You've turned out to be the model mutual fund investor. You monitor your portfolio regularly and have set up a rebalancing program. Every few years, you make sure your portfolio is on track to meet your goals. And you tweak things here and there when necessary.

This lesson involves dealing with change—specifically, how you may change over your investment lifetime. A life event, such as a death, birth, or marriage, may alter your investment approach. Tax entanglements or estate-planning dilemmas may lead you to seek the advice of a financial professional. Or you may simply find that you're itching to move beyond mutual funds and try your hand at stock investing. Here's how to handle each of those possibilities.

Next: Entering a New Life Stage >>