The short answer

Review your portfolio at least once a year and whenever your life changes. Check that your mix of shares, bonds and cash still suits your goals and timescale, that your money is in the right currencies, that your costs are competitive and that your income and cash reserves are in place. When markets have pulled your mix noticeably away from your plan — say by five percentage points or more — rebalance: trim what has grown and top up what has fallen, ideally using new money or withdrawals to keep costs and tax down. Rebalancing keeps your risk where you chose it and quietly makes you buy low and sell high. Lawrence offers free reviews — and ongoing reviews for expats who'd like their portfolio looked after.

Why regular reviews matter

A review is a regular health check for your money. It's not about reacting to the latest headlines — that's usually the opposite of what helps. It's about making sure the portfolio you have still matches the life you're living and the goals you're working towards.

Over a year, a lot can change without you noticing:

• Your mix drifts as some investments grow faster than others.
• Your goals get closer, so some money should move to steadier investments.
• Your circumstances change — income, family, health, where you live.
• Costs creep up, or cheaper alternatives appear.
• Rules change, in tax, pensions or platform terms.
• Your cash reserve gets used and needs topping up.

A yearly review catches all of these while they're small and easy to fix. Many expats tie it to their visa extension, so it never gets forgotten.

What a good yearly review covers

A complete review runs through these areas. Most take only a few minutes each once you have your statements to hand.

A review is a conversation about your life as much as your investments.

How portfolios drift

Every portfolio starts with a target mix — say 60% in shares and 40% in bonds for a balanced investor. But shares and bonds don't grow at the same rate, so that mix changes on its own.

The chart at the top of this page shows a simple example. A £200,000 portfolio starts with £120,000 in shares and £80,000 in bonds. After a strong year in which shares rise 30%, the shares are worth £156,000 and the portfolio £236,000 — and shares now make up 66% rather than 60%. That's good news, but it also means you're now taking more risk than you chose. If shares then fall sharply, you'll feel it more than you planned to.

It works the other way too. If shares fall 30% instead, they'd be worth £84,000, and only about 51% of a £164,000 portfolio. Now you're taking less risk than you planned — and holding fewer shares just as they've become cheaper.

Left alone for several years, drift can carry a portfolio a long way from its plan. Rebalancing brings it back.

Rebalancing: what it is and why it works

Rebalancing simply means moving your portfolio back to its target mix. In the strong-year example, you'd move about £14,400 from shares to bonds to get back to 60/40. In the weak-year example, you'd move about £14,400 the other way, from bonds into shares.

Look at what that does. After shares have risen, you take some profit. After shares have fallen, you buy more while they're cheaper. Rebalancing makes you buy low and sell high automatically — without any attempt to predict the market, which almost nobody does reliably.

The three benefits of rebalancing

• It keeps your risk where you chose it, so a fall never hurts more than you planned.
• It takes profits from what has done well and reinvests in what's become cheaper.
• It removes emotion — you follow a plan instead of reacting to headlines.

Rebalancing isn't about chasing returns, and in a long rising market it can mean trimming a winner. Its real value is discipline: keeping your portfolio matched to the level of risk you can live with, so you stay invested through good years and bad.

Rebalancing in both directions

The same £200,000 portfolio, set at 60% shares and 40% bonds, after a strong year and after a weak one.

After the rise, rebalancing takes profits. After the fall, it buys shares while they're cheaper. Illustration only.

When to rebalance: three approaches

Calendar rebalancing

Rebalance on a fixed date — once a year is common — whatever markets have done. Simple, easy to remember and easy to combine with your yearly review.

Threshold rebalancing

Rebalance only when your mix has drifted beyond a set band — for example more than five percentage points from target. This avoids unnecessary trades in calm years and acts more quickly after big moves.

A combination

Check once a year, but only rebalance if the drift is beyond your band. Many investors find this the best of both: a regular habit, without trading for the sake of it.

