The end of the year is full of things to do: Celebrate the holidays with family, prepare for the winter, get your tax information together, etc.  But one very important chore we often forget to perform is re-evaluating our investment portfolios.  Unless you review them, how do you know if the investments you own are performing well?  Are they still helping you to reach your goals?  Are there better choices out there?

This is exactly what I’m looking to do with our Roth IRA funds.  Both my wife and I both have a Roth IRA through Vanguard which we max out every year.   Our belief is that these Roth IRA’s will help us to get tax-free income during retirement or possibly serve as a vehicle to help us fund our early retirement.

To a new or inexperienced investor, seeing a huge list of investments and technical information can be extremely overwhelming.  I know I was the first time I tried to make sense of mutual funds.   But fear not.  Whether you’re like me and looking to re-evaluate your portfolio, or simply looking at funds to buy for the first time, I believe this post can help you.  So walk with me through my process as I make my picks from Vanguard mutual funds and evaluate which ones I will include in my portfolio for next year.

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