You don’t get a tape measure to monitor your investments.

“An adult’s waist should be less than half their height to reduce health risks, health body NICE recommends.”

According to the BBC, If you’re 175cm (5ft 9 inches) tall, for example, then your waist measurement should be less than 87.5cm (34 inches) – or half your height.

The latest estimates for England suggest that 28% of adults are obese and a further 36% are overweight – a problem that is costing the NHS more than £6bn.

I find the statistic that “only twice around your waste is about your height” is not easy to process.  I imagined that your waste would be much less.  However, it’s a great way to help you measure if you are overweight.

What has this got to do with your investments?

Wouldn’t it be useful if you had a way of measuring your investment returns to see if they were healthy?  Something quick and easy to do. It would mean, you could identify investment ‘fat’.  If you can identify investment ‘fat’, you have the chance to take action.

But what if you can’t measure investment ‘fat’ easily?   Would you lie to yourself?  Would you compromise?  Do you tell yourself, my investments are OK, so why worry?

Yet without action, the problem gets bigger over time. It’s always better to act now. You need to find a way to measure your performance.