Free start Earning Investopedia There are few things more important and more daunting than creating a long-term Investment Strategy that can enable an individual to invest with confidence and with clarity about their future. Constructing an investment portfolio requires a deliberate and precise portfolio-planning process that follows five essential steps. · Choose whether you want active management, which might include professionally managed mutual funds, or passive management, which might include ETFs that track specific indexes. · Once a portfolio is in place, it's important to monitor the investment and ideally reassess goals annually, making changes as needed.