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Aug
21
Posted: 10 month(s) and 17 days(s) ago   |   1 Comment(s)   |   Rating: 0 0
Posted by: WallStNick

The Motley Fool published an article today with a few wise words for investors thinking about building a well-performing portfolio.

The focus of the article was diversification--making sure the stocks in your portfolio span market caps, sectors, geographies and styles. This should help reduce the overall volatility of your portfolio, and your potential losses. But make sure not to over diversify. "A portfolioconcentrated around a smaller group of stocks.... has the opportunity to outperform the market," the article stated.

This kind of concentrated diversification strategy has worked pretty well for the Oracle of Omaha. "In the 1970s, (Warren Buffett) invested $11 million in the Washington Post, which has turned into more than $1 billion. In teh wake of Black Monday in the late 1980s, Buffett started buying Coca-Cola--an investment that has earned some 15% annual returns," the article stated.

According to Peter Lynch, onetime head of Fidelity Magellan, "It only takes a handful of big winners to make a lifetime of investing worthwhile."  

 

 


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Member Comments 
Sep 08, 2008 18:05:04
Cassie Says:
The notion of "diversification" isn't exactly revolutionary but it has yet to be fully explored in terms of finding the optimum level of diversity. The optimum level will be subjective as each investor weighs their personal consumption choices. Obviously, Warren Buffet can make a valid argument for concentration, but ultimately his success was derived from diversifying the revenue streams leading into Berkshire Hathaway. Buffet, as much as any other successful manager, thoroughly understand the importance of diversification.  However, for each success story there is a counterpart in a losing bet. Diversification will logically hedge risk as it is in the nature of the market to trend upwards. Nonetheless, this is a valuable lesson that each investor will have to consider when developing a sound portfolio that minimizes risk without sacrificing a desired return.