Brendan Burgess
Founder
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Hi Sarenco
Thanks for that. How typical is that?
Brendan
Thanks for that. How typical is that?
Brendan
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The reality is that the OP has only a part of his wealth in shares and so each individual share will be only a small part of his overall wealth.....
While I take your point on the shares only representing a portion of the person's overall financial wealth, this point is focused on diversification across different asset classes, rather then specifically on the lack of diversification in the share portfolio.
Having chose an asset class to invest in (be it shares, bonds, property etc.), I would still be of the view that we should seek to reduce risk to the lowest possible level, subject to being able to achive the desired returns over the long term.
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....It's not an academic exercise.....
....To take an exaggerated example. Let's say I earn €200k a year. I have a house worth €2m mortgage free. I have €1m on deposit. I think that Paddy Power is a good share. There is nothing at all wrong in investing €100k in just one share. If it crashes to zero overnight, I lose 3% of my wealth. I can handle it easily.
On the other hand a retired person depending on the state pension would be crazy to have their total wealth of €100k in just one share.
Brendan
You seem to be suggesting that if an investor can afford to take a risk, and wants to do so, then they should fire ahead regardless of the expected return on the particular investment or whether the same expected return could be achieved by investing in a less risky asset
I was simply responding to Mr Earl's repetition of the commonly held view that people must diversify within an asset class irrespective of the proportion of the person's wealth that it makes up.
In my view, this commonly held view is completely wrong.
From a practical point of view, I recommend that they just buy one share with the €10k. Next year, buy a different one. They will diversify their portfolio over time.
This is certainly the popular approach, but, in my view, it's completely wrong.
Why do we diversify in the first place? To reduce risk. It's not an academic exercise. It's to make sure that a person's wealth is not adversely affected by a dramatic fall in the value of something.
To take an exaggerated example. Let's say I earn €200k a year. I have a house worth €2m mortgage free. I have €1m on deposit. I think that Paddy Power is a good share. There is nothing at all wrong in investing €100k in just one share. If it crashes to zero overnight, I lose 3% of my wealth. I can handle it easily.
On the other hand a retired person depending on the state pension would be crazy to have their total wealth of €100k in just one share.
Brendan
is it not the case though that most people are not smart enough to pick a winning share or shares ?,
The percentage of your overall wealth invested in equities does not matter, the question regarding the additional risk level remains unanswered for me - sorry
The return will be different, but there is no reason to believe that it will be higher or lower.
A 10 share portfolio has a higher risk of losing money than a very low cost index. However, it has a roughly equal chance of outperforming the index.