(Read in 4 minutes) Investing isn’t about chasing the latest winner. It’s about surviving the storms — those inevitable periods when markets turn against you, often for much longer than anyone expects. Survival in investing isn’t built on bold predictions but on one timeless principle: Diversification.
Continue reading
{4 minutes to read} Investing takes time, patience, and an understanding of how markets move. Diversifying your investments helps lower financial stress, a common concern that makes investing a steady process rather than a gamble. Investing isn’t about gambling — it’s about steadily growing your money over time so you can have a better life. Diversification — spreading investments across multiple asset classes — is key to managing risk. However, when some investments perform exceptionally well, focusing only on those and ignoring diversification can be tempting. Ignoring diversification is a mistake. Staying diversified is crucial because asset class returns are cyclical, and today’s underperformers may become tomorrow’s leaders. Diversification is key to maintaining balance, since no one can predict which asset classes will perform best.
Continue reading
The COVID-19 pandemic has rattled the market and put tremendous pressure on investors. VIA IV clients can be assured that they are protected through exceptionally diversified portfolios — which are invested in indexes around the globe. As a result, VIA IV clients are not exposed to the downturn of any specific company that permanently goes out of favor. When markets bounce, indices naturally follow. Single stocks don’t necessarily do the same.
That’s not the case for people who are not diversified. For example, an investor with all their money in restaurant stocks right now would not be a good place due to COVID-19 closures. Furthermore, when the economy recovers, those specific industries might not recover in the same way the overall market does.
Continue reading
{Read in 1:50 minutes} The federal government—”the Fed”—is interesting. It’s fun to talk about, much like a sporting event or celebrity gossip or the latest health scare. And it is just as much the subject of daily headlines as those news items.
Financial journalists love to report the Fed’s every financial movement, trying to make it relevant to investment. Some advisors play along, pretending they can predict markets based on the Fed, in hopes of attracting investors and motivating them to keep making transactions. Some say that the interest rates move and the Fed follows.