generating assets in high-tax locations? ☐ Yes ☐ No
Indications that your portfolio isn’t as tax-efficient as possible, or reforms that affect portfolio performance, may require action.
8. Are There New Sectors, Products or Assets You Wish to Consider?
Whether or not you decide to make changes to your investment portfolio, you might also want to look at new trends, emerging sectors or assets that align with your plans, circumstances and targets.
Step 1: Review Potential New Investment Opportunities
Select any areas you may be interested in investing in:
AI and technology ☐
Healthcare innovation ☐
Renewables ☐
Infrastructure ☐
Private markets ☐
ESG-focused assets ☐
Step 2: Verify Whether New Investments Align With Your Goals
Would this investment be strategic, backed by market knowledge and professional recommendations, or driven by fear of missing out and emotion?
☐ Strategic
☐ Emotional
Provided there is a clear strategic benefit to adding a new investment asset, market or sector to your portfolio, this is something you can move forward with, with your financial adviser.
For personalised guidance and expert support with reviewing or strengthening your portfolio, speak to an adviser at Chase Buchanan Private Wealth Management.
© Chase Buchanan Private Wealth Management.
Chase Buchanan Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission with CIF Licence 287/15 and offers its services in the EU on a cross-border basis as per the provisions of MiFID.
Chase Buchanan Insurance Services, Agents & Advisors is authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Insurance Companies Control Service with License No 6883 and offers services in the EU on a cross-border basis as per the provisions of the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD).
Investing in financial instruments involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. The value of investments may go up as well as down and past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. You may lose part or all of your invested capital.
*Information correct as at March 2026
