If you're still building your retirement savings, it's important to evaluate both your current portfolio balance and your savings rate to see if you're on track to meet your goals. A standard savings rate is around 15%, but those with higher incomes should aim for 20% or more. If your savings are for other goals, such as a college fund or a home down payment, you may need to save even more. Fidelity Investments offers benchmarks to help assess whether your retirement savings are adequate based on your age and life stage. For retirees, the key measure of portfolio health is the withdrawal rate—the percentage of your portfolio you plan to withdraw each year. A commonly used guideline is 4%, but the ideal rate is often determined after retirement begins. Understanding how your assets are allocated is crucial for long-term success. Tools like Morningstar’s X-ray view, available to subscribers, can help you see the mix of stocks, bonds, and cash in your portfolio. Comparing your actual allocation to your target allocation is important for maintaining balance. If you don’t have specific targets, high-quality target-date funds from providers like Vanguard and BlackRock can serve as a benchmark. Younger investors often have more stock-heavy portfolios, but those nearing retirement should reduce their exposure to stocks and increase bonds and cash, which can provide stability. Retirees within 10 years of retirement should consider shifting more of their portfolio to bonds and cash to reduce risk. Having enough liquid assets is essential for both working and retired individuals. Workers are advised to keep three to six months of living expenses in easily accessible accounts, with higher-income earners or those in the gig economy aiming for more. Retirees should hold six months to two years’ worth of planned withdrawals in cash or cash equivalents to cushion against market downturns. These liquid reserves can be replenished through portfolio rebalancing. Options like FDIC-insured savings accounts and certificates of deposit are safe choices, while money market funds offer convenience but aren’t FDIC-insured. Reviewing your equity investments is also important. Many portfolios are heavily weighted toward U.S. large-cap growth stocks, especially in the technology sector. Using tools like Morningstar’s Style Box and sector analysis can help you understand how your stock holdings are distributed across different sizes and styles, and how they compare to the broader market like the S&P 500. Evaluating your bond holdings is necessary to ensure they provide stability during market fluctuations. While higher-risk bonds have performed well recently, they can be more vulnerable in weak economic times. Shifting some money into lower-risk bonds can improve diversification and reduce risk, even if it means lower returns. Lower-quality bonds should be seen as alternatives to stocks, not as a replacement for bonds. Finally, it’s important to examine individual holdings in your portfolio. Checking Morningstar Ratings for stocks and Medalist Ratings for mutual funds and ETFs can help identify which holdings have strong future prospects. Red flags for funds include frequent manager changes, underperformance compared to low-cost index funds, or heavy bets on specific stocks or sectors. For individual stocks, red flags include high valuations or declining economic moats. If a single stock or sector makes up more than 5% of your equity holdings, it may be too concentrated. Company stock held in tax-sheltered accounts like 401(k)s or IRAs can be addressed, but selling such holdings in taxable accounts may trigger tax consequences.