Andy Watts’ Latest Thought Leadership Financial Literacy Series #11: The Power of Diversification in Financial Freedom

Navigating the financial markets can feel like being in rough waters. Imagine being in a small boat during a storm: Every wave threatens to capsize you, and you’re tossed up and down without control. Compare that to a barge, which carries ballast — weight that keeps it steady even when the seas are turbulent. In the world of investing, diversification acts like the ballast for your portfolio, offering stability when the market experiences ups and downs. The key to understanding and leveraging diversification effectively lies in your financial literacy. Knowing how different assets and industries work together allows you to make informed decisions that reduce risk and increase the likelihood of steady growth. While a small boat may experience extreme highs and lows, a well-balanced barge remains on a more even keel.

Similarly, a diversified portfolio is less likely to experience wild swings, allowing for steady, incremental growth over time. Generally, portfolios with consistent, modest growth of around 6% annually often outperform those with erratic, high-risk patterns of returns — such as jumping up 18% one year only to drop by 11% the next.

The power of diversification is the ability to smooth out these waves, helping you avoid the rollercoaster of market volatility, while still compounding your gains over time. By diversifying across asset classes, industries and markets, you create a stable foundation that supports long-term growth — slow and steady, just like the barge that powers through stormy seas.

3 principles of investment diversification to build growth

Diversification is the cornerstone of any sound investment strategy. It’s about spreading your investments across different asset classes to minimize risk and optimize returns. Here are three principles to keep in mind when building a diversified portfolio:

1. Age and stage will inform your investment strategy

Your investment strategy should evolve over time, reflecting your stage in life and your risk tolerance. When you’re younger, it’s generally advisable to lean more heavily into equities, which have the potential for higher returns, albeit with more volatility. This is because you have a longer time horizon to recover from market cycles. As you move closer to retirement, understanding how much income you want to generate and how this aligns with your budget will lead you to shift toward more stable fixed-income assets such as bonds. In other words, diversification isn’t a one-time decision; it’s a dynamic process that changes as you age and your financial goals evolve.

2. Keep your investments balanced to mitigate risk

Achieving a well-diversified portfolio means thinking beyond just asset classes, but also to diversify across industries, investments and more. Imagine putting all your money into a single sector — say, biotech or oil and gas. While you could see significant returns if that sector booms, you could also experience sharp declines if they falter. Instead, spreading your investments across multiple industries — such as healthcare, tech and retail — provides a buffer against any one sector’s poor performance.

Diversifying your asset types is equally important. Beyond stocks and bonds, consider adding physical assets like real estate or even startup investments to the mix. Think of it like playing a game: If you spread your chips across several numbers, you increase your chances of winning compared to betting everything on one number. A balanced portfolio is like a boat with weight distributed evenly across its structure — it can ride through the waves without capsizing.

For instance, if you invest $100 at a steady 6% ROI, compounded annually, your returns will gradually and consistently grow over time. However, if you concentrate all your investments in one volatile sector, like oil and gas, your portfolio could experience wild swings — surging when the sector thrives but plummeting during downturns. The same can be said for gold, which has seen significant price fluctuations and is currently expensive, making it a risky asset to concentrate on. A compounded 5-6% each year, will generally outperform large ups and downs in your portfolio.

3. Choose diversification over concentration for a stable investment

While concentration might seem appealing when a particular asset or sector performs well, it’s also far riskier. A portfolio concentrated in just a few assets or industries can lead to significant volatility and potential losses during downturns while making small, diversified decisions can significantly impact your financial stability. Data shows that diversification has historically outperformed concentration. For example, if you invested just $1 in a diversified portfolio focused on the S&P 500 in 1926, that dollar would be worth significantly more today — $10,076.91 to be exact — due to the power of steady, compounded growth. (Check out the MeasuringWorth.com calculator!)

On the other hand, a concentrated portfolio might experience higher highs at certain times, but it also risks deeper lows. This is why diversification is the better long-term strategy — its goal is to provide steady, reliable growth over time while minimizing the risks of market volatility.

Slow and steady wins the race In the world of investing, slow and steady really does win the race. By committing to spreading your investments across different asset classes and industries, you’re setting yourself up for consistent growth rather than risking the highs and lows of a concentrated portfolio. Sure, it may not sound as exciting as chasing the latest market trend (crypto!), but there’s nothing boring about watching your wealth steadily and predictably grow over time. Remember, you want your portfolio to sail smoothly, not sink in a storm.