Diversification indicates building/ creating an investment portfolio that includes securities from different asset classes. It spreads risks across various financial investments, reducing the impact that poor returns from any one investment are likely to have on the overall portfolio. The prices of shares, bonds, listed property and other investments often do not rise and fall in tandem. When one type of investment is on the rise, another may be on the decline. The result is that your portfolio's overall performance is likely to be less volatile. The objective of diversification is to reduce the risk involved in building a portfolio. Diversification reduces the risk for an investor because all investments may not move in the same direction in the same proportion at the same time.
A diversified portfolio should be constructed to reflect your personal goals and individual risk tolerance. There are many ways to diversify across several asset classes. Asset allocation is a method of strategically dividing your investment portfolio among stock, bond and cash investments to help protect your portfolio from the rise and fall in any one investment.
Diversification will help to:
- Ease potential risk to overall portfolio
- Improve chances for attaining consistent returns
- Avoid the downside that can come from regularly readjusting your portfolio to follow current market developments
