Checklist: Midyear Fund Review / Things to do this weekend with your money

With the year half gone, check on your mutual fund portfolio, and consider whether changes are in order.

4 Today: If you aren’t already tracking your funds by computer, make a list of all your fund accounts, including those held in individual retirement accounts and tax-deferred retirement plans (such as 401[k]s), and those in regular taxable accounts. Don’t forget to include your spouse’s accounts. Also gather up your last official statements from each fund or fund company to figure the value of each account based on current number of shares owned. (You can also get the account value direct from your fund company by phone, of course.)

4 Saturday: Tally the value of each fund account, and the total portfolio value. If you know the number of shares owned, you can simply multiply that times the fund’s net asset value (share value), which appears in The Times on Tuesday through Sunday. The Times’ listings also include each fund’s year-to-date total return, for quick reference. List each fund’s return so far, and compare that with the return of the Vanguard 500 Index fund, which is a measure of the broad market’s performance.

4 Sunday: Consider whether your overall portfolio mix suits your current needs and expectations. Make sure you know the basic investment strategy of each fund--for example, whether it invests in big stocks or small stocks, “growth” or “value” stocks, etc. Your fund company can give you more information, if needed. If you saved The Times’ special midyear investment report, published Thursday, you can easily check each fund’s basic investment category and how the fund performed relative to funds like it.