In volatile markets, it’s easy for you, as a long term investor, to fall prey to your fears and end up making an emotional decision about your money. It’s not uncommon for investors to move their money to cash or switch to a more conservative asset allocation.

However, these moves may be counterproductive. Historically, many investors who moved out of stocks during down markets didn’t fare as well as those who stayed the course, as they often missed out on subsequent rallies.

“Periods of market volatility may be some of the most challenging for investors,” says Malwal. “Yet if you look back at 2020, or 2008, or other big market corrections, stocks eventually recovered and went on to make new all-time highs. Investors who stayed invested through the downturn were more likely to fully participate in the recoveries than those who shied away from stocks after the decline.”³

Sticking to your plan and staying invested can be advantageous even when things seem dire. For instance, missing just the 5 best days in the market between 1980 and 2022 could have reduced portfolio returns by as much as 38%.⁴ This can be easier said than done, however. Thankfully, there are some steps you can take to help yourself weather the emotional and financial stress that comes with challenging market conditions. You can:

✓ Learn about common investing biases and how to combat them so you don’t overreact in periods of volatility.
✓ Explore defensive investing, which may help protect your portfolio from steep market declines (at the expense of some potential returns). A defensive portfolio may seek to include more conservative stock investments, high-quality bonds, and alternative investments that are less correlated to the performance of traditional asset classes.
✓ Consider developing a steady stream of reliable income that isn’t dependent on market-based sources (e.g., bonds, dividends, or fixed income annuities), so you aren’t stressed about covering your necessary expenses and can better weather near-term volatility.

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Risk is an essential part of investing. Regular rebalancing and tax-management techniques may have a substantial impact on a portfolio’s long-term performance.

According to Insights from Fidelity Wealth ManagementSM, here are 5 things you may be doing that might be having a detrimental effect on your investment portfolio.

1. Getting out when the going gets tough

When markets become volatile or experience significant declines, it’s natural to want to try to cut your losses and retreat to what seems like safe territory. But rather than preserving your wealth, you are actually undermining the long-term growth potential of your portfolio.

In general, market declines have tended to be relatively shallow and short-lived compared to expansionary periods. Since 1950, markets have risen an average of 15% per year during expansions—and even 1% per year during recessions.1 So even when things seem most dire, there’s still a chance for positive returns.

Furthermore, because it’s not possible to predict exactly when the market may shift from negative to positive, there’s a chance that you may end up missing out on a rally or recovery when it occurs if you were to take your money out of the market.

Being uninvested for even a short time could have a profound impact: For instance, a hypothetical investor who missed just the best 5 days in the market since 1988 could have reduced their long-term gains by 37%.2

That’s why it’s so important to have a thoughtful, well-established plan in place to help you resist the urge to overreact to short-term volatility and uncertainty.

2. Taking on too much (or too little) risk

Risk is an essential part of investing. The amount of risk you decide to take on could determine how much growth you may be able to achieve in your portfolio and how much volatility you may need to endure to get there.

While there are no guarantees in investing, the key is to take on just enough risk to give your portfolio a chance of reaching your long-term goals, but not so much that it introduces enough volatility to scare you into withdrawing from the market. And one way to achieve that is by diversifying your portfolio, investing in a mix of different asset classes that may behave differently in different market conditions—that way, when some of your investments are down, others may be up, helping to smooth out the bumpiness in the market that can be so disconcerting.

Important information about performance returns. Performance cited represents past performance. Past performance, before and after taxes, does not guarantee future results and current performance may be lower or higher than the data quoted. Investment returns and principal will fluctuate with market and economic conditions, and you may have a gain or loss when you sell your assets. Your return may differ significantly from those reported.

The underlying investments held in a client’s account may differ from those of the accounts included in the composite. No investment strategy or risk management technique can guarantee returns or eliminate risk in any market environment. See footnotes for additional details.

How your assets are allocated across these different asset classes can provide a solid foundation upon which your portfolio may be able to grow over time. It can be a major factor in long-term performance: In fact, up to 90% of the variability of a fund’s return over time can be explained by how its assets are allocated.3

3. Not rebalancing your portfolio regularly

Asset allocation is not a one-and-done exercise or something you can “set and forget.” Over time, the appreciation and depreciation of your investments may result in your portfolio drifting from your initial allocation. As this happens, the amount of risk you’re exposed to could change in ways you may not have expected.

For example, consider a hypothetical portfolio that begins with an asset allocation of 70% stocks and 30% bonds. If over the course of 6 months, stock values were to surge and bond values were to decline, that portfolio might end up closer to something like 80% stocks and 20% bonds—a much riskier allocation—just due to market activity. It can work the other way as well: Were stocks to dip to 60% and bonds to rise to 40%, the portfolio may end up being more conservative than the investor initially intended.

