Keeping tabs on your portfolio
Make sure you're looking at more than just performance: Skewed asset allocation, rising fees and management changes are all important

Is your asset allocation out of whack?
      The market fluctuations during the past year may have dramatically 
      shifted your portfolio's asset mix. As a result, your portfolio might be 
      more conservative or aggressive than you originally intended. Our 
      colleague Christine Benz recently offered 
      advice in another article on how to assess your asset allocation and 
      rebalance your portfolio. As she mentions, inputting your portfolio on 
      Morningstar.co.uk and using the Instant 
      X-Ray tool can be a useful way to track your investments and help 
      you decide if your portfolio is skewed toward certain asset classes 
      (stocks, bonds, or cash), regions, sectors, or stocks.
    
Morningstar.co.uk members can set up e-mail alerts to monitor big portfolio shifts. If you're not yet a member simply create your free account on our Membership page (Hemscott users can register using their Hemscott login details). Once you have created and saved a portfolio using Portfolio Manager (make sure you have entered accurate share quantities and price data for all holdings), click on Alerts in the grey bar at the top of the screen and you can then create alerts to track if your portfolio's asset allocation fall outside specified ranges. For example, you might want to be alerted if your portfolio's bond stake falls below 40% or if its cash stake rises above 15%.
Are you paying more?
      As we have discussed in previous 
      articles, some funds are facing rising expense ratios after seeing 
      assets dwindle during the market downturn. An expense ratio that has 
      risen just a couple of basis points might not be too concerning, but if 
      several of your funds have seen substantial increases in price, it can 
      really add up. It is worth keeping an eye on these expense ratios and 
      taking the time to dig into individual funds to determine if any of them 
      are pricier than they should be.
    
 Did any of your funds change managers?
      If you regularly read our Analyst Reports or news stories on 
      Morningstar.co.uk, you might find out about a manager change soon after 
      it has happened. However, it's a good idea to occasionally go through 
      your portfolio on a fund-by-fund basis to see if management has been 
      consistent. Pull up each fund on Morningstar.co.uk, click on the 
      Management tab, and look at the start dates for each manager. If you 
      notice that a fund has a new manager since you last checked, it's a good 
      idea to take a closer look. (Our colleague David Kathman discusses 
      manager changes in this Morningstar.com article). 
      A new management team can bring a different strategy to the fund, which 
      might not fit your needs, so you need to know if a fund now plays a 
      different role in your portfolio and find an alternative if necessary.
    
 How has long-term performance been?
      Don't be short-sighted when it comes to performance. Many of the 
      worst-performing stock funds during the downturn have made up the most 
      ground in 2009. If you had sold all of your struggling stock funds in 
      late 2008, you would have missed out on the big gains many funds have 
      experienced this year. At the same time, some conservative funds that 
      held up well last year have been slow to rebound, but that's no reason 
      to avoid them. Take a look at how your funds have done in different 
      market environments before rushing to judgment. The Charts feature on 
      Morningstar.co.uk is especially useful for this purpose, as described in this 
      article. And remember Jason Zweig's advice, which he shared in this 
      interview with Morningstar's Christine Benz: "You're not diversified 
      unless you own something that hurts to own."
    





