Investing Information

Investing and Asset Allocation


Sometimes you spend sleepless nights worrying about which stocks to buy and which to sell, which funds to own and which to dump and whether to get into bonds.

All of these are legitimate concerns, but the greatest determinant of your success as an investor will not be your sagacity in selecting specific stocks, bonds or funds for your portfolio. No, it will be your asset allocation. That is, the way you slice up your portfolio into broad categories of, say, large-cap growth stocks and value stocks and triple A bonds and so on.

There are many opportunities available to today's investor. Taking advantage of these opportunities by strategically distributing your money in a number of different instruments can protect your portfolio and improve your chances of achieving a desired return.

It is important for investors to understand that diversification in building a balanced portfolio helps reduce risk and improve returns.

Asset allocation is yet another way to diversify. It takes advantage of the fact that when it comes to risk and reward, financial categories like stocks, bonds and money-market (cash equivalent) accounts all behave quite differently!

Stocks, for instance, offer the highest returns among those three "asset classes," but they also carry the highest risk of losses.

Bonds aren't so lucrative, but they offer a lot more stability than stocks.

Money-market returns are puny, but you'll never lose your initial investment.

An asset-allocation strategy looks at your particular goals and circumstances and determines what asset mix gives you the optimal blend of risk and reward.

Asset allocation is a process that you re-visit again and again as you continue to build your portfolio throughout your life. Learn to identify the events that can indicate a period of re-evaluation of your asset allocation!

Chances are that, over time, the value of your investments in stocks will grow more quickly than that of your investments in bonds and cash equivalents. Eventually you will likely have a larger percentage of your money invested in stocks than your original strategy recommended.

When this situation occurs, your portfolio could be exposed to more risk. To help ensure that your assets are invested appropriately, periodically rebalance your investments!

Ioannis Evangelos (Akis) Haramis
haramis@greekshares.com
http://www.greekshares.com

Ioannis Evangelos (Akis) Haramis was born in Athens, Greece in 1951. He studied in Greece, in USA and in Belgium and has been active in the stock markets since 1972. Since 2002 he is New Business Development Managing Director at an Investment Bank and the publisher of http://www.GreekShares.com


MORE RESOURCES:

PepsiCo investing $3 bln in Mexico over next 5 years
MarketWatch - 22 hours ago
By Wallace Witkowski , , ) said Thursday it plans to spend up to $3 billion to build its brands in Mexico over the next 5 years. ...


Financial Post

Evercore CEO invests big in investing
Reuters - Nov 19, 2008
N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), a boutique investment bank whose fortunes sag when merger activity slows, is making some big investments in money ...
Akamai cuts 7 percent of workforce Reuters
Volkswagen India to import comm vehicles in 2009 Reuters
VW sees China trade tough in H1 2009 - paper Reuters
Reuters - Reuters
all 2,717 news articles


BBC News

US panel urges action on China currency, investing
Forbes, NY - 21 hours ago
By Doug Palmer WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congress should pass legislation next year to pressure China to raise the value of its currency and require Beijing's ...
China winning cyber war, Congress warned guardian.co.uk
all 353 news articles


ON INVESTING - Top ten tips for year-end tax strategies...
Valley News Today, IA - 5 hours ago
Track investment expenses - Work with your advisor to keep a full accounting of deductible expenses associated with your investment portfolio. ...


CORRECTING and REPLACING First Trust Strategic High Income Fund II ...
MarketWatch - 19 hours ago
The Fund pursues these investment objectives by investing its managed assets in a diversified portfolio of below-investment grade and investment grade debt ...
Claymore Exchange-Traded Funds Declare Monthly Distributions MarketWatch
First Trust/Four Corners Senior Floating Rate Income Fund II ... MarketWatch
First Trust/FIDAC Mortgage Income Fund Declares Monthly Common ... MarketWatch
MarketWatch
all 79 news articles


Help for mounting 401(k) losses
CNNMoney.com - 10 hours ago
Just telling someone to "stay the course" isn't an adequate answer any time an investor expresses doubt or confusion about an investing or planning strategy ...


International Business Times

ETF Investing: We Get Sick In Recessions! XPH and IHI Healthcare ...
BloggingStocks - 22 hours ago
If you see the benefit of this and want to put some money into a health care related investment, look into an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) that will give you ...
SpeculatingStocks.com Announces Two Possible Ways to Play a ... PR Web (press release)
all 4 news articles


Invesco PowerShares Lists Actively Managed US Real Estate Fund on ...
MarketWatch - Nov 20, 2008
The PowerShares Active US Real Estate Fund (PSR) seeks to provide high total return by investing in publicly traded US real estate companies selected using ...


Buffett firm invests in USG
Chicago Tribune, United States - 5 hours ago
Buffett, known for his investing acumen, is already the the Chicago building-product concern's biggest stockholder. His Berkshire Hathaway Inc. investing ...


Don't miss these top money and investing columns:
MarketWatch - 20 hours ago
How different their experience might have been if the investment returns had been smoother and more predictable. A basic 50%-50% blend of US stocks and ...

Investing - Google News

home | site map
© 2006