Diversification is important in investing because you don’t want a single mistake to destroy your portfolio. Even the best investors (and businesses) make mistakes, it’s human nature.

Diversification spreads out your risk, lowering it.

In this post, we will cover all you need to know about diversification:

• Examples Showing Why Diversification Matters
• Simple Diversification Rules for Your Investments
• Investor Takeaway

I’m sure you’ve heard the cliché that you can’t put all your eggs in one basket. This wisdom has been passed down since the beginning of civilization. You mustn’t ignore it.

With diversification, you consider and prepare for the worst. The market and economy are unpredictable, always.

No matter how skilled you are, you need to be protected. Every investment is a risk to be lost. The only way to ensure your success is to diversify.

Examples Showing Why Diversification Matters

Here are a few names to remember just from recent history:

• Enron
• Worldcom
• Circuit City
• Blockbuster Video
• Hollywood Video
• Washington Mutual
• Lehman Brothers

The list could go on.

These are all companies that went bankrupt, and the investors in their stocks were wiped out.

Many of these companies were very successful at one point, and even highly regarded. Enron was one of those companies that had very strong financials– a great EPS growth track record and what seemed to be a strong balance sheet.

It was only when fraud was discovered within Enron that investors found out, too late, that the emperor was wearing no clothes.

Even high-risk situations may hide in plain sight yet still be oblivious to the investing public.

Some of the same companies above had huge, glaring red flags in their financials! Yet, their stocks were still bid up by investors, who all felt safe in the comfort of the crowd.

Sometimes an investment will turn out poorly because you made a mistake; sometimes, the mistake will be out of your control.

That’s why diversification is so important for all investors to internalize. Because you don’t appreciate it until the day it’s gone, the money is gone, and it’s too late to get it back.

So…

What does diversification mean for your investments?

Simple Diversification Rules for Your Investments

Option 1– Index fund ETF

By far, the simplest and easiest way to achieve diversification is by buying an index fund ETF. To get basic market exposure, the best index fund to buy would be one that tracks the S&P 500, like $SPY.

All you have to do is buy shares of an ETF like $SPY, and receive instant diversification today and into the future.

An index ETF like $SPY works by owning the shares of all the companies in the index it is required to track. For example, $SPY holds every company in the S&P 500.

The ETF holds the shares of the stocks. and by holding a share of the ETF you essentially see the same price increase as the ETF sees with its purchased shares.

This is how you participate in the growth of the economy, and yet keep your capital safe over the long term, through diversification.

Option 2– A Portfolio of 15-20 Stocks

The most common guideline for investors who pick individual stocks is usually the 15-20, or 15-25 rule.

The basic idea is that by holding a portfolio of 15- 20 individual stocks, you will see a similar rate of volatility as the market (S&P 500). This is supposed to reduce the risk of holding individual stocks substantially.

This framework works in a similar fashion to just buying an index. It greatly reduces the risk that any one person’s (or company’s) mistake will substantially wipe out your wealth.

However, there are still risks to this approach.

Garbage in, garbage out.

If you hold many bad businesses, or expensive stocks, you might still experience more risk than someone with a more balanced portfolio.

Also, investing in a group of stocks in the same industry will not give you this level of diversification we are discussing. As history has shown us many times, an industry can be made quickly obsolete by new challengers. A good diversification plan across multiple industries accounts for that risk.

Option 3– Customized Diversification

There’s an endless supply of investment vehicles. You can use any combination of them to build a fully diversified portfolio.

Investors should have no problem finding things like:

• index funds and ETFs
• mutual funds
• robo-advising
• target funds
• advisors and financial planners
• individual stocks

I won’t go over every option as it would probably reach the length of a novel or more…

But here are a few additional resources that I’d recommend checking out on our blog today:

• Why a Global Diversification Strategy is ESSENTIAL for Stock Market Investors
• How Important is Sector Diversification for the Average Investor?
• Concentrated Portfolio: The 4 Hidden Risks for the Average Investor

Investor Takeaway

While we have discussed common rules for diversification, they certainly aren’t the only ways to achieve it.

Even these frameworks have their inherent weaknesses; the 15-20 stocks idea is one that I’ve discussed more in-depth before.

Great diversification can sometimes be subjective, but in general, you can’t go wrong with more “eggs in the basket”.

Remember that there are tradeoffs…

Usually more reward goes to those who take greater risk, often in the form of less diversification.

But we can remember to be weary of chasing that kind of return, as it’s very unsustainable. The “15 minutes of fame” is really a common thing in the stock market, as countless high performing fund managers have come and gone, as they shot to the moon and then imploded.

For average investors, we must have the humility to understand that the market is complex, the future is uncertain, and we don’t have all the answers.

So what’s the answer to all of that?

Diversification.