Whichever you choose, write it down and stick to it. The value of rebalancing comes from doing it consistently — especially when markets are frightening and instinct says to do the opposite.

Setting your rebalancing band

If you use a threshold, the size of the band matters. Too narrow, and you'll be trading after every small wobble, paying costs for little benefit. Too wide, and your portfolio can drift a long way from the risk you chose before anything happens.

A common rule of thumb is to rebalance when any major part of the portfolio is more than about five percentage points away from its target — so a 60% share allocation would trigger a rebalance below 55% or above 65%. Smaller parts of a portfolio, such as a 5% slice of alternatives, can use a proportionally smaller band.

The exact number matters less than having one, writing it down and following it. A clear rule removes the temptation to second-guess the market — and makes each yearly review quick and calm.

Where to start

Someone to review and rebalance your portfolio with you, and the right way to move money between currencies when you do.

Rebalancing efficiently: new money and withdrawals

Rebalancing doesn't always mean selling. The most efficient way is often to use money that's moving anyway.

• Direct new money — monthly savings or a lump sum — into whatever is below target.
• Take withdrawals from whatever is above target, rather than proportionally.
• Redirect income — dividends and interest — into the part that needs topping up.
• Only sell if new money and withdrawals can't close the gap.

This approach cuts dealing costs, reduces the chance of creating taxable gains and keeps the portfolio on track with very little effort. For retirees drawing an income, simply taking each year's withdrawals from whatever has done best is a natural way to rebalance.

Expat considerations when you rebalance

Currency

A review is the natural moment to move the next year's spending into baht, and to check that money for known future costs — school fees, a condo — is moving into the right currency on schedule. If rebalancing involves converting money, use a good exchange rate; on larger sums, the rate matters as much as the investment decision.

Tax

Selling investments can create gains. If you're Thai tax resident, foreign income earned from 2024 onwards that you bring into Thailand can be taxable, so where proceeds go — and when — matters. Rebalancing within a platform, or with new money and withdrawals, often avoids the question entirely.

Platform and rules

Each review is a good time to check that your platform still accepts you as a Thai resident, that your details are up to date and that nothing in its terms has changed.

The frozen State Pension

If you're retired in Thailand, your UK State Pension won't rise each year. Each review should check that your investment income is keeping up with rising costs, and adjust if it isn't.

Reviewing everything, not just one account

Many expats hold investments in several places: a UK pension, an ISA kept from before the move, an international platform, a savings plan, an offshore bond, perhaps some Thai investments. A review only works if it looks at all of them together. Your overall mix is what matters — not the mix inside each account.

Looking at the whole picture often reveals things that a single statement never shows: two accounts holding the same funds, a pension invested far more cautiously than you need, a savings plan in expensive funds, or far too much in one currency. It's also the best way to rebalance efficiently — for example by adjusting the pension, where switching funds usually costs nothing and creates no tax, rather than selling elsewhere.

• List every account with its value and what it holds.
• Add up your overall mix across all of them.
• Rebalance where it's cheapest — often inside a pension or plan.
• Look for overlaps and gaps between accounts.

Reviews that keep you calm

One of the most valuable things a regular review does is stop you making changes at the wrong time. When markets fall sharply, the urge to sell is strong — but selling after a fall locks in the loss and risks missing the recovery. J.P. Morgan's research on the US market from 2005 to 2024 found that missing just the ten best days cut the result on $10,000 from about $71,750 to about $32,871 — and seven of those best days came within two weeks of the worst.

A review with a clear plan — a target mix, a rebalancing rule and a cash reserve — turns a frightening market into a routine decision: if the mix has drifted, rebalance; if not, carry on. That discipline is often worth more than any individual investment choice.

