Can I change my investment goal later?

Yes. Go to your agent profile page and select a different goal at any time. Your agent will immediately start using the new goal for its next weekly decision. Past decisions won't be retroactively changed.

What if I have multiple goals?

Choose the one that's most important to you right now. Your agent can only optimize for one primary goal at a time. If you have genuinely separate objectives (e.g., retirement savings AND a house down payment), consider using separate brokerage accounts with different profiles—one for each goal.

Does my goal affect which assets the agent recommends?

Absolutely. A Retirement agent favors broad equity index funds and tax-efficient placement. An Income agent emphasizes dividend aristocrats and bonds. A Preservation agent sticks to Treasuries and cash equivalents. The asset selection, position sizing, and rebalancing triggers all depend on your stated goal.

What's the difference between Retirement and Wealth Building?

Retirement includes age-aware logic—it tracks your years-to-retirement, calculates your nest egg target using the Safe Withdrawal Rate, and gradually de-risks as you approach your target date. Wealth Building is purely growth-focused with no age or retirement timeline considerations.

Is Capital Preservation just 'holding cash'?

Not exactly. While cash and cash equivalents are a key component, a Preservation strategy also includes short-duration Treasuries, high-quality bonds, and other low-volatility instruments that can earn modest returns while protecting principal. The goal is to beat inflation without taking meaningful market risk.

How does the agent handle market crashes for each goal?

It depends on your goal. A Wealth Builder might see a crash as a buying opportunity. A Retirement investor would hold steady if they're far from retirement but get more cautious if close. An Income investor would focus on whether dividend payments are at risk. A Preservation investor would already have minimal equity exposure, so the impact would be limited.

Investment Goals Explained: Choose the Right Strategy

Why Your Investment Goal Matters

Your investment goal is the single most important input you give your AI agent. It determines how the agent weighs growth vs. safety, which asset classes it favors, how it handles market downturns, and whether it prioritizes tax efficiency or income. Two investors with identical portfolios but different goals should receive very different recommendations—and that's by design. Choosing the wrong goal doesn't just produce suboptimal results; it can lead to advice that conflicts with your actual financial needs.

Retirement: Building a Nest Egg Over Time

The Retirement goal is for investors accumulating wealth toward a future date when they stop working. Your agent focuses on long-term compounding, tax-efficient positioning (favoring tax-deferred accounts for bonds, taxable accounts for equities), and gradual de-risking as your target date approaches. The retirement tracker on your dashboard uses the Safe Withdrawal Rate (SWR) method—typically 4%—to show how much annual income your current portfolio could support. For example, a $500,000 portfolio supports roughly $20,000/year in retirement income. Your agent tracks your progress toward your target nest egg every week.

Wealth Building: Maximizing Total Return

The Wealth Building goal prioritizes capital appreciation above all else. Your agent will lean toward growth-oriented equities, emerging markets, and sectors with strong momentum. It accepts higher short-term volatility in exchange for higher expected long-term returns. This goal suits younger investors or those with a long time horizon who don't need current income from their portfolio. Your agent will be more willing to concentrate in high-conviction positions and may suggest tactical moves when macro signals are strong—but it still respects diversification guardrails to avoid catastrophic drawdowns.

Income Generation: Prioritizing Cash Flow

The Income Generation goal is for investors who need their portfolio to produce regular cash flow—whether for living expenses, supplementing a salary, or funding specific obligations. Your agent favors dividend-paying stocks, investment-grade bonds, REITs, and preferred shares. It evaluates positions not just by total return but by yield sustainability: a 7% yield that gets cut is worse than a 3% yield that grows. The agent also considers tax implications of income—qualified dividends and municipal bond interest are treated differently than ordinary income. If you're retired or semi-retired and drawing from your portfolio, this is likely your goal.

Capital Preservation: Protecting What You Have

The Capital Preservation goal is the most conservative. It suits investors who cannot afford to lose principal—whether because they're close to a major expense (buying a home, funding education), are already in retirement, or simply have a low risk tolerance. Your agent favors Treasury bills, high-quality short-duration bonds, money market funds, and cash equivalents. Equity exposure is minimal. The agent's primary objective is avoiding drawdowns, even if that means underperforming in bull markets. This goal prioritizes sleeping well at night over maximizing returns.

How to Choose the Right Goal

Consider three factors: your time horizon, your need for current income, and your emotional tolerance for losses. If you won't touch the money for 15+ years and you can stomach a 30% drawdown, Wealth Building or Retirement fits. If you need the portfolio to pay bills this year, Income Generation is the answer. If losing 10% of your portfolio would cause serious financial or emotional stress, Capital Preservation is the right choice. Many investors will find their goal changes over time—young accumulators often shift from Wealth Building to Retirement, and retirees may shift from Income to Preservation as they age. You can update your goal at any time in your agent profile.

How Your Goal Shapes AI Agent Decisions

Each week, your AI agent reads the latest macro briefing, reviews your holdings across all linked accounts, and produces a recommendation. Your investment goal acts as the lens through which it interprets every data point. A rising interest rate environment, for example, would prompt very different actions depending on your goal: a Retirement investor might stay the course, a Wealth Builder might rotate into rate-sensitive sectors, an Income investor might shift from bonds to dividend stocks, and a Preservation investor might move to shorter-duration bonds. The goal isn't just a label—it's the agent's decision-making framework.

Investment Goals Explained: Retirement, Wealth Building, Income & Preservation

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