Unless the investor proactively monitors and reallocates assets, perhaps by adding more funds to the account in the desired asset class or moving assets from one class to another, they could potentially experience more volatility than they are comfortable with or less growth than they need to help achieve their goals.

4. Paying too much in taxes

Taxes are a part of life, but nothing says you need to pay any more than is required of you. And yet, many investors may do just that because they don’t realize that there are techniques they can employ to help invest more efficiently and potentially reduce their overall tax burden.

Cutting your tax bill can have a big impact on your portfolio over the long term, by allowing you to keep more of your money and keep it invested, where it can potentially benefit from compounding growth in the market.

Techniques such as tax-loss harvesting or tax-efficient asset location, which places particular types of investments in the accounts most suitable for their tax treatment, can potentially pay off. In fact, the average client with a Personalized Portfolios professionally managed account using tax-smart strategies4 could have save $4,137 per year in taxes.5

5. Going it alone

It’s not always easy to stay on top of these tasks and keep everything running smoothly on your own. And even when you know what you should be doing intellectually, it can be hard to stay the course and keep your emotions in check when markets become challenging. That’s why some investors are more comfortable engaging with a professional investment manager who, for a fee, can oversee many of these important investing duties and provide investors with a backstop of support and guidance that may be able to help them weather the difficulties they encounter on their path to their goal.

The truth is, mismanaging your portfolio has a cost. And whether the mismanagement is the result of an honest mistake, an understandable overreaction, or a simple oversight, ultimately the cost is coming out of your pocket.

But you don’t have to go it alone. Sometimes, working with a professional may be the best course of action. And it may be more likely to lead to a better outcome in the long term. For example, studies have estimated that professional financial advice can add up to 5.1% to portfolio returns over the long term, depending on the time period and how returns are calculated.6

Even if you feel more comfortable managing your portfolio yourself, you may still benefit from meeting with a financial professional from time to time to get another perspective on your approach to investing.

Don’t overcomplicate things

Life is complicated enough as it is. There’s no need to make it any more complicated than it needs to be. With just a little more attention to these important portfolio practices and reaching out for professional help when you need it, you may be able to help ensure that these potential mistakes don’t keep you from reaching your important investing goals.

Source:  Fidelity Wealth Management

“Diversification is a safety factor that is essential because we should be humble enough to admit we can be wrong.” ~ Sir John Templeton

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett isn’t a big fan of diversification. Buffett has nearly 68% of Berkshire Hathaway’s $361 billion portfolio invested in only four stocks.

It’s important to note that Berkshire Hathaway owns over 40 stocks. However, four stocks— in addition—Apple, Bank of America, American Express, and Coca-Cola—comprise the lion share of his stock portfolio. Essentially, he believes in their businesses. He explained, “When you find a truly wonderful business, stick with it.”

Buffett wasn’t always so heavily invested in these stocks. Coca-Cola and American Express are his two longest-held positions. The stocks have increased so much in value through the years that they’ve become a bigger part of Berkshire’s portfolio.

In 1998, Buffett summarized his philosophy about diversification: “If you really know businesses, you probably shouldn’t own more than six of them. If you can identify six wonderful businesses, that is all the diversification you need, and you’re going to make a lot of money.”

You might follow Buffett’s lead and invest heavily in a small number of stocks only if you can meet the two criteria he specified:

1. Have a thorough understanding of their underlying businesses.
2. Find “wonderful businesses.”

However, Buffet did say: “If you are not a professional investor, if your goal is not to manage money in such a way so you get a significantly better return than the world, then I believe in extreme diversification.”

In other words,. Diversification is a good thing for most retail investors.

One important fact:

If you had invested $10,000 in the S&P 500 in 1964, your investment would have grown to approximately $3.1 million by now, reflecting a total return of around 31,223%.

On the other hand, the same $10,000 investment in Berkshire Hathaway would have skyrocketed to an astounding $438.5 million, with a total return of about 4,384,748%.

This dramatic difference highlights Berkshire Hathaway’s exceptional performance under Warren Buffett’s leadership, significantly outpacing the broader market.

Source:

1. https://finbold.com/this-is-how-berkshire-hathaway-has-outperformed-sp-500-since-warren-buffet-took-over/
2. Keith Speights, Why Warren Buffett Has 68% of Berkshire Hathaway’s $361 Billion Portfolio Invested in Only 4 Stocks, Motley Fool, April 21, 2024. https://www.fool.com/investing/2024/04/21/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-portfolio-stocks/