What an ongoing review with Lawrence looks like

Some people are happy to review and rebalance their own portfolios. Many prefer to hand it to someone who does it every day — especially when their money spans two countries, several accounts and more than one currency. Lawrence offers ongoing reviews for expats who want their investments looked after:

1. A yearly review meeting — by video, phone or in person — covering your goals, mix, currencies, costs, income and estate.
2. Rebalancing to plan, done efficiently across all your accounts.
3. Currency planning for the year ahead, including moving next year's spending into baht.
4. Income set-up for retirees, so money arrives when you need it.
5. A check at every life change — retirement, a move, a new grandchild, a lump sum.
6. A clear written summary of what changed and why.

The first review is free and comes with no obligation. You'll get a clear picture of where you stand — and you can decide afterwards whether ongoing reviews would help.

Reviews at life changes

As well as a yearly review, some moments call for a fresh look straight away:

1. Retirement — moving from building wealth to drawing an income.
2. Moving country — tax, currency, platform and estate rules may all change.
3. Marriage, divorce or a new partner — ownership, beneficiaries and wills.
4. A child or grandchild — new education and family goals.
5. A lump sum — a house sale, inheritance or pension cash to invest.
6. A health change — income needs, protection and estate planning.
7. A big purchase — a condo or car that needs money moved to cash.
8. A major market move — to check whether rebalancing is due.

A life change is often exactly when an outside view is most valuable — and when a free conversation with Lawrence can save the most.

Moving money as goals get closer

Reviews aren't only about rebalancing back to the same mix. As each goal approaches, the mix for that money should gradually become more cautious. Money for a child's university in fifteen years can be mostly in shares; by the time fees are three years away, much of it should be in steadier investments, and the first year's fees in cash, in the right currency.

This gradual shift — sometimes called a glide path — protects you from a late market fall just when you need the money. A yearly review is the natural time to take the next step along it.

Two worked examples

Roger: a review after five years

Roger, 67, retired to Pattaya five years ago with a balanced portfolio. He hasn't looked at it since. A free review with Lawrence finds that after strong years for shares, his mix has drifted from 55% to 71% shares — far more risk than he wants in retirement. His cash reserve has been spent, and his income no longer keeps up with his frozen State Pension and rising costs. Lawrence rebalances the portfolio, rebuilds two years of income in cash, mostly in baht, and sets a sustainable withdrawal plan with a yearly review tied to Roger's visa extension.

Nina and Paul: rebalancing with new money

Nina and Paul, both 44, invest £1,000 a month from Bangkok. At their yearly review, bonds are below target after a strong year for shares. Instead of selling anything, they direct the next six months of contributions entirely into bonds, bringing the mix back to plan with no dealing costs and no tax questions. They also move their daughter's education pot one step along its glide path.

The mistakes we see most often

1. Never reviewing — "set and forget" for years.
2. Reviewing too often and reacting to every headline.
3. Letting a winner run until the portfolio is far riskier than planned.
4. Selling after a fall instead of rebalancing into it.
5. Rebalancing by selling when new money or withdrawals would do the job.
6. Forgetting currency — not moving next year's spending into baht.
7. Not moving goal money to safer investments as dates approach.
8. Ignoring life changes that should trigger a fresh review.

Your yearly review in ten minutes

• Gather your statements from every platform, plan and pension.
• Add up your mix of shares, bonds and cash.
• Compare with your target — has it drifted more than five points?
• Check your cash reserve and next year's baht money.
• Check your costs and any changes in fees.
• Check beneficiaries and details are still correct.

Keeping your accounts secure

A review is a good moment for a security check too:

• Use a password manager and a different strong password for every account.
• Turn on two-factor sign-in on every investment and bank account.
• Use a private, protected connection on hotel, café and condo Wi-Fi.
• Check that contact details and security numbers are up to date.

How we researched this guide

We drew on our guides to portfolio diversification, investment time horizons and expat financial planning, which cite J.P. Morgan's analysis of missing the best market days (via CNBC, April 2025), GOV.UK on the State Pension abroad and Thai tax rules on foreign income brought into Thailand. The drift and rebalancing figures are a simple illustration, not a forecast. Checked 13 October 2026. Investment values can fall as well as rise. This guide is general information, not personal financial advice.