How to Build Your First Stock and Fund Portfolio From Where You Stand Today

What you need

Paste the snapshot template from this page, including cash and any debts. A first portfolio sits on top of the rest of your finances: the model needs to see whether you have a cash buffer and what your debts cost before it shows how much of your money could go into shares and funds. Include any shares or funds you already own, even small positions.

Below the snapshot, add three lines:

• Amount to invest: [lump sum, monthly amount, or both, e.g. €5,000 now and €300 a month]
• Time horizon: [when you expect to need this money, e.g. not before 2045]
• Reaction to a 30% fall: [what you would do if the portfolio dropped by 30%: sell, wait, or buy more]

The third line is your risk tolerance in practical terms. If you have been through a real market fall with money invested, answer from what you did then. If you have not, say so, and the model can treat your answer as a guess.

Put all values in one currency. If you plan to invest in a different currency from the one you earn in, mention it next to the amount.

Here is my financial snapshot. Use only these numbers.

Currency: [e.g. EUR]
Date: [today's date]
Age: [optional]

ASSETS
[name] — [category: cash / stocks / ETFs / crypto / property / metals / other] — [value]
[name] — [category] — [value]
...

LIABILITIES
[name] — [type: mortgage / car loan / credit card / student loan / other] — [outstanding balance] — [interest rate if known]
...

CONTEXT (optional but improves the answer)
Monthly income after tax: [amount]
Monthly spending: [amount]
Amount I add to savings or investments each month: [amount]
Value of the same assets 12 months ago: [amount]

The prompt

Copy this exact text and paste it into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini directly beneath your snapshot block.

You are a financial educator who explains how stock and fund portfolios are put
together. Using only my snapshot above and the three lines below:

Amount to invest: [lump sum and/or monthly amount]
Time horizon: [when I will need the money]
Reaction to a 30% fall: [sell / wait / buy more, in my own words]

1. Explain diversification, asset allocation and the trade-off between risk and
   return in plain language, using my own amounts in the examples.
2. Explain the roles of individual shares and of funds, including index funds
   and ETFs, and what each costs, such as yearly fund fees and trading spreads.
3. Describe four common approaches: core-satellite, balanced, growth-oriented
   and income-focused. Sketch each one with my amount to invest, by asset type
   and percentage, without naming funds or companies.
4. Say which approaches are consistent with my time horizon and my answer about
   a 30% fall, and which are not, with the reasons.
5. Explain rebalancing: what it is, a simple rule for when to check, and what it
   would look like in one of the sketches after a year in which shares rise 20%.
6. Point out anything in my snapshot worth dealing with before investing, such
   as expensive debt or no cash buffer.

Ask for missing figures rather than estimating. No buy or sell recommendations,
no specific funds, companies or brokers.

What good output looks like

A good answer explains diversification, allocation and risk with your own amounts. Say you plan to invest CZK 250,000 now, about €10,000 at an example rate of 25 koruna per euro. The model might show that one company's shares can fall close to zero, while a fund holding hundreds of companies would need most of them to fail to do the same.

The part on shares and funds should cover what each is for and what each costs: fund fees charged every year, and the spread, the gap between the buying and selling price, paid on every trade.

The four sketches should each show asset types and percentages. A core-satellite sketch might put 80% (€8,000) in a broad index fund and 20% (€2,000) in a few individual shares; a balanced one 60% shares and 40% bonds. None should name a fund or company.

The fit section links each approach to your horizon and your answer about a 30% fall. If you said you would sell, the growth-oriented sketch should be marked as a poor match.

The rebalancing example should add up. Start balanced with €6,000 in shares and €4,000 in bonds. After a year in which shares rise 20% and bonds stay flat, shares are €7,200 out of €11,200, or 64.3%. Getting back to 60% means moving €480 into bonds, or sending new money there until the split is restored.

What this can't tell you

The sketches show how each approach is put together. They are illustrations and were not chosen for you. The model does not know which funds are available in your country, what your broker charges, or how gains and dividends are taxed where you live.

Your answer about a 30% fall stays a guess until you have lived through one with money invested. The model has no live prices or index data unless you paste them, and any past return it quotes needs an index, a period and a source before you rely on it. Check the rebalancing arithmetic, because models slip when they mix percentages and amounts. The prompt leaves out pensions, property and any tax-advantaged accounts your country offers.

Doing this without the retyping

Sumio includes this prompt as "Portfolio Creation Introduction", one of the 62 built into its AI assistant. It runs on the whole balance sheet you track in the app, so the cash, debts and any shares or funds you already hold are part of the answer without a snapshot. Your records are stored on your device. Running an analysis sends the figures it needs to an AI provider, which returns the answer. The AI assistant is a Sumio Premium